In the age of Trump, only Twitter refuses Muslim database

If the election of Donald Trump isn't appalling already, the Intercept approached eight tech companies, with Twitter the only company who outright refused to help Trump build his Muslim database...

 News Briefs

 Over the course of two weeks, Sam Biddle from he Intercept contacted - or attempted to contact - nine of the most prominent such firms, from Facebook to Booz Allen Hamilton, to ask if they would sell their services to help create a national Muslim registry, an idea recently resurfaced by Donald Trump’s transition team. Only Twitter said no.

The outlet contacted—or attempted to contact—the companies over the course of two weeks, asking if they would contract out their services to help create the hypothetical database, which President-elect Donald Trump's national security adviser Kris Kobach has said would track immigrants entering the U.S from Muslim nations.

Not all of the companies responded, but only one unequivocally said no. The final tally: 

Facebook: No answer.

Twitter: "No," and a link to this blog post, which states as company policy a prohibition against the use, by outside developers, of "Twitter data for surveillance purposes. Period."

Microsoft: "We're not going to talk about hypotheticals at this point," and a link to a company blog post that states that "we're committed to promoting not just diversity among all the men and women who work here, but … inclusive culture" and that "it will remain important for those in government and the tech sector to continue to work together to strike a balance that protects privacy and public safety in what remains a dangerous time."

Google: No answer.

Apple: No answer.

IBM: No answer.

Booz Allen Hamilton: Declined to comment.

SRA International: No answer. 

CGI: No answer.

Whilst a lack of answer didn't automatically mean that there was direct support the Trump agenda, for a tech company it would have been very little effort to go on record as unwilling to help create a federal list of Muslims.

“Any technology company should resist a government request for assistance that targets a customer on the basis of race, religion, or national origin,” said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner when asked about the social and ethical obligation of these companies to fight, in some capacity, a project like the Muslim registry.

The Intercept

Popular New Jersey imam fighting deportation

Eight years after a judge ruled in his favor, a revered Paterson cleric will return to court on Monday to once again fight deportation as federal authorities pursue allegations that he lied on his green card application about a conviction by Israeli authorities

News Briefs

The revered leader of one of New Jersey's largest mosques is heading to court to fight from being deported after federal authorities say he lied on his green card application.

Imam Mohammad Qatanani told his congregation at the Islamic Center of Passaic County that he will return to court on Monday, after the Department of Homeland Security appealed an immigration judge's decision not to deport him eight years ago after finding no credible links to terrorism, The Record (http://bit.ly/2gYYpqX ) reported.

Qatanani came to the U.S. from Jordan. He was born in the West Bank and said that he was detained but not arrested by Israeli officials while visiting his native West Bank in 1993. 

Israelis never told him he was convicted of a crime and he never saw a judge, he said. Qatanani and expert witnesses had said Israelis routinely detained Palestinian men at the time.

 Immigration authorities sought to deport Qatanani on grounds that he didn't disclose an alleged arrest and conviction in Israel for being a member of Hamas, a group classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

His brother-in-law was a senior Hamas military leader killed by the Israelis, but Qatanani said in his 2008 trial that he did not participate with him in political activities.

"I know that justice will prevail and that everything will be in the right way. I believe in the judicial system in this country," Qatanani, 52, said Friday.

An attorney for homeland security wasn't available for comment.

AP

Anti-Muslim analyst to head US Homeland Security

Donald Trump adds Katharine Gorka, who has made anti-Muslim comments, to his transition team

 News Briefs

Katharine Gorka, a controversial national security analyst who specializes in discussing the threat posed by Muslims to the United States, has criticized that the Department of Homeland Security trains its agents  that Islam is a religion of peace.

 Gorka, who heads the Council on Global Security think-tank and Threat Knowledge Group consulting firm, has expressed countless views against Islam and has called for an all-out ideological war with "Islamists". 

Gorka’s think-tank focuses on the Muslim Brotherhood, having publishing numerous articles denouncing the group and warning against its influence in the US. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it was "alarmed" by Trump's recent appointees, including Gorka.

The organization said in a statement that Gorka has a history of "Islamophobic views", citing her writings in the "White supremacist website Breitbart" and has pushed for legislation to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group and impose sanctions on its “affiliates, associated groups, or agents.”

"She is married to Sebastian Gorka, another Breitbart News contributor. Sebastian Gorka, who is also known for his Islamophobic views, calls religious profiling of Muslims 'common sense,'" CAIR added.

Gorka joins a list of controversial Trump appointees, including Stephen Bannon, the former chief of Breitbart; Michael Flynn, who has proclaimed that fear of Muslims is not irrational; and KT McFarland, who has said that Russia's Vladimir Putin deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

source: Middle East Eye

Letters threatening genocide sent to California mosques

Chilling letters supporting Trump and threatening genocide against Muslims have been sent to a number of local mosques in California

News Briefs

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for increased police protection of local mosques after letters that threatened the genocide of Muslims and praised President-elect Donald Trump were sent to multiple California mosques this week.

The letters were sent to the Islamic Center of Long Beach and the Islamic Center of Claremont, CAIR’s greater Los Angeles chapter said in a statement. The same letter also was sent to the Evergreen Islamic Center in San Jose, according to CAIR’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter.

 The handwritten letter, which was  photocopied, was addressed to “the children of Satan” and called Muslims a “vile and filthy people.” 

“Your day of reckoning has arrived,” the letter states, according to CAIR-LA. “There’s a new sheriff in town — President Donald Trump. He’s going to cleanse America and make it shine again. And, he’s going to start with you Muslims.” 

The letter, signed only by “Americans for a Better Way,” said Trump was “going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the jews [sic].” 

Both the Los Angeles and Bay Area chapters of CAIR have called for increased cooperation with law enforcement agencies to protect mosques.

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR-LA, said in an interview that the Claremont and Long Beach Islamic centers received the letters Wednesday. The groups were debating whether to go public with the letters, he said, because they did not want to encourage copycats or create panic. But once they learned of the letter sent in Northern California, they wanted to inform the public and encourage police to look into the matter, Ayloush said.

Ayloush said people at the L.A. County mosques were “disheartened that anyone would address fellow Americans, fellow human beings, in such a hateful, dehumanizing way.” 

“You always want to trust that most people are good, that your neighbors have been good, and that has been our experience,” he said. Still, he said, the letters and the tone of the campaign season has left local Muslims concerned for their safety.

Ayloush said the “irresponsible, hateful rhetoric” of the Trump campaign has fueled “a level of vulgarity, vile hatred and anger among many self-proclaimed Trump supporters.”

“I’m not saying [Trump] created racist people,” he said. “He normalized it. While he might say he’s not responsible, and I respect that, I remind President-elect Trump that he has a responsibility to act as a president for all Americans.”

Los Angeles law enforcement leaders this week vowed to crack down on hate crimes, which surged in California and across the nation last year. 

“Acts of hate tear at the fabric of who we are as a nation, and we want to send a strong message that no one should be reluctant or afraid to report a hate crime,” Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuersaid. 

 source: LA Times

Frank Gaffney, Islamophobic ringleader joins Trump team

Donald Trump now has on his team Frank Gaffney, the man who made up Trump's bogus anti-Muslim survey in December 2015, a deeply flawed poll conducted by Gaffney's Center for Security Policy (CSP)

 News Desk

Frank Gaffney has now joined up with Trump transition team.

Gaffney, once described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes,” heads the Center for Security Policy - considered to be a think tank of sorts, well known for promoting conspiratorial theories about the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating the U.S. government at high levels and the Sharia system replacing American democracy. 

As a heads up, here are just a few examples of what this conspiracy theorist has come up with over the past few years:

In the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, Gaffney suggested that then-President Saddam Hussein had been involved in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, committed by Timothy McVeigh.

When President Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan to serve on the Supreme Court in 2010, Gaffney accused her of being soft on Sharia during her time as dean of Harvard Law School. His group financed an ad that asked, “If Kagan tolerates promoting the injustice of Sharia law on the campus of Harvard, what kind of injustice will she tolerate in America during a lifetime on the Supreme Court?”

In 2009, Gaffney questioned whether Obama was America’s first Muslim president or simply playing one. “The man now happy to have his Islamic-rooted middle name featured prominently has engaged in the most consequential bait-and-switch since Adolf Hitler duped Neville Chamberlain over Czechoslovakia at Munich,” Gaffney wrote.

In 2010, Gaffney accused Obama of dismantling American missile defense capability in an act of U.S. submission to Islam. He cited a “new” Missile Defense Agency logo as evidence, suggesting that the design appeared to be a combination of Obama’s campaign symbol and the Islamic crescent and star. He later corrected that post, acknowledging that the logo was neither new nor produced under Obama’s direction.

Gaffney suggested that Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the time, was submitting to Sharia when Petraeus condemnedthe burning of a Quran by a Florida pastor.

Gaffney has accused a bipartisan array of political elites of being secretly tied to the Islamist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood, including longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and conservative heavyweightsGrover Norquist and Suhail Khan.

Gaffney has objected to Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) serving on the House Intelligence Committee because they are Muslim and therefore, he said, likely to leak information to the Muslim Brotherhood.

While the rest of the world marveled at the ignorance that led authorities in Irving, Texas, to mistake 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed’s homemade clock for a bomb last year, Gaffney wrote that the school did the right thing by suspending Ahmed and calling the police. His group later honored Beth Van Duyne, the mayor of Irving and a Sharia alarmist, with the Freedom Flame Award for her “efforts to protect the Constitution.”

Gaffney hosted white nationalist Jared Taylor on his radio show last fall and praised Taylor’s American Renaissance website as “wonderful.” During the show, Taylor challenged the idea that the desperate people now flooding into Europe are refugees, calling that description a myth “touted by liberals.” When asked about the consequences of these individuals moving to Europe, Taylor said, “We have unleashed now what would not be an exaggeration to call almost demonic forces.”

When Trump proposed a ban on Muslims’ entry into the U.S last year, Gaffney quickly jumped to his defense. “Mr. Trump has clearly picked up on a conviction increasingly shared by millions of Americans,” he wrote on his group’s website. “They have begun to see the Obama administration has long been downplaying, misrepresenting and mishandling a threat more and more of us see plainly.”

When Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) invited Broward County Deputy Sheriff Nazar Hamze to this year’s State of the Union address, Gaffney accusedHamze of being “tied to a group that is directly linked to Hamas.” He was referring to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Gaffney accused Pope Francis of having “rabidly anti-American” views after the pope said in February that it’s “not Christian” to urge the deportation of undocumented immigrants and vow to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

source: Huffington Post

US hate crimes targeting Muslims up almost 70 percent

2015 saw 257 anti-Muslim incidents targeting 307 individuals, according to FBI

 News Desk

 Hate crimes targeting Muslims in the U.S. rose 67 percent last year, the FBI said in an annual report released Monday. 

The uptick is part of an overall 7 percent hike in hate crimes across the U.S. last year. 

Of the 7,121 victims identified in the report, nearly 20 percent were targeted because of a religious bias, the bureau said in its hate crimes report.

That is the second-highest motivation for offenders behind race or ethnicity. 

Anti-Islamic bias made up the second highest religious bias at 22 percent of the total, behind anti-Jewish bias that accounted for more than half, making Jews the most targeted group in the U.S. 

The findings mesh with complaints from the Muslim-American community that members have experienced a dramatic uptick in the number of Islamophobic attacks. 

In total, 2015 saw 257 anti-Muslim incidents that targeted 307 individuals, according to the FBI.

That's the highest number since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement that it noticed "a sharp jump in anti-Muslim incidents nationwide last year.

“This unprecedented increase in bigotry of all kinds must be repudiated in the strongest terms possible by all our nation’s leaders, beginning with President-elect Donald Trump,” said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw.

On several occasions during the election cycle, Trump targeted Muslims, most controversially calling for a ban on entry that he later eased. 

While its unknown if that will actually take effect once he officially takes office in January, reports have continued to mount regarding hate crime attacks against minorities, including Muslims, across the country. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit that combats hate crimes, said it has tracked 315 cases of "hateful harassment and intimidation" since Election Day alone. 

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Trump's victory sees spike in hate crimes across US

Muslim women report hijabs being ripped off by men shouting support for Donald Trump

 News Desk

American Muslims have expressed “tremendous levels of fear” after Donald Trump was unexpectedly elected as the 45th President of the United States, with some saying they had been warned not to wear their hijabs.

The Republican has consistently criticised Muslims and during the campaign pledged to ban them from entering the USA, promising a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the country.

 Many social media users responded with anxiety to his shock victory, with one Twitter user saying her mother had ordered her not to wear her hijab for fear of racist reprisals. 

As well as promising to ban Muslims entering the US, the new President-elect previously told countrymen that “Islam hates us” and claimed the religion is defined partly by “tremendous hatred”.

He also claimed the mother of a Muslim US soldier killed in combat was “not allowed to speak” at the Democratic convention because of her faith, despite there being no evidence that this was the case.

Several Muslim women have reported Trump supporters attempting to rip off their hijabs, which cover the hair, while others said their families have advised them to stop wearing headscarves in fear of further attacks.

Maha Abdul Gawad said she was shopping in a local Wallmart on Wednesday when another woman approached, pulled off her hijab and said: “This is not allowed anymore, so go hang yourself with it around your neck not on your head.”

Numerous incidents were also reported in schools, with students saying Muslim girls had taken off their hijabs to avoid abuse or had them forcibly removed, and teachers describing comforting crying children afraid their families would be deported.

Mackenzie Rae, from Washington, shared a message she received from a friend who works at a high school in Kansas on Wednesday.

It said: “We have two kids wearing Trump shirts pull a hijab off a Muslim girl today at school. OSS [out-of-school suspension] for five days. 

“When asked why? ‘Because she’s about to get kicked out anyway and we won.’”

Police probe PKK slogans daubed on London mosque

London detectives investigating 'racially aggravated' vandalism incident

 News Desk

British police confirmed on Wednesday they had launched an investigation after suspected PKK sympathizers vandalized a Turkish mosque in London.

The London Diyanet Mosque in Hornsey, north London, came under attack on Tuesday night. Attackers -- who were recorded on CCTV -- threw stones, broke windows and wrote terrorist slogans on the building’s walls.

The initials “PKK” and anti-Turkish slogans were daubed on the property.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed to Anadolu Agency detectives in Haringey were probing an incident of “racially aggravated graffiti” and appealed for information.

PKK sympathizers attacked two Turkish citizens during a march in central London last Saturday and attacked Turkey’s London embassy with stones and eggs a day before.

Mosque officials, who preferred to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, told Anadolu Agency police responded to their calls following the attack.

A mosque official said: “We are pleased with police’s fast response. The CCTV shows a group of people with masks on their face and the police are now investigating the incident.”

How Islamophobia helped Trump's "movement"

Muslims around the US have reacted to Trump's win with a legitimate fear for safety of their lives in a country many have called home. From beginning to end, his toxic Islamophobic campaign saw him gain ground contributing to his shock win.

News Desk

At a Starbucks cafe in Dearborn, Michigan, 25-year-old Mona Musid was glued to her laptop, watching a YouTube video of President-elect Donald Trump's victory speech.

This Detroit suburb is home to one of the biggest populations of Muslims and Arabs in the United States, and Musid was among many in her community on Wednesday trying to make sense of the brash Republican's election. 

"I'm just interested in what he has to say, and where it's going to go," she said, listening for clues in the victory speech of what her immediate future might look like. 

Musid said many in her extended family, who are of Yemeni ancestry and trace their US roots back to the 1940s, are in a state of shock and worry. 

"They don't know what's going to go on. They came here for opportunity. They're just worried if he takes it away from us," she said. 

Trump's campaign rhetoric included calls for a ban on Muslim immigrants entering the US, followed by promises of "extreme vetting" of immigrants from countries affected by terrorism. 

Across the country, Muslim Americans are now wondering what a Trump presidency might mean, said Hazem Bata, head of the Islamic Society of North America, a national advocacy group. 

"What I'm hearing is a mixture of fear and concern," Bata said. 

"Many people feel vulnerable. Many Muslims here are not necessarily US citizens. They're here legally, but they're not US citizens. They're concerned. Some are outright scared." 

Trump: The Islamophobic President

Back in October during a presidential debate, a Muslim-American voter asked Donald Trump a pointed question about the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has cast a pall over this election: "There are 3.3 million Muslims in the United States, and I'm one of them … With Islamophobia on the rise, how will you help people like me deal with the consequences of being labeled a threat to the country after the election is over?"

In response, Donald Trump looked her in the eye and repeated the same Islamophobic conspiracy theory he’s been pushing throughout his campaign:

You're right about Islamophobia, and that's a shame. One thing we have to do is we have to make sure that because there is a problem, whether we like it or not — and we could be very politically correct — but whether we like it or not, there is a problem and we have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on, they have to report it.

In San Bernardino, many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people. Horribly wounded. Never be the same. Muslims have to report the problems when they see them. And you know, there's always a reason for everything. If they don't do that, it's a very difficult situation for our country because you look at Orlando and you look at San Bernardino and the World Trade Center. Look at Paris. The horrible — these are radical Islamic terrorists.

'Hard times' coming

During his victory speech, Trump offered a conciliatory tone. 

"I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all of Americans," Trump said. "All races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs." 

But those words rang hollow for three sisters at The Lava Lounge, a popular lunch hangout in Dearborn. 

Television news blared in front of the three fifth-generation Americans of Lebanese descent. Alyse, one of the three, who didn't want to give her full name, said Trump's ascendancy exposed "how much hatred there is within our country." 

"The damage is irreversible," she said.  

"I feel like hard times are gonna come," added her sister Nadeen Hider, 24. "Within one night, 60 years of progression was wiped clean." 

Trump's victory was also as much a source of confusion as fear.  

At the Muslim American Youth Academy in Dearborn -- an elementary and middle school -- children in the morning were asking questions of each other and their parents. 

"How could they elect Trump over Hillary Clinton?," asked one youngster to a group of peers and adults, who offered no answer. 

'Four years of nothingness' 

"Four years of nothingness," a young girl exclaimed as she entered the school with her parents. 

For some, the consequences of Trump's victory were direct and immediate. 

Hiba Nasser, 19, a sophomore at Wayne State University in Detroit, said she was afraid to leave her home Wednesday morning. 

Nasser wears a hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering, and was concerned that Trump's victory would embolden those who might target her. She said she already endures occasional harassment. 

"People tell me I'm a terrorist, that my being in this country is wrong, that I should go," Nasser said.  

However, there was also a counter-narrative among Muslim Americans in Dearborn -- many of whom have lived in the US for decades and are less concerned about immigration issues. 

Often not wishing to be identified by name, several told AFP that they were happy with Trump's victory, because they did not trust Clinton. 

While buying breakfast at New Yasmeen's Bakery, Hassan Elhassani, 33, said Trump was the lesser of two bad choices. 

"I am not concerned by (Trump's) rhetoric," said Elhassani, who emigrated from Lebanon 17 years ago and is a US citizen. 

"If you are a citizen, he can't change nothing." 

A movement on fear pays off

Long before election night, earlier numbers indicated that Trump's deployment of Islamophobia as a primary campaign strategy would pay dividends and register votes.

An NBC poll conducted in December 2015 found that 25 percent of Americans supported Trump's Muslim ban. A March 2016 poll indicated greater support, with 51 percent favouring Trump's Ban " until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on".

Trump interpreted these staggering figures, which rose as the campaign progressed, as strong support for his Islamophobia campaign.

Instead of adopting George W Bush's or Mitt Romney's cautious Islamophobia, or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton's exclusive mention of Muslims from the lens of national security policy - Trump went all the way.

He stripped any mitigating rhetoric, aimed to placate liberals and moderates, from his message. He did away with staple qualifiers like "peace loving" and "moderate" when talking about Muslims.

In fact, Trump swept aside every political platitude and carefully crafted talking point for a blatantly hateful grassroots framing.

Instead of "Islam is peace", Trump declared that, "Islam hates us", giving disaffected bigoted voters exactly what they wanted, and they took that bait.

This presidential campaign foreshadows what is sure to follow. Hate crimes against Muslims rose considerably in 2015 and statistics show a similar trend in 2016. If a Trump presidential campaign resulted in an unprecedented number of hate crimes against Muslims, one can only imagine what a Trump presidency will bring.

AFP/Vox/Al Jazeera

US Muslims share experiences of bigotry at polls

Muslims law professor creates #islamophobiaatpolls to provide platform to raise concerns

 News Desk

 As voting for the presidential election got underway, Muslims used social media to share personal stories of discrimination and bigotry they experienced at the ballot box.  

Khaled Beydoun, a law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law began the campaign early Tuesday using the hashtag, #islamophobiaatpolls, because he wanted to provide Muslims with a platform to raise concerns they might encounter on Election Day.

“Much of it, obviously is the response of what’s been happening with the presidential campaign with Donald Trump using islamophobia, the fear,” Beydoun told Anadolu Agency. “That rhetoric appeared very strong.”

Twitter user Jana al-Akhras, a law student, was the first to share her voting experience using the hashtag.

“Standing in line to vote this morning – got asked how long I plan on staying in ‘our country,’” she said on the microblogging site.

The tweets have garnered a lot of attention with even the official account of Turkish Deputy Prime Minster Mehmet Simsek retweeting Akhras' tweet.

Indiana-based hijab fashion designer, Sireen, also tweeted what she went through at the ballot box. She said she was asked whether she was from India. She replied that she is an American.

The same person then asked her what “that thing” was covering her hair, referring to the head scarf Muslim women wear, or hijab, Sireen’s tweet adds.

According to Beydoun, he has also had an indirect brush with discrimination. oA hijab-wearing mother of a friend in California was once told: “Muslim go back home”.That happened after he launched the hashtag.

Asked if he expected more incidents to occur throughout the day, Beydoun said a lot could still happen as there was a long way to go before polls close later Tuesday.

“I’m not naive to think that there is not gonna be negative incidents during the day,” he added.

More than 1 million Muslims have registered to vote for this year's presidential elections, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). That is up from 500,000 in 2012 – placing the Muslim electorate is a position to have a markedly greater effect on the outcome.

Attacks against Muslims have increased in the last year, after Trump proposed “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” in reaction to homegrown terrorism.

A CAIR survey last month found 85 percent of Muslim voters believed Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. had increased in the past year.

Only 5 percent believed it decreased and 10 percent did not provide an answer. 

France shuts down 20 mosques in nine months

French Interior Minister Cazeneuve has issued an order authorizing the closure of four Muslim preaching schools in Paris.

News Desk

French authorities have closed four mosques in the Paris region for promoting the ideology of extremism under the state of emergency as France continues to tackle the issue of home-grown extremism following a number of high-profile extremist attacks.

The mosques were closed under the state of emergency for the spread of “hatred and violence,” the statement says, adding that “under the guise of ritual ceremonies, these places [harbored] meetings aimed at promoting extremism ideology, [which is] contrary to the values of the [French] Republic and may constitute a serious risk to security and public order.”

In the statement, Cazeneuve also reaffirmed his commitment to “allow the peaceful coexistence of all worship in compliance with the laws of the Republic” as well as his “determination” to protect French citizens and “fight extremism by all legal means.”

Many people who previously attended one of the two mosques that were closed in Seine-Saint-Denis then joined extremist movements, French media report, adding that some of them are suspected of “being behind attempted extremist attacks in France.”

In August, Cazeneuve said that French authorities had closed about 20 mosques and prayer halls considered to be preaching extremism since December 2015. “There is no place... in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques,” he said at that time, adding that the closures would continue.

The minister also said that French authorities were working on a French foundation for Islam which would guarantee complete transparency in financing mosques “with rigorous respect for secular principles.”

In July, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said his government was considering a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques following a series of extremist attacks claimed by ISIL, including November 2015 Paris attacks, the July Nice tragedy and the killing of a priest at French church.

There are some 2,500 mosques and prayer halls in France. 

Source: RT

Greek archbishop halts Athens mosque construction

Archbishop of Athens, Ieronymos II has said that the government should postpone building a mosque in Athens until it becomes clear how many Muslim refugees will remain in the capital

 News Desk

Ieronymos II, the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, has asked not to rush for the building of a mosque in Athens until it was clear how many refugees remained in the capital.

Speaking on nationwide television, Archbishop Ieronimos said, "We should not hurry. Who are we going to do with the camii? What will these people do? Will it be worship, or will they be recruiting centers for fundamentalist groups"while noting that Greece was becoming ''less Christian and Greek''.

Indicating that there must be clarity, he said, "the situation of the Muslims in the country can be delayed until it is clear. If they stay here they have rights. However, what is needed is temporary. We will not do anything. "

Mosque attacks show xenophobia on the rise in Germany

In 2009, two mosques were vandalised in the country. The number rose sharply to 99 in 2015.

On a cold September evening in the German town of Dresden a bomb exploded outside a mosque. No one was hurt, but the sense of fear that had gripped Muslims in the city since 2015 reached fever pitch.

"We have been expecting something like this for a long time," said Mehmet Demirbas, the founder of the mosque that was attacked. He said that while such incidents were common elsewhere, Germany had largely avoided xenophobic attacks.

But that has now changed, said Demirbas.

"We have to stay alert and keep our eyes open and stop someone trying this in future."

In the past year eastern Germany has become a center of anti-Muslim sentiment, as a backlash against refugees gains momentum. Far right groups have been protesting against the influx of over a million refugees, many of the settling in the east of the country.

"It’s a very dangerous time for Muslims in some parts of Germany," said Burhan Kesici, the director of Germany’s Islamic council, Islamrat.

According to Kesici, there are millions of Muslims who peacefully practice their religion in Germany but attacks on places of worship were a worrying sign of changing attitudes towards immigrants in general and Muslims in particular.

"Some extremist groups see the mainly Muslim refugees as a threat to the republic," he said.

Data gathered by Kesici’s organization shows a significant rise in attacks on Muslim places of worship. In 2009, two mosques were vandalized in the country. That number rose to 99 in 2015.

"The authorities haven’t done enough to stop attacks on mosques," said Murat Gul, the president of the Islamic federation of Berlin.

Murat, who was born and raised in Germany but is of Turkish origin, said the country still offered the safest environment for Muslims to practice their religion "compared to other places in

Europe," but the current spate of violence against Muslims had largely gone unreported and attacks haven't been investigated properly.

"There have been no arrests so far in connection with the mosque attacks this year," said Murat.

"We do not want this in Germany regardless of who is being targeted," said Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere after the latest mosque attack in Dresden.

De Maiziere said the attacks were a sign of rising "aggression" against the Muslim community, but the government was committed to ensuring security for all Germans regardless of faith.

In 2014, arsonists destroyed parts of Germany’s largest mosque in Berlin’s Kruezberg area. When TRT World visited Mevlana Camii, repair works were still under way.

Berlin's famous Mevlana mosque was damaged in an attack in 2014.

"The facade was completely destroyed, but the community has come together to rebuild it," Murat said during a tour of the historic mosque.

Germany is often cited as an example of the successful integration of Muslim migrants. A majority of Muslims in Germany are immigrants from Turkey who came to the country in search of economic opportunities.

But the current wave of Muslims coming to Germany are refugees mainly from Syria.

"The Syrians are viewed differently than migrants who came in the past because they’re escaping war and terrorism back home," said Kesici.

But what is more worrying for Kesici is the fact that even the Muslims who were born and raised in Germany are now being viewed as outsiders.

PHOTO CAPTION

Police inspect the front of a mosque damaged in a bomb attack on September 27, 2016 in Dresden, Germany.

Source: TRTWorld

'Patriots' take over site earmarked for Greek mosque

Self-declared 'patriots' oppose government plans to build first official mosque for over 100 years in Greek capital

News Desk

“A mosque? Here? Between two Greek navy bases?”

Giannis Ioannidis is a retired businessman leading a 30-strong group of men in military-style clothing who have taken over a downtown Athens premises earmarked as the site for Greece’s first official new mosque in a century.

Now the 74-year-old’s makeshift group of self-described “patriots” has plans to turn it into a homeless shelter -- for Greek people only.

“The mosque will be full of terrorists and it would be located in a former navy base. This is unthinkable,” Ioannidis told Anadolu Agency, claiming “illegal migrants even use the children they bring with them for sympathy or worse”. 

Visiting the site where the mosque is set to be built, one is greeted by thick chains and locks which keep unwanted visitors out of the former military base.

People wearing camouflage gear guard the perimeter and no one is allowed in unless they get permission from “The General” -- Ioannidis.

“General is a rank you -- sometimes -- receive from your group while on the battlefield. The people here call me that,” Ioannidis explained.

Although official mosques exist in northern Greece -- in areas such as Thrace where Muslim minorities reside -- until August this year the creation of official places of worship for Muslims in other areas of the country was prohibited.

Almost three months ago, the Greek parliament passed a bill which permitted the creation of official mosques in the Greek capital -- and the first is set to find a home at the abandoned navy facility in the Votanikos area.

Amid dozens of unofficial mosques around Athens, the one in Votanikos will be the first state-backed construction since the 19th century. The Greek government will cover the estimated one-million-euro [$1.09 million] cost.

 Suspicion 

However, almost three months after the bill passed, building work has yet to begin and Greek officials are seemingly unable to comment on the reason why.

According to Ioannidis, in the almost five months his men have been at the abandoned base, no one from the authorities has tried to stop their activities.

The 30 men -- who say they served in the Greek military’s special forces -- are determined to block the construction of the mosque.  

Ioannidis, who says he served as commando in his youth, talked to Anadolu Agency while giving a tour of the premises.

He stated that not only will his group stop the mosque, he and his men are turning the abandoned base into a homeless shelter, albeit one strictly for Greek people. 

Playing with a large German Shepherd, one of the many stray dogs that have found shelter in the former base, Ioannidis claimed “Greeks are refugees in their own country, without the right to get asylum.

“They are homeless and hopeless,” he added.

There are currently no official numbers on the amount of homeless people in Greece but according to estimations of various NGOs, there are more than 20,000.

According to International Organization for Migration data, almost 170,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in the first three months of this year, many of them through Greece. However, Ioannidis says he is convinced they are lying about their identities and own fake passports.

A week earlier, the far-right party Golden Dawn demonstrated against the mosque, right outside the naval base. Just a few blocks down there is a camp accommodating more than 2,100 refugees and migrants, mostly of Afghan origin.

However, Ioannidis and his men claim they did not allow any far-right demonstrators to enter the premises and declined to associate themselves with the protest.

“We are not covered with the colors of any political party; we are patriots, that is our only color,” he said. He denied his group was Golden Dawn supporters but also denied being with “dirty anarchists”.

Anadolu Agency contacted numerous Greek government officials but no one was available to comment on the subject.

Although certain far-right actions have occurred in the country, the Greek government and the majority of the people have shown repeated support for the huge numbers of recently arrived refugees and migrants.

Since early October, refugee children are allowed to attend Greek schools in special programs. Local NGOs and individual volunteers visit migrant camps and provide what they can to support those in need.

Recently, the Greek island of Lesbos saw a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for residents who spent the past year saving refugees from the sea. Even though the citizens of Lesbos did not end up winning, they continue to support the 6,000 refugees and migrants stuck on the island.

At the moment more than 61,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece, according to official government numbers; the vast majority of them are Muslims.

Race hate trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP opens without him

His lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops read out a statement by Wilders explaining why the firebrand politician has chosen not to appear in court.

News Desk

The hate speech trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders opened in his absence Monday, in a case that will test the boundaries of free expression ahead of parliamentary polls next year.

"It is a political process and I have decided not to be present. It's my right as a politician to speak out if there is a problem in the Netherlands," Wilders said in the statement read by Knoops.

A three-judge bench is hearing the case against Wilders, 53, on charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred after comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands.

Due to run until November 25, the trial particularly focuses on a comment made at a March 2014 local government election rally, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted "fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?"

When the crowd shouted back "Fewer! Fewer!" a smiling Wilders answered: "We're going to organise that."

Knoops told journalists before the hearing started that Wilders decision not to attend "is not a big surprise."

"It's in line with his previous statements and we as the defence respects his decision not to appear before the court," Knoops told reporters outside the high-security courthouse at Schiphol where the trial is being held.

The venue was chosen for the security of Wilders, who has round-the-clock protection and has been dubbed the country's "most heavily guarded man".

It is the second such trial for Wilders who was acquitted on similar charges in 2011.

A handful of supporters stood outside the courthouse Monday waving banners saying: "Fewer morality knights, more patriots!" and "To Parliament, via Schiphol," in reference to Wilders' argument that his statements should be discussed in parliament and not in court.

"It's a real shame that he is being put on trial for speaking his mind," one of the protesters, who refused to be named, said.

If found guilty, Wilders could face a two-year jail term or a fine of over 20,000 euros ($22,000), but experts said such a severe punishment was unlikely, as he would be regarded as a first-offender and could face a lesser fine or community service.

8 from banned group killed during prison break in India

Alleged members of outlawed Muslim student organization killed during prison break, rights activists question police account

News Desk

Eight alleged members of a group banned by the Indian government were killed by police during a prison escape on Monday.

According to police for the central state of Madhya Pradesh, the eight escaped from a prison in state capital Bhopal earlier in the morning and killed a police officer in the process.

“We located the eight inmates, they fired on us and all of them were killed in cross-firing,” said Yogesh Chaudhary, Inspector General of Bhopal Police. “The prisoners [who were killed] were facing trial for terror incidents, sedition and robbery. They were all housed in the same cell.”

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulated the police on killing the eight prisoners, whose trials had not been finished.

They were from the Student Islamic Movement of India, a student organization outlawed by India 2001. Three had earlier escaped in 2013 but were caught.

State Home Minister Bhupendra Singh told media the escapees were armed with spoons and sharp pieces of steel plates but insisted they were dangerous and needed to be killed.

“The police had no choice but to kill them. They were dreaded extremists," Singh told Indian news cannel NDTV.

Several human rights activists have raised questions about the authenticity of the police account.

“It is surprising that all of them were killed just eight hours after their escape and I don’t know how many weapons they could have had on them for there to be a shoot-out between them and the police,” Manisha Sethi, a human rights activist working with the Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association, said. "Its authenticity needs to be investigated."

In 2013 Sethi’s group published a detailed report arguing that terror cases against Muslim men arrested in Madhya Pradesh rested on weak evidence.