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digital autopsy facility win UK tournament Scientist
£1
UK Govt Ignores
Gitmo Brit Abuse
Issue: 80
November 2014
Approved by
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has
dismissed concerns over the abuse of
British cleared detainee Shaker Aamer,
in a letter to his lawyer at the legal and
human rights charity Reprieve.
In August 2014, Clive Stafford
Smith, Director of Reprieve, wrote to the
Foreign Secretary after a fellow detainee
had described what he called a new
d by
Certifie
‘standard procedure’ of abuses at the
prison. Yemeni Emad Hassan, cleared
for release and detained without charge
since 2002, wrote that “an FCE [Forcible
Cell Extraction, where a team of guards in
riot gear manhandle a detainee] team has
been brought in to beat the detainees,
Shaker was beaten when the medical
people wanted to draw blood.”
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Mr Hammond, in a letter dated
October 7th, responded that “we made
enquiries with US Government officials
who assured us that the report of an
incident, relayed to you by another
detainee, is not accurate.”? Yet similar
descriptions of escalating punitive abuse
at Guantanamo, which would appear
to corroborate Mr Hassan’s allegations,
Continued on page 13
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I Editorial
thePassion
www.pi-media.co.uk I November 2014
New charity powers to
target Muslim groups
The government is seeking to
furnish the Charity Commission,
the regulatory body for British
charities, with powers to prevent
people with convictions for certain
criminal offences ñ such as terrorism
or money laundering ñ from being
charity trustees and to disqualify
people from being a charity trustee
if the Charity Commission considers
them unfit.
The laws were originally trailed
in the government’s ‘Tackling
Extremism in the UK’ report
published in December last year
and were widely criticised by IHRC
and other Muslim organisations who
saw them as a potential green light
for the Commission to increase its
taregting of Muslim-run charities on
political grounds.
While the proposed legislation’s
stated aim is to stem the flow of
money and manpower to the current
conflict in Syria, the reality is that the
Charity Commission will have more
teeth to harass innocent and lawabiding Muslim-run organisations.
In 2010 the Commission launched
an inquiry into the prominent Muslim
charity Muslim Aid after complaints
from pro-Zionist quarters that it was
channelling funds to a Palestinian
group which Britain has designated
a terrorist organisation. The
Commission found no evidence to
substantiate the allegations.
In the preceding years the Charity
Commission launched no fewer
than three separate inquiries into
the Muslim-run Interpal whose work
is dedicated to alleviating the plight
of Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories and in the Palestinian
diaspora. On each occasion it found
no evidence to implicate the charity.
IHRC believes that given that the
governmentís definition of extremism
now incorporates a latitudinous
range of beliefs and behaviour, it
will allow the Commission to target
a larger number of charities, simply
on account of the religious and/or
political beliefs they or their partner
organisations appear to hold.
The government has turned the
Charity Commission into a principal
enforcement agent of its muchberated PREVENT programme,
designed to combat religious and
political extremism in the UK. The
recent appointment by the Cabinet
Office of Peter Clarke to the board of
the Charity Commission underlines
this transformation of the Charity
Commission from an oversight
agency into an instrument of
repression against British Muslims.
Another recent appointment Tony
Leifer is a member of the Executive
Committee of the Board of Deputies
for British Jews ñ a major player
in Britain’s Israel lobby. The BoD
runs a campaign called “Speak
Out For Israel!”, which promotes
Zionist Federation events, and
has organised rallies to defend
Israel while the country conducted
indiscriminate and deliberate attacks
on civilians.
The chair of the Commission
William Shawcross is himself
renowned for his extreme antiMuslim views. Shawcross supported
the Iraq war and is friendly with
American neoconservatives, has
defended Guantanamo Bay as
‘model justice’. He is a director of
the Henry Jackson Society ñ itself a
registered charity - which is known
for its virulent anti-Islamic members
and views, In the hard-right National
Review in 2010, Shawcross penned
a vicious attack on Labour for being
‘in awe of Islam’.
An IHRC spokesman said: “These
appointments all show that the
ground was laid a long time ago for
the Charity Commission to be turned
into an instrument of oppression
against certain sections of society
who hold opposing views to those
of the government. It is highly ironic
that the head of the Commission
and board members such as Leifer
epitomise the same divisive forces
that David Cameron claims to be
trying to eradicate with these new
powers.”
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or email: [email protected] - www.pi-media.co.uk - mob: 07506 466 385
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I November 2014
NEWS
I3
Human rights group raises concerns over
extension of terror act beyond UK borders
CAGE has raised serious questions
in relation to a clause within the
Serious Crime Bill which allows the
British government to prosecute
individuals they deem to be preparing
for acts of terrorism from outside UK
jurisdiction.
CAGE’s submission to the
Joint Committee on Human Rights
(JCHR), detailed a number of human
rights breaches within the Bill.
The Bill aims to extend extraterritorial jurisdiction of the
Prevention of Terrorism Act 2006,
effectively allowing the government
to extend their powers under an
act that has already been deemed
excessively broad, both in terms
of its reach and in its definition of
“terrorism”.
CAGE’s points were later
referenced in the JCHR’s report.
They included the following concerns:
“The government has not
shown the necessity for extending
their jurisdiction extra-territorially.
Further, there has been no proper
examination or assessment of the
threat posed by travellers to Syria.”
“The government has also failed
to prove that there is in fact a gap in
the current law.”
“Finally, and alarmingly, no
alternatives to criminalisation
were considered - for example to
engage with communities in order to
understand reasons behind travelling
to begin with.”
The JCHR agreed on these
points – and that the government did
not demonstrate a need for such a
dramatic extension of their powers.
CAGE also raised concern about
issues concerning information
sharing between the UK and
foreign governments outside the
legal framework, which could cast
the reliability and impartiality of
evidence in doubt – especially within
the context of rapidly evolving and
unpredictable political events.
Despite agreeing with some of the
issues CAGE raised, unfortunately
the JCHR were still satisfied with the
government’s justifications and so
the provision has not been opposed.
The JCHR recommended that
prosecutions brought under this
clause should be monitored closely
- to see if it as operationally useful as
the government claims.
Senior delegates explore
digital autopsy facility
4
I
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
The Rt. Hon. Baroness Warsi,
together with senior police figures
responsible for serious crime in
Bradford and Ramzan Mohayuddin of
the Saad Foundation, visited iGene’s
Bradford Digital Autopsy facility to
review the potential of Digital Autopsy
technology for forensic science and
the preservation of evidence in criminal
cases.
During the visit, Baroness Warsi
was shown how a specially-trained
pathologist can then conduct a full
post mortem on a computer without
the need to dissect the body. The
body is scanned using conventional
CT technology, forming an incredibly
detailed 3D representation of the body
and then iGene’s INFOPSY® software
enables pathologies to rotate the 3D
image and evaluate it from multiple
angles.
The Bradford centre is operated
by iGene as is part of the multimillion
pound UK-wide network of Digital
Autopsy facilities that is transforming
the way post mortems are carried out.
Using the system a scene of death or
crime could be reconstructed digitally
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using the 3D capabilities of the system
and using a digital autopsy rather than
a traditional invasive one preserves
key evidence that might otherwise be
damaged. The results are available
almost immediately and can be shared
digitally too, for example between
Police Forces.
iGene has already used its cutting
edge technology to help police solve
the mystery of a man who committed
suicide more than a year ago. It was
contacted by the British Transport
Police after extensive inquiries by
officers to find the identification of the
man, who was hit by a train, drew a
blank. iGene has now sent the data
and images to experts at Dundee
University, who will now use them to
try to create a full facial reconstruction.
It is then hoped an appeal can be
launched to find the identity of the
man.
Baroness Warsi said: “iGene’s
Digital Autopsy technology offers
tremendous potential, not only for
families who are seeking to understand
how their loved one died and for this to
be done quickly and without the need
I November 2014
for cutting of the body, but also for
police and other authorities who can
use it to assist in their investigations.”
Ramzan Mohayuddin, of the Saad
Foundation, which helps bereaved
families in their time of need and has a
particular focus on the introduction of
imaging services as an alternative to
intrusive post mortems, said:
“This is about families having a
choice and the ability to treat their
loved ones with respect and dignity.
The one certainty in life is death.
Embracing technology is the way
forward, intrusive post mortems are
a Victorian practice, outdated and no
longer good practice – iGene have
turned research into reality”
The Saad Foundation was formed
after the death of Saad Mohayuddin,
18yrs on 25th December 2008.
At that time the use of such
techniques was limited and under
- utilised by coroners as it was not an
accepted practice.
Since then the Saad Foundation
has been working with government
bodies to progress the legislation
under the Coroners and Justice Act,
build the evidence base through
research and through the Chief
Coroner have guidance disseminated
to practitioners on how this should be
used.
The Saad Foundation has
been working with Igene on the
implementation of this service
nationally and is now knocking on the
door of local authorities to ensure they
pay for the cost of scans rather than
individual families.
Further info can be accessed on
www.saadfoundation.com
British surgeon killed unlawfully in Syrian jail
A British surgeon who died in
a Syrian prison last year after
travelling to work in Aleppo was
unlawfully killed, a London jury ruled.
Abbas Khan, a 32-year-old
orthopaedic surgeon from London,
was detained in Syria almost two
years ago and found dead in a
prison cell last December.
Shortly after his death, his family
said he had been arrested within 48
hours of arriving in Syria to volunteer
as an emergency doctor.
Khan’s family had not believed
the official explanation for the death
given by the Syrian authorities
- that he had committed suicide by
hanging days before his scheduled
release - and his body was brought
back to Britain.
A spokesman for the Royal
Courts of Justice said the jury had
returned a verdict of unlawful killing.
“Dr Khan was deliberately and
intentionally killed without any legal
justification,”.
The jury had previously heard that
Khan had gone to offer his medical
skills and was not in the country to
fight.
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I November 2014
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Secret policy reveals GCHQ
can get warrantless access
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I November 2014
Britain’s intelligence services do not
need a warrant to receive unlimited bulk
intelligence from the NSA and other
foreign agencies, and can keep this
data on a massive searchable database
for up to two years, according to secret
internal policies revealed by human
rights organisations.
Details of previously unknown
internal policies, which GCHQ was
forced to reveal during legal proceedings
challenging their surveillance practices
in the wake of the Snowden revelations,
reveal that intelligence agencies can
gain access to bulk data collected from
US cables or through US corporate
partnerships without having to obtain
a warrant from the Secretary of State.
This position seems to conflict with
reassurances by the Intelligence
Services Committee in July 2013 that
whenever GCHQ seeks information from
the US a warrant is in place.
The “arrangements”, as they are
called by Government, also suggest that
intercept material received from foreign
intelligence agencies is not subject to the
already weak safeguards that are applied
to communications that are intercepted
by the UK’s Tempora programme. On
the face of the descriptions provided to
the claimants, the British intelligence
agencies can trawl through foreign
intelligence material without meaningful
restrictions and can keep such material,
which includes both communications
content and metadata, for up to two
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
years.
Descriptions of the policies were
disclosed to the parties after a secret
hearing at the Investigatory Powers
Tribunal, which is currently considering
a challenge to GCHQ’s surveillance
practices that has been brought by
human rights organisations including
Privacy International, Liberty and
Amnesty International. A public hearing
of the case was held in July, but these
“arrangements” were revealed to the
Tribunal in a closed hearing that the
claimants were barred from attending.
Some details about the policies are now
disclosed in order for the claimants to
provide comment.
It is the first time the Government
has made available some details of
the secret internal “arrangements”, the
existence of which they rely on to show
that their mass surveillance practices
and extensive exchange of surveillance
material with the NSA are in accordance
with the law. The Government says
these “arrangements” make their actions
compliant with the Human Rights Act,
even though the arrangements remain
secret and immune from public scrutiny.
The disclosed “arrangements” bring
into sharp relief the minimal safeguards
and weak restrictions on raw intelligence
sharing with foreign governments,
including between the UK and the
United States. The fact that GCHQ can
request and receive large quantities of
“unanalysed” raw bulk data from foreign
I7
intelligence agencies without a warrant
in place, simply because it would “not be
technically feasible” to obtain it in the UK,
shows the inadequacies in RIPA to deal
with intelligence agency co-operation.
Under these “arrangements”, there is
a clear risk that agencies can sidestep
British legal restrictions to obtain access
to vast amounts of data
The release of some details of the
arrangements also raises serious doubts
about the level of oversight provided
by the ISC, which heard evidence from
the Foreign Secretary as part of its
current investigation into privacy and
security. In July 2013 the ISC conducted
an investigation of GCHQ’s access to
the NSA’s PRISM programme, and
reassured the public that “in each case
where GCHQ sought information from
the US, a warrant for interception,
signed by a Minister, was already in
place, in accordance with the legal
safeguards contained in the Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.”
This statement obscures whether
GCHQ could have sought information
without a warrant in place, thus failing to
reveal that RIPA interception warrants
are not required for GCHQ access to
intercepts obtained under programmes
such as PRISM and Upstream.
Furthermore, the ISC’s statement
confines itself to instances in which
GCHQ specifically seeks information, but
doesn’t stipulate what processes are in
place when it receives unsolicited bulk
data from the NSA.
Britain set to deploy drones to Syria
Media reports suggest the British
military is set to deploy its armed
unmanned aircraft to Syria, despite
opposition by members of the
parliament.
The Independent said that the
military, which has moved its armed
Reaper drones from Afghanistan, is
ready use them in operations against IS
in Syria.
The report came days after London
announced the redeployment of
Reapers for operations in Iraq.
“We are in the process of redeploying some of our Reaper
remotely-piloted aircraft from
Afghanistan to the Middle East,” UK
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told
British MPs.
The Independent also quoted senior
Whitehall sources as revealing that the
armed drones “would be operating in
Syria as well, initially for surveillance,
but also in an attack capacity with
Hellfire missiles if authorization is
given.”
This came after British lawmakers
voted to authorize military engagement
in Iraq, but they have not approved
extending the strikes into Syria.
Several Labour and Liberal
Democrat MPs say the validity of any
military action in Syria is questionable
under international law, because
Damascus has not asked for foreign
help.
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I November 2014
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I November 2014
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
I9
Met terror chief defends RIPA
spying against journalists
A senior Metropolitan Police officer
has defended the use of spying
powers against journalists saying that
“nobody should be above the law”.
But assistant commissioner Mark
Rowley said that there should be
“good grounds” to believe someone
is involved in criminality before
intrusive surveillance is allowed
against them.
So far Press Gazette has
uncovered four instances of police
using powers allowed under the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers
Act to spy on journalists.
In the three cases where phone
records were seized - those
involving the Ipswich Star, Mail on
Sunday and The Sun - the journalists
involved were not under suspicion
of breaking the law. In the case of
Milton Keynes Citizen journalist Sally
Murrer, she was subject to audio
surveillance under RIPA taping her
conversations with a police officer,
but she was cleared at trial.
Rowley told the Today
programme: “RIPA is a series of
provisions which is about tackling
crime. Depending how intrusive the
act is that we want to do is depends
on the level of authority.
“Everyone would accept that
nobody should be above the law,
whether it’s a member of the public,
whether it’s a police officer, whether
it’s a journalist, we should be able to
investigate and pursue any one of
those.
“That’s how these powers should
be used. To be going after intrusive
surveillance against a journalist there
ought to be good grounds to believe
they are involved in criminality
“If Parliament were to decide there
are special issues around journalistic
privilege which means there needs to
be new safeguards around that well
that’s something for Parliament to
debate.
“We will keep using the powers to
chase down criminals whether they
are ordinary members of the public or
journalists.”
Legal action begins against BIS
over UK arms sales to Israel
Campaign Against Arms Trade
(CAAT) has instructed law firm
Leigh Day to pursue an application
for judicial review to challenge the
Department of Business, Innovation
and Skills (BIS) decision not to
suspend or revoke 12 existing
licences for the export of arms/
components to Israel.
The decision followed a review
which was overseen by Vince Cable
MP and the Department of Business
Innovation and Skills (BIS) which
identified 12 licences for components
that could be part of equipment
used by the Israel Defence Forces
in Gaza. However, BIS decided that
it would not even suspend these
licences unless “significant hostilities”
resumed.
The United Nations Human Rights
Council (UNHRC) has indicated
that grave breaches of international
humanitarian law and other serious
breaches of international law may
have occurred during ‘Operation
Protective Edge’, which was
launched on 8 July 2014 against the
population of Gaza, killing over 1900
people.
The wider legal basis for the legal
action is outlined in the letter to BIS.
All the correspondence between
CAAT and BIS is available on the
CAAT website.
Andrew Smith from CAAT, said:
“The UK government’s response
to the bombardment of Gaza was
unacceptable. Vince Cable himself
oversaw a review that identified 12
licences for arms that he accepted
were likely to have been used in
Gaza. He refused to even suspend
them at the time, saying that he
would only do so if the violence
continued.
“The violence continued, more
people died, and yet he failed to
follow through on his word. This
wasn’t the first time UK weapons
have been used against Gaza, so
the licences should never have been
granted in the first place.
“This is yet another example of
the UK government doing everything
in its power to promote and
facilitate arms sales despite terrible
ramifications for human rights. Arms
sales don’t just provide military
support to the recipient, they imply a
strong level of political support too.”
Since 2010 the UK government
has licensed £42 million worth of
military licences to Israel, including
targeting systems and drone
components.
10
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I November 2014
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I November 2014
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
I 11
First details of Government’s lawyer
client spying policies revealed
A rare public hearing of the
Investigatory Powers Tribunal
(IPT) has for the first time revealed
details of UK security services’
secret policies on the interception of
private calls between lawyers and
their clients, says the legal charity
Reprieve.
The existence of the secret
policies on legally-privileged material
emerged in the course of a torture
case brought by Reprieve and
others, on behalf of Libyan rendition
victims Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, Sami alSaadi and their families.
Lawyers for Mr Belhaj and Mr alSaadi – who in 2004 were abducted
with their families in a joint MI6Libyan operation and rendered to
Libya, where they faced years of
torture – are fighting to have these
policies disclosed, saying they
fear their conversations with their
clients have been spied on. The
confidentiality of those conversations
is bound by legal professional
privilege (LPP).
In documents discussed at
yesterday’s (16 October) hearing,
the Government admitted that the
policies provide “guidance” on the
sharing of privileged material with
security service personnel who are
subject to litigation – such as in
the Belhaj and al-Saadi case – but
refused to say whether such sharing
would take place.
In response to questions on this
and related issues, the Government’s
lawyers said that to answer fully
“would be damaging to the public
interest or prejudicial to national
security.”
Cori Crider, Reprieve strategic
director and a lawyer for the Belhaj
and Saadi families, said: “MI6 helped
kidnap my clients and ‘rendered’
them to Gaddafi’s dungeons - but the
security services’ misdeeds didn’t
stop there. We now know that each
security service has at least a policy
on their interception of privileged
lawyer-client conversations – policies
they claim are ‘too secret’ to
disclose.
“The reason for these hard-line
tactics is clear: there is a real risk
that privileged information has been
improperly used in our clients’ torture
claims. If it’s true that information
from their spying has tainted
government officials or lawyers
involved in the Libyan torture cases,
then the government has a massive
problem on its hands.”
Outraged by Israel’s Behavior, British
MPs Recognize Palestinian State
The British parliament took
the historic step of voting
unilaterally to back the
recognition of Palestinian
statehood last month.
Voting by 274 to 12,
a majority of 262, MPs
on all sides urged the
Government to recognize
the state of Palestine.
Support for the motion,
while symbolic, marks
a significant change in
the political landscape,
following the failure
of successive peace
negotiations and the bitter
conflict in Gaza over the
summer.
Significantly Labor
whipped its MPs to vote
in favor of the resolution;
raising the prospect
that the party would
defy Israel’s wishes and
recognize Palestine as
a state should it come to
power at the next election,
The Independent reported.
But even previously
staunch supporters
of Israel within the
Conservative Party chose
not to oppose the motion
which was brought by
the backbench Labor MP
Grahame Morris.
Richard Ottaway,
chairman of the powerful
Foreign Affairs Select
Committee, said he no
longer felt he could vote
to deny the Palestinians
the right of recognition
because of recent Israeli
actions.
12
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I November 2014
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I November 2014
LOCAL / WORLD NEWS
I 13
UK Govt ignores gitmo Brit abuse
continued from front page
have for some time been emerging
from the prison. In a letter to William
Hague in May of this year, Clive
Stafford Smith sent testimony from Mr
Aamer that he is sometimes FCEd up
to eight times a day. He also included
an excerpt from a recent letter of Mr
Aamer’s, which said, “Last night,
as I came back from my legal call, I
was FCEd in much the same way I
always am, as I peacefully refused to
cooperate with them again. This time
they did not just force me down on
the floor of the room. They apparently
decided that they had to get me dirty,
so they threw me down in the passage
way […]”
A recent trial in Washington D.C to
assess the legality of force-feeding and
FCE methods used at Guantanamo in
the case of cleared Syrian Abu Wa’el
Dhiab, revealed further levels of abuse.
Giving evidence in court, Dr Steven
Miles, a bioethicist, decried the use of
olive oil to force-feed prisoners and
said that “it’s a form of punishment that
is wrapped around the business” of
force feeding the detainee.? Prior to
the trial, Judge Gladys Kessler ordered
the US Government to release video
footage showing force-feedings and
FCEs being carried out against Syrian
detainee Abu Wa’el.
Lawyers at Reprieve wrote to
the then-Foreign Secretary William
Hague in May, asking that the British
government request any video
footage that the US may hold of Mr
Aamer being FCEd, but Mr Hague
responded that: “we do not view that it
is necessary for the UK Government
to ask the US Government to release
cctv footage from Guantanamo Bay.”
Mr Aamer, whose British wife
and their four children live in South
London, has been cleared for release
from Guantanamo since 2007. It has
long been stated British policy that Mr
Aamer should be returned to his family
in the UK.
Clive Stafford Smith, who is one
of Mr Aamer’s lawyers, said: “The US
military is not telling Mr Hammond the
truth about the abuse of Mr Aamer,
any more than they did to Judge
Kessler, who had the good sense to
demand to see the video footage. I
have just returned from a visit and
the brutal nature of the FCEing – to
which Shaker is subjected probably
more than any other prisoner – is only
getting worse. Mr Hammond says that
the UK is doing all it can to help Shaker
but if it were his son or brother being
beaten up every day, he would show a
little more interest in evidence, and a
little less in bland and false denials. It
is far past time that Shaker was home
with his wife and children.”
UN watchdog slams Israel
abuses, demands Gaza war probe
A UN human rights watchdog
urged Israel to respect the rights of
Palestinians, and demanded the
country probe violations committed
during repeated assaults on Gaza.
With tensions soaring in East
Jerusalem and months of almost
daily clashes, the UN Human Rights
Committee published conclusions from
its review earlier this month of Israel’s
human rights record.
The committee lamented continued
punitive demolitions of Palestinian
homes in the West Bank, excessive
force by the Israeli military and decried
reports of the use of torture and illtreatment of Palestinians, including
children, in Israeli detention facilities.
It also slammed the “continuing
confiscation and expropriation of
Palestinian land and restrictions on
access of Palestinians in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, including East
Jerusalem.”
The body, which oversees global
rules on civil and political rights, and
submits governments to regular
reviews, also voiced concern over
alleged human rights abuses during
three Israeli military operations in
Gaza since late 2008, including the
nearly two-month war this summer
that killed nearly 2,200 mainly civilian
Palestinians and 73 people in Israel,
mostly soldiers.
Israel “should ensure that all human
rights violations committed during its
military operations in the Gaza Strip
in 2008-2009, 2012 and 2014 are
thoroughly, effectively, independently
and impartially investigated,” the
Geneva-based committee said in its
conclusions.
It demanded that perpetrators,
especially those in positions of
command, be “prosecuted and
sanctioned” and that the victims and
their families be provided “effective
remedies.”
And it criticised Israel’s continuing
blockade of Gaza, lamenting that the
blockade continues to “negatively
impact Palestinians’ access to all basic
and life-saving services such as food,
health, electricity, water and sanitation.”
The committee’s comments
came as tensions raging since the
Gaza war started in July swelled
after Israeli police shot dead a
Palestinian Thursday suspected of an
assassination attempt on a hardline
campaigner for Jewish prayer rights
at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa
mosque.
In a bid to avoid further tensions,
Israel ordered the closure of the AlAqsa compound to all visitors, drawing
a furious response from Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas, who
described it as “a declaration of war.”
14
I
WORLD NEWS
www.pi-media.co.uk
I November 2014
U.S. top court takes up case
of Muslim woman denied job
The U.S. Supreme Court said
it would consider whether a
Muslim woman denied a job at an
Abercrombie & Fitch Co clothing
store because she wears a head
scarf was required to specifically
request a religious accommodation.
The nine justices agreed to hear
an appeal filed in the closely watched
case by the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, a federal
agency that sued the company on
behalf of Samantha Elauf. She was
denied a sales job at an Abercrombie
Kids store in Tulsa, Oklahoma in
2008.
Elauf, who was 17 at the time,
was wearing a head scarf, or hijab,
at the job interview but did not
specifically say that, as a Muslim,
she wanted the company to give
her a religious accommodation. The
company denied Elauf the job on
the grounds that wearing the scarf
violated its “look policy” for members
of the sales staff.
A federal district judge ruled in
favor of Elauf and the government,
but in an October 2013 ruling the
Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals found that
Elauf was required to ask for an
accommodation.
Abercrombie has faced other
lawsuits including one in which it
agreed in 2004 to pay $40 million
to several thousand minority and
female plaintiffs who had accused
the company of discrimination.
The once-trendy but now
struggling retailer is well-known
for its edgy marketing and often
controversial CEO Mike Jeffries.
Jeffries, who was hired in 1992,
revamped the company to “sizzle
with sex” by introducing racy catalogs
and advertising aimed at making the
more-than-century-old brand a musthave for teenagers.
But he has stirred debate in
the process by suggesting the
company’s clothes were made for
“cool” and “attractive” kids and not
for “fat” people. More recently, sales
have plummeted, and the company
recently announced it would shrink
its once well-known logo to appeal to
younger shoppers.
The company did not return calls
seeking comment on the Supreme
Court’s action.
A ruling by the Supreme Court is
expected by the end of June.
conversations with the Muslim
detainees.”
Haldbrooks said “As I got to
know the detainees, as I learned
their stories during my long night
shifts, I came to see the detainees
as individuals. Many were men who
enjoyed talking about the same
things I do, like ethics, philosophy,
history, religion.”
Being a guard at Guantanamo
Bay Prison, Holdbrooks mulled over
the information Army instructors has
taught about Islam as he’d watched
the so-called terrorists day after day.
What he’d been told wasn’t
lining up with what he observed,
saying, while the detainees were
reading Quran and keeping the daily
schedule of prayers, they remained
undiscouraged under horrendous
pressure, the Deen Show reported
Guantanamo prison
guard converts to Islam
Former prison guard in Guantanamo
Bay Holdbrooks Jr. converted to
Islam “after months of midnight
conversations with the Muslim
detainees.”
In United States Huntsville
Alabama Terry Holdbrooks Jr.,
29 converted to Islam. Former
prison guard in Guantanamo
Bay Holdbrooks Jr. converted to
Islam “after months of midnight
Contact: Editorial Team on 07506 466385, email: [email protected]
France company launch
halal pork test kit
www.pi-media.co.uk
I November 2014
WORLD NEWS
I 15
In Case You
Missed It
A French company has developed a
so-called “Halal test” which will allow
Muslim consumers to detect, within a
matter of minutes, the presence of pork
or alcohol in food.
Priced at €6,90 each or €125
for a packet of 25, a device, simply
called “Halal test”, is designed for
use by Muslims who, under the
dietary requirements of their religion
are forbidden from consuming pork
and alcohol, Le Nouvel Observateur
reported.
In a similar style to a pregnancy
test, the device consists of a strip
which the consumer must put into
a glass of warm water containing a
sample of food. After a few minutes,
the test will then show one of two
options: either a single bar for a
negative test or two bars for a positive
one, which means there is alcohol or
pork present.
The test was created by the
company Capital Biotech, founded by
Franco-Algerian duo Abderrahmane
Chaoui, a graduate in business and
entrepreneur Jean-François Julien.
While no test currently exists which
allows Muslims to verify if food really
is Halal - i.e. it contains meat from
an animal slaughtered according to
Islamic ritual, Chaoui, 25, says the test
is important to confirm “the absence of
food products forbidden by the Quran”.
The tests will be especially helpful
to Muslims when buying unlabelled
food, the Algerian born Chaoui said.
“While travelling, if you go to a
restaurant or order a meal to takeaway,
the products aren’t always labelled,”
he said.
The entrepreneurs are tapping into
a potentially lucrative market. With
France home to around six million
Muslims, the market for Halal food is
estimated to be worth €5.5 billion a
year.
Nevertheless, the business
partners are optimistic that they will
be able to one day create a test that
will be able to determine how an
animal was slaughtered based on the
oxygenation of the blood.
Cuba rejects plans for first mosque
Cuba’s communist government has
turned down a plan to open a mosque
in the capital Cuba.
Pedro Lazo Torres, the leader of
Havana’s Muslim community, revealed
that his joint efforts with Turkey’s
Religious Affairs Foundation (TDV)
to open a mosque in Havana was
rejected.
Torres expressed his dismay
at the decision, noting that Russia
was granted permission to build an
Orthodox church in the country but
4,000 Muslims in Cuba still have no
official place of worship.
Cuban Muslims have until now
had to make do with performing
congregational prayers in Torres’s
living room.
In April, TDV assistant manager
Mustafa Tutkun sought permission to
begin work on a mosque, which was to
be designed after the famous Ortakoy
mosque in Istanbul.
The plan was part of a wider project
by the TDV in building mosques for
Muslims who live in the Caribbean.
A similar project in Haiti is due to be
complete by the end of this year.
US air raid
causes civilian
casualties in
central Yemen
An intensive air raid by U.S.
drones in central Yemen’s AlBayda’ province left civilian
casualties behind, a tribal source
said.
“The victims were mainly
women and children,” the source,
told Anadolu Agency on condition
of anonymity.
He said the attack had targeted
a number of homes in Al-Bayda’s
Wald Rabi’ district as part of a raid
on suspected Al-Qaeda sites.
I WORLD NEWS
I November 2014
More than half of French
prisoners are Muslims - report
16
ww.pi-media.co.uk
Muslims in French prisons
reach up to 60% claimes
France’s UMP party deputy
Guillaume Larrive.
The conclusion drawn by
Larrive in a report as part
of an action plan “against
Islamist radicalisation in
prison” This action plan is
now likely to involve several
hundred prisoners, Le
Figaro reported.
The report estimates
that 60% of the prison
population in France, that
is to say 40,000 prisoners,
can be considered Muslim,
“culturally or originally”.
French deputy Larrive,
who has worked on the
budget of the Prison
Service for 2015, calls for
“setting up specialized antiradicalization shock therapy
units (USAR) for prisoners
returning from jihad”.
However, French daily
Le Monde, firstly regarded
the statistics as a “shocknumber” of the week,
argued the findings of the
report citing the related part
of it, in which involves some
observations of the author
of the book “Islam in prison”
Farhad Khosrokhavar.
The observations
or estimations of
Khosrokhavar covered only
“those close to large urban
centers and neighborhood
institutions”, not all French
prisons, Le Monde claimed.
Le Monde claimed
the report allows us to
question on the findings,
emphasizing “the statistics
60% does not originate
from an official census
since ethnic and religious
statistics are prohibited in
France.”
Belgium plans to revoke
foreign fighters’ citizenship
Belgium is planning legislation to
deprive those who go to fight abroad
of their citizenship and residency, the
new coalition government announced.
Under the proposals, those without
Belgian citizenship could be denied
entry to the country while those with
dual nationality could lose their Belgian
citizenship.
According to the International
Centre for the Study of Radicalisation
and Political Violence, just under 300
people left Belgium in the two years up
to December to fight in Syria.
The London-based think tank said
Belgium was one of the most heavily
affected countries in western Europe,
supplying 27 fighters per million of
population.
The new Belgian prime minister
Charles Michel, 38, is the leader of the
French-speaking Reformist Movement,
which has formed a coalition with
three Flemish parties, including the
nationalist New Flemish Alliance.
Willy Borsus, vice president of the
Reformist Movement, said during a
press conference that the government
must “act decisively” to fight
“radicalization.”
According to Rachid alGhannouchi, the Tunisian leader of the
Ennahda movement, discrimination
in Western society is pushing young
Muslims to join armed groups such
as the Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant.
Amnesty International said earlier
this year that discrimination against
Muslims “can result in isolation,
exclusion and stigmatization.”
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Indian PM warns Pakistan
over cross border attacks
www.pi-media.co.uk
I November 2014
Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi said the “enemy” had now
realized that “old habits” would no
longer be tolerated as he reiterated
his government’s tough stand in the
ongoing cross border confrontation
with Pakistan.
Addressing an election rally in
Baramati town in India’s western
state of Maharashtra, Modi said
“today, when bullets are being fired
on the border, it is the enemy that is
screaming.”
“The enemy has realised that times
WORLD NEWS
have changed and
their old habits will not
be tolerated,” he said.
The prime minister
also hit out at his
political opponents,
who had accused
him of going soft on
Pakistan.
Indian Defense
Minister Arun Jaitley
accused Pakistan
of cross border
“adventurism.”
“Pakistan is the
aggressor, but it
must realize that our
deterrence will be
credible. If Pakistan
persists with this adventurism, our
forces will make the cost of this
adventurism unaffordable,” Jaitley told
reporters.
“India is never an aggressor, it
is a responsible state, but it has a
paramount duty to protect its people,”
he said.
He added that peace talks between
the two countries could not resume
under the present conditions.
Meanwhile, Pakistan military said
three more civilians on its side were
killed by “unprovoked” Indian border
I 17
forces’ firing.
The spate of cross border attacks
between the two nuclear-armed
countries has been ongoing since the
last five days.
The latest civilian casualties on the
Pakistani side put the death toll at 13;
all victims were killed in northeastern
Pakistan’s Sialkot district, the Pakistan
military’s official media wing, the InterServices Public Relations said.
Both countries have accused each
other of initiating “unprovoked” firing
across the Line of Control, a de facto
border which divides the Himalayan
region of Kashmir between Pakistan
and India.
Pakistani Defense Minister
Khawaja Asif said Pakistan was
fully capable of responding to Indian
shelling on its eastern borders in a
“befitting manner.” However, it did not
want to escalate tensions.
In a statement, Asif said: “We
do not want the situation on the
borders of two nuclear neighbors to
escalate into confrontation. India must
demonstrate caution and behave with
responsibility.”
The on going fighting has killed
at least 20 people on both sides,
according to Indian and Pakistani
officials.
Indonesia calls for greater Hajj quota
Indonesia is leading calls for an
increase in the allocation of places for
the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Makkah that
Muslims are expected to make at least
once in their lives.
Indonesia, the world’s most
populous Muslim nation, wants
extra places to cut the waiting list for
pilgrims, who currently face a 20-year
wait to visit Islam’s holy sites.
The country’s Minister of Religious
Affairs Lukman Hakim has proposed
a solution whereby countries trade
allocations, similar to the way nations
trade greenhouse gas emission quotas
under the Kyoto agreement.
As the recipient of the largest
quota, Indonesia, with a population
of 253 million, sends around 200,000
pilgrims to Makkah and Medina every
year for the largest annual gathering of
people in the world.
Each pilgrim must pay a deposit of
around $2,500 and there are currently
more than 2 million Indonesians on
the waiting list. Last year, Indonesian
banks held $914 million in Hajj
deposits.
Hakim said a larger quota would
alleviate many of the problems Hajj
pilgrims face due to their age and the
relatively gruelling nature of the trip for
the infirm.
“We have given priority to
applicants of over 70 years during the
recent Hajj as they have been waiting
longer to perform Hajj,” Hakim told
Arab News.
This month 126 Indonesians died
during the pilgrimage, one of the five
pillars of Islam. Among the 59,200
Turks who made the journey this
month, 37 died.
The call for a quota raise was
backed in Turkey, which has a waiting
list of 1.25 million.
Professor Mehmet Soysaldi, a
theologist at Firat University in Elazig,
eastern Turkey, said: “These quotas
are very limited due to Saudi Arabia’s
restraints. However, this country [Saudi
Arabia] should do its part to provide a
good service to more pilgrims.”
He called for the Kingdom to
plan for the next century and make
infrastructure changes around holy
sites by, for example, moving hotels
in Makkah further out of the city and
investing in a transport system that
would reduce the risk of stampedes.
Austrian Muslims react
to Islam law change
18
I WORLD NEWS
Reactions to Austria’s recent
proposed law change concerning its
Islamic community are growing, with
the amendment being accused of
violating the constitutional rights of
the country’s 500,000 Muslims.
The Austrian government brought
a draft bill to parliament on October 2
which would prohibit foreign funding
for Islamic organizations and oblige
the Islamic community to agree a
standardized German translation of
the Quran and other religious texts.
The amendment, which overhauls
Austria’s 1912 ‘Law on Islam’ over
fears about rising extremism, also
lays down rules on who can work as
Islamic clerics in the country.
According to the bill, the
employment of clerics from abroad
would be prohibited. Imams would
instead be trained at Austrian
universities. Currently, some 300
imams work in the country, including
65 Turkish clerics.
The bill seeks to bar “influences
from abroad” according to Minister
of Foreign Affairs and Integration
Sebastian Kurz, from the center-right
Austrian People’s Party.
Kurz said the amendment was
needed as time and conditions have
changed, claiming the draft bill was
to prevent extremism.
“The clear message should
be that there is no contradiction
www.pi-media.co.uk I November 2014
between being a faithful Muslim and
a proud Austrian,” Kurz said.
Austria is home to more than
500,000 Muslims, about six percent
of total population, making up the
country’s largest non-Christian
religious minority.
Austria’s interior ministry has
claimed that some 140 Austrian
Muslims are believed to have joined
the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant, which has been operating in
Syria and Iraq.
The critics of the bill say it
promotes a “state-guided” Islam and
is against the constitution, which
guarantees equality and freedom of
speech and of religion.
The prohibition of foreign funding
has been the main target for critics
as they say it violates the fairness
of the constitution since the same
legislation will not be applied to other
religious communities.
An academic from Salzburg
University’s law department, Metin
Akyurek, called for the rights enjoyed
by Protestant, Catholic and Jewish
groups to be extended to the Islamic
community to guarantee “equality” in
Austrian society.
Austria’s aim of training its own
imams was criticized by Akyurek
as he says this goes against the
right to teach religion based on the
European Union’s human rights laws.
He also questioned the timing of
the law as Muslim communities come
under suspicion over fears about
extremism.
Dr. Farid Hafez, a scholar from
Salzburg University, told the Anadolu
Agency that the amendment is
“institutionalized Islamophobia.”
Hafez accused the Austrian
government of trying to create its own
“state-guided” Islam.
“There is a political motivation
behind this bill,” he claimed pointing
to the rise of euroskeptic and rightwing political groups in Austria.
The president of the Austrian
Islamic Community, Fuat Sanac,
earlier announced they would appeal
to Austria’s constitutional court to
halt the amendment, which “risked
humiliating” the country’s Muslim
population.
Sanac, on said the Muslim
community did not want to be treated
as “second-class” citizens.
The appeals will be evaluated
until November 7 by the constitutional
council.
US drone
attack
kills five in
Afghanistan
A US drone strike killed an
alleged prominent terrorist
commander belonging to the
Haqqani network and four of
his companions in eastern
Afghanistan a senior police
official said.
The attack was reported in the
Zurmat district of Paktia province
Deputy provincial police chief
Mirzaman told Anadolu Agency
all those killed were residents of
Gardez city, the provincial capital
of Paktia province.
www.pi-media.co.uk
I November 2014
WORLD NEWS I 19
Egypt denies airstrikes on
Islamists in Libya’s Benghazi
Egypt has denied reports that its
warplanes bombed sites belonging
to Islamist militias in Libya’s eastern
Benghazi city.
Presidency spokesman Alaa
Youssef dismissed media reports
that Egyptian warplanes had struck
targets in Libya, according to the
official MENA news agency.
Forces loyal to former army chiefof-staff Khalifa Haftar also denied
Egyptian involvement in the airstrikes
against Islamists in Benghazi.
“Reports about the participation
of Egyptian warplanes in attacks on
sites of extremist Islamist groups are
untrue,” Pro-Haftar air commander
Saqr al-Garrouchi said.
Associated Press news agency
earlier quoted two unnamed Egyptian
officials as saying that Egyptian
planes had struck sites of Islamist
militias in eastern Libya.
The two officials said that the
strikes “were part of an Egypt-led
operation against armed militias
in Libya that also included Libyan
ground forces”.
But Libyan lawmaker Tareq alGarrouchi said that the Egyptian
planes that allegedly struck the
Islamist sites were flown by Libyan
pilots.
“The Egyptian government has
given four warplanes to the Libyan
army command two weeks ago as
part of Egypt’s support for the Libyan
army in fighting terrorism,” he told
Anadolu Agency.
In August, Islamist militia leaders
accused Egypt and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) of launching
airstrikes against their camps in
Libyan capital Tripoli.
Both countries, however, denied
any involvement in the attacks.
Libya has been dogged by
political instability since the 2011
ouster and death of longstanding
ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Ever since, rival militias have
locked horns, bringing violence to
Libya’s main cities.
The sharp divisions have yielded
two rival seats of government in the
country, each of which has its own
institutions.
Two assemblies currently vie
for legislative authority: the newlyelected House of Representatives,
which convenes in the eastern
city of Tobruk; and the General
National Congress, which – even
though its mandate ended in August
– continues to convene in capital
Tripoli.
The two parliaments support two
different governments respectively
headquartered in the two cities.
Sick Palestinian inmates in need of care
Medical negligence and lack of
adequate medical care in the
Israeli regime’s detention facilities
are taking their toll on the lives of
hundreds of sick Palestinian inmates
there.
The Tel Aviv regime is turning a
blind eye to the deteriorating health
conditions of about 1,500 sick
Palestinians behind bars in Israeli
prisons.
Figures show around 100 of
the Palestinian inmates with health
problems have been diagnosed with
cancer and chronic diseases and are
in need of immediate care.
Human rights organizations
have called on Israel to immediately
release the Palestinian inmates
diagnosed with serious illnesses.
“Any one visiting the Israeli
hospitals, where sick Palestinian
prisoners are kept, discovers that the
jails might be better. We have always
believed that the appropriate solution
to treat the prisoners is through
releasing them,” said Tayseer alAli, with the Palestinian Center for
Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights.
Reports say over 7,000
Palestinians are being held in Israeli
jails.
Approximately 2,000 of the
Palestinian prisoners have been
arrested over the past few months.
On September 26, the Ahrar
Center for Prisoners Studies said
Israel was holding 540 Palestinians
without trial, showing an increase in
the number of these cases over the
past six years.
Last month, the Palestinian
Department of Prisoners’ Affairs
accused the Israeli regime of serious
negligence regarding the health
conditions of Palestinian detainees.
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20I WORLD NEWS
www.pi-media.co.uk I November 2014
Mahmoud Abbas vows legal
action against Aqsa attacks
Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to
take “legal measures” to prevent
illegal Israeli settlers from attacking
the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds
(Jerusalem).
“The Palestinian leadership will be
taking the necessary legal measures,
at the international level, regarding
the aggression of [Israeli] settlers on
the al-Aqsa Mosque,” Abbas said,
adding that the Palestinian government
will “not allow settlers to attack the
mosque.”
The holy Islamic site has been the
scene of clashes between Palestinian
worshippers and Israeli settlers and
troops last month.
Sweden appoints
first Muslim minister
A 27-year-old Bosnian Muslim
immigrant has been named the new
Swedish minister of education, setting
a role model for young, active Muslims.
The minister, Aida Hadzialic, was
named earlier in October in Stefan
Löfven new cabinet as the new Upper
Secondary School and Adult Education
Initiative in Sweden, IBNlive reported.
A law graduate from the University
of Lund, Hadzialic became the deputy
mayor of the Swedish city Halmstad at
the age of 23.
Born in 1987 in Foča, Bosnia, the
27-year-old Swedish politician is now
the youngest person ever to serve as a
minister in Sweden.
Hadzialic was five years old when
her family fled from war in BosniaHerzegovina.
Bosnia fell into civil war in 1992,
and that left 200,000 people dead
with millions displaced as Serb forces
launched ethnic cleansing campaign
against Bosnian Muslims.
During the 43-month war, nearly
two million people fled their homes,
half a million of them are still listed as
refugees.
In the final months of the three-year
war, Serb forces, led by General Ratko
Mladic, overran Srebrenica, killing
some 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
Some 15 percent of Sweden’s
population is foreign born, the highest
in the Nordic region.
Muslims are estimated to make
up between 450,000 and 500,000 of
Sweden’s nine million people.
At least 1,300 Israeli settlers and
hundreds of soldiers have forced
their way into the compound while
thousands of Palestinian Muslims
under the age of 50 have been barred
from entering the site.
Abbas called on all Palestinians to
use “all means” necessary to protect
the mosque from Israeli settlers,
arguing that Israelis have no right to
desecrate the holy compound.
Khaled Meshaal, the political
bureau chief of Gaza-based
Palestinian resistance movement
Hamas, has also warned that the Tel
Aviv regime is taking advantage of
the current crisis in the Middle East
to exert its control over the al-Aqsa
Mosque.
The al-Aqsa compound, which
lies in the Israeli-occupied Old City of
al-Quds, is a holy site in Islam. The
mosque is Islam’s third-holiest site
after Masjid al-Haram in Makah and
Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.
Pakistan opens
world’s 7th
largest mosque
Hitting a new record, the world’s
seventh largest mosque has
been inaugurated in Pakistan
to accommodate thousands of
worshippers in Lahore city.
“The mosque will become a
symbol of Pakistan across the
Muslim World,” Bahria Town
chairman Malik Riaz told the
Express Tribune.
The Grand Jamia Masjid, which
has a total capacity of 70,000,
accommodates 25,000 worshippers
at its main hall, it has 21 domes
and four 165 feet high minarets, the
mosque was acknowledged as the
world’s seventh largest mosque and
the largest in Pakistan.
Designed by Nayyar Ali Dada, it
has a marbled floor and decorated
with tailor-made chandeliers and its
ornate halls have been beautified
with 4,000,000 mosaic tiles.
I November 2014
WORLD NEWS I 21
France most popular European
travel destination for Muslims
www.pi-media.co.uk
France has emerged as the most
desirable travel destination in Europe
by Muslim tourists particularly among
Malaysian travelers, according to a
poll of travelers in the Middle East and
Southeast Asia.
Of the 400 Muslim respondents
from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and the
United Arab Emirates, 30 percent
cited France as their top European
destination, followed by England and
Italy (tied at 28 percent), Germany and
Turkey (tied at 26 percent).
France is particularly popular
among Malaysian travelers, 28 percent
of whom cited the country as their top
pick.
The results of the Muslim Travel
Index 2014 were released out of the
Halal Tourism Conference held in
Andalucia, Spain earlier this week.
According to the report, the halal
First prayer in Cyprus
mosque in 40 years
Turkish Cypriots have been allowed to
pray in a mosque in the Greek Cypriotcontrolled southern Cyprus for the first
time in 40 years.
The head of Religious Affairs in
Northern Cyprus, Prof. Dr Talip Atalay,
led prayers at the Kebir mosque and
visited Muslim cemeteries in the city
of Baf (Paphos) and its surroundings
on the invitation of Greek Cypriot
Archbishop Chrysostomos II.
After the prayers held at the
Ottoman-era mosque, which was
converted into a mosque by Mehmed
Bey Ebu Bekir in the late 1500s, Dr.
Atalay expressed his happiness,
thanking the Turkish Cypriot Foreign
Ministry - which arranged the visit - and
the Swedish embassy for it mediating
role, World Bulletin reported.
Dr. Atalay’s visit marks the first
visit of a Cyprus Mufti to Baf and
its surroundings since the island of
Cyprus was split in 1974 following an
intervention from Turkey in response
to a Greek-backed military coup on the
Cypriot government.
Meetings between the religious
leaders of Cyprus have become a
regular opportunity to encourage
dialogue between the two major
religious groups on the island
- Muslims and Christians - as the
Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot
governments seek to resolve the
Cyprus dispute.
tourism sector was worth $140 billion
last year, representing 13 percent
of global travel expenditures and is
expected to rise to $192 billion by
2020.
Another report from DinarStandard
also predicted that 14 percent of
international trips will be undertaken
by Muslims by 2020, outpacing the
global average when it comes to travel
growth.
In the UK alone, visitors from the
Middle East spent £1.1 billion ($1.8
billion) in 2013.
Here are the top European
destinations for Muslim travelers
according to the Muslim Travel Index
2014:
1. France (30%)
2. Italy (28%), England (28%)
3. Germany (26%), Turkey (26%)
4. Spain (23%)
5. Netherlands (17%)
6. Austria (14%)
7. Scotland (12%)
8. Greece (11%), Sweden (11%)
9. Portugal (9%)
10. Belgium (7%)
Top European destination for Saudi
Arabia: Germany, Malaysia: France,
United Arab Emirates: Turkey
Al-Azhar to Open
Islamic Sciences
College in
Chechnya
Egypt’s al-Azhar Islamic Center
has plans to establish a college
of Islamic sciences in Russia’s
Republic of Chechnya.
According to al-Yawm al-Sabi
daily, the construction of the college
is expected to begin in a few days.
The decision for establishing
the college came after a visit by
Chechnya’s Grand Mufti to Egypt
earlier this year.
During the visit, he met with
a number of al-Azhar officials
including Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the
grand sheikh of al-Azhar.
22
I SPORT
www.pi-media.co.uk I November 2014
Gillingham FC chairman charged
with racism by English FA
In Case You
Missed It
A Dubai-based businessman has
been charged with race victimisation
by the UK’s Football Association (FA)
after the English club which he is
chairman of allegedly refused to pay
the medical bills’ for an injured black
striker, it was reported.
Gillingham Football Club and its
chairman Paul Scally, who has lived
in Dubai since 2006, were charged
by the FA of breaching its rules by
dismissing retired footballer Mark
McCammom and refusing to pay for
treatment for a serious injury, the
Daily Mail reported.
The Barbados footballer used
Sonny Bill Williams
named in All Blacks squad
New Zealand head coach Steve
Hansen has named Sonny Bill
Williams in a 34-man squad boasting
1,249 Test caps for their fourmatch northern hemisphere tour in
November.
Williams, who was part of the 2011
Rugby World Cup-winning All Blacks
squad and last featured for them in
2012, came back to union earlier
this month after a two-year spell in
Australia’s National Rugby League.
His only action has been with
Counties Manukau in the national
provincial competition, but has a deal
with the All Blacks and the Chiefs
for 2015 and 2016, and could make
a swift return to international action
as the world champions begin their
build-up to next year’s tournament in
England.
www.pi-media.co.uk
the club in August 2012 and claimed
the club and staff treated black
players differently from their white
colleagues.
McCammom said the club offered
to pay for his medical bills on the UK
National Health Service (NHS), while
a white injured teammate was flown
to Dubai for private treatment at the
club’s expense
However, Scally described
McCammon’s allegations as
“maliciously and without foundation”.
The club was ordered to pay
McCammon £68,000 ($109,398)
compensation to McCammon and
has until November 14 to respond to
the FA’s decision.
December date
set for Khan v
Alexander
Amir Khan will be out to prove
himself to Floyd Mayweather Jr
when facing Devon Alexander on
December 13, according to Golden
Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La
Hoya.
De La Hoya says a meeting is
close to being confirmed but the
contest will likely propel the winner
into a fight against Mayweather in
2015.
Khan has constantly chased a
fight with the unbeaten American,
spurning the chance to face
Alexander last year in order to
enhance his bid to secure the
career-defining bout.
“There are just little details that
we are finishing but Khan and
Alexander are going to fight,” De La
Hoya said.
At 27, Khan had seemingly
abandoned plans to face
Mayweather, who says he will retire
next year.
The Briton is likely to be
sceptical regarding a future meeting
with Mayweather, should he beat
Alexander, having been continually
overlooked as a potential opponent
for the 47-0 fighter.
SPORT I 23
I November 2014
Palestine All-stars from Kirklees
win national football tournament
www.pi-media.co.uk
Palestine All-stars, a team of young
Footballers from Kirklees borough,
West Yorkshire pitted their wits
against teams from across the UK
at the national championship of the
StreetGames Football Pools Fives at
the beginning of October.
They qualified for the final having
beaten tough regional competition
and went on to win the competition
having beaten teams from across eight
regional qualifiers in the finals.
The two-day event was held at St
George’s Park, the National Football
Centre in Burton-Upon-Trent.
The players got to meet and play
with a host of sports stars including
England Under-21 manager Gareth
Southgate, England women’s defender
Sophie Bradley, former England boss
Graham Taylor and ex-Wales and
Cardiff striker Nathan Blake.
As well as the competition, the
lucky team got to stay at the Hilton
Hotel inside the grounds of St
George’s Park, be given a tour of the
venue, enjoy a three-course meal
with a guest speaker as well as rub
shoulders with football legends.
Before the event Gareth Southgate,
National ambassador for the
StreetGames Football Pools Fives,
said: “If the standard of the football so
far is anything to go by then this should
be an absolutely fantastic final – and
what better place to hold it than at the
amazing facilities of St George’s Park.
“This will be a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for most of the competitors
to show what they can do in the same
place where England’s very best train
for their international duties.
The young men who make up the
Palestine All-Stars team come from
Batley and Dewsbury and all attend
the Kirklees Midnight Soccer Program
at St John Fishers High School.
The Midnight Soccer Program is
run by Kirklees Council Integrated
Youth Support Service and was
originally developed in 2007 in
response to high levels of AntiSocial Behaviour at that time on
a Friday night. The programme
runs at Dewsbury (St John Fishers
High School) and Huddersfield
(Leeds Road Playing Fields). The
programme has been running for 7
years and around 150 young people
attend each week. The programme
provides opportunities for young
people to play in regional and national
competitions as well as the annual
Kirklees Cup event.
Team members were Adam
Zaman, Anees Younis, Aadam
Chhibda, Abdullah Mayat, Muhammad
Omar, Aamir Aswat, Rafaqat Hussain,
and Youssef Elmanea.
Malaysian Football President Tengku
Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah is
targeting more places for Asian sides
at future World Cups after launching
a bid to join the all-powerful FIFA
executive committee.
The Asian Football Confederation
will vote for three members to join
FIFA’s decision-making board with
Tengku Abdullah the first of many
expected to throw their hat into the
ring for the election expected to take
place in April or May.
Asia’s four representatives at this
year’s World Cup all finished bottom
of their groups. It was the first time
since the 1990 tournament in Italy
that Asia did not win a game at the
finals.
Tengku Abdullah is likely to
face competition from incumbents
Wowrawi Makudi of Thailand and
China’s Zhang Jilong, with Qatari
Hassan Al Thawadi another who
could challenge after missing out on a
spot 18 months ago.
The 2022 World Cup organizer
was beaten by AFC President Shaikh
Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa but the
Bahraini royal has since restructured
the AFC’s FIFA positions and will
vacate the executive committee seat
for a bigger prize.
The AFC voted in June to adopt
policy that the confederation’s head
holds a FIFA vice presidency position
with Shaikh Salman to stand again as
chief.
Current FIFA Vice President Prince
Ali Bin Al Hussein fought the Bahraini
on the policy before accepting defeat
but the Jordanian royal could launch a
presidency challenge or at least fight
for one of the three remaining FIFA
Exco memberships.
Malaysia launches bid to join
FIFA executive committee
Ibn Al-Haytham –
The First Scientist
24
I FEATURED
When learning about the Muslim
scholars of the past, it is easy
to be amazed by their brilliance,
accomplishments, and contributions
to the modern world. Each provided a
lasting legacy that changed the world
in their time and today. One scientist in
particular stands far above the rest. He
is Ibn al-Haytham, the great polymath
who lived from 965 to 1040.
He was born in the Iraqi city of
Basra during the Abbasid Caliphate.
He came about 100 years after the
establishment of the House of Wisdom
in Baghdad. Undoubtedly the culture
of learning and advancement present
in the Muslim world at that time had
a great impact on him from an early
age. He studied Islamic sciences and
soon became a mayor of the city of
www.pi-media.co.uk
Basra. During this time, he continued
to study, focusing on sciences and
other empirical subjects. His big break,
however, would come in another part
of the Muslim world.
During his time as mayor of Basra,
the Fatimid rival caliph in Egypt
al-Hakim (the Fatimids were Ismaili
Shias who rejected the caliphate of
the Sunni Abbasids in Iraq) heard of
an idea that Ibn al-Haytham had to
dam the Nile. Al-Hakim was a man of
contradictions. Although he was the
leader of the heretical Ismaili branch of
Shiism that most scholars of the day
completely rejected, he opened up his
domain to anyone who could benefit
it. Al-Hakim invited Ibn al-Haytham to
come to Egypt to attempt his radical
idea to dam the Nile. After travelling
I November 2014
down the Nile to see where a potential
dam could be built, he realized his
plan could not go into effect with the
technology of the day. There happened
to be one problem: al-Hakim was
known to be act irrationally ruthless,
and acted quite insane on occasion.
In order to escape some kind of
punishment, Ibn al-Haytham pretended
to be even more insane than al-Hakim
himself! This daring idea saved him
from excecution, but placed him under
house arrest in Cairo for the remainder
of al-Hakim’s life – 10 years.
Those 10 years didn’t even
seem as punishment to the brilliant
scientist. During this time, he got
the peace and quiet he wanted to
pursue his research. During this time,
he dived into the study of light. He
I November 2014
wanted to understand what light is,
how it works, and how humans see
objects. Although what he studied and
discovered was truly revolutionary,
the way he researched was one of his
biggest contributions.
FEATURED
www.pi-media.co.uk
The Scientific Method
Today, it is understood to students
of science that everything must be
proven. You cannot make claims
about scientific theories based on
assumption without experimentation.
Before Ibn al-Haytham, that was
not the case. The ancient Greek
philosophies of science still held
weight. The Greeks believed that
scientific fact can be discovered
through reason, or simply attributed to
the actions of the gods. Ibn al-Haytham
knew better. He was the first scientist
in history to insist that everything be
proven through a given method for
discovering new information – the
scientific method.
Western textbooks today usually
give little information about the history
of the scientific method. Usually
the ancient Greek philosophies
are mentioned, followed by the
“revolutionary” work of Roger Bacon,
Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton.
The truth that is forgotten is that
those European scholars stood on
the shoulders of Ibn al-Haytham (and
other Muslim scientists). Without his
ideas about proving scientific theories,
we may still be living in a time when
speculation, superstition, and unproven
myths are the basis of science.
The Book of Optics
Using his revolutionary scientific
method, Ibn al-Haytham takes leaps
and bounds into the field of optics.
In his book, The Book of Optics, he
was the first to disprove the ancient
Greek idea that light comes out of the
eye, bounces off objects, and comes
back to the eye. He delved further
into the way the eye itself works.
Using dissections and the knowledge
of previous scholars, he was able to
begin to explain how light enters the
eye, is focused, and is projected to the
back of the eye.
In a similar way, he is the first to
study the phenomenon of the pinhole
camera. The concept of a pinhole
camera is simple: a box with a tiny hole
on one side is able to project an image
of whatever is outside onto a side of
the box on the inside. Those familiar
with the way modern cameras work
will notice that that is how cameras
work in general, but today with the
addition of lenses. Ibn al-Haytham was
able to build these pinhole cameras
hundreds of years before the modern
development of photography as we
know it.
He also studied the way light is
affected when moving through a
medium such as water or gasses.
From this, he was able to explain why
the sky changes color at twilight (the
sun’s rays hit the atmosphere at an
angle, causing refraction). From this,
he was able to calculate the depth
of the earth’s atmosphere, 1000
years before it would be proven by
spaceflight.
The translation of The Book of
Optics had a huge impact on Europe.
From it, later European scholars
were able to build the same devices
as he did, and understand the way
light works. From this, such important
things as eyeglasses, magnifying
glasses, telescopes, and cameras
were developed.
Beyond Light
As if revolutionizing the way humanity
understands light and leading to the
development of things we can’t live
without in the 2000s wasn’t enough,
Ibn al-Haytham also pioneered in other
fields.
In 1020s and 1030s, he wrote
numerous books on astronomy.
He wrote about the mistakes of the
Ptolemaic model of how the stars and
planets move and provided a more
realistic view of the way the universe
works (although he knew the earth to
be a sphere, he stuck to the ancient
Greek idea that the earth was the
center of the universe).
He completely refuted astrology as
a scientific subject. Continuing with his
firm belief scientific ideas needing to
be proven, he came to the conclusion
that the ideas of astrology were not
rooted in any type of science, but in the
thoughts and feelings of astrologers.
He also noted that astrology directly
contradicts one of the main ideas of
Islam – that God is the cause of all
things, not astronomical bodies.
He had a great influence on Isaac
Newton, who was aware of Ibn alHaytham’s works. He studied the basis
of calculus, which would later lead to
the engineering formulas and methods
used today. He also wrote about
I 25
the laws governing the movement
of bodies (later known as Newton’s
3 laws of motion) and the attraction
between two bodies – gravity. It was
not, in fact, the apple that fell from the
tree that told Newton about gravity, but
the books of Ibn al-Haytham.
Since he was also trained in the
traditional Islamic sciences, he also
wrote on how to use empirical methods
to disprove a false prophet, and how
to use math to calculate the prayer
direction towards Makkah.
In a precursor to modern
psychology, he researched the effect
music therapy can have on humans
and animals.
Legacy
The list of accomplishments and
contributions of Ibn al-Haytham goes
on and on. The truly amazing thing
is that he wrote over 200 books, but
only around 50 have survived till
today. What he discovered that we
do not even know about probably far
outshines even the amazing works that
have made it to the present day.
Unfortunately, his contributions
have been overlooked since his death.
While he was never someone who
cared for the fame and prestige that
came with being a great scholar, the
unawareness today’s world has about
his contributions is unsettling. When
his books were translated into Latin
as the Spanish conquered Muslim
lands in the Iberian Peninsula, he
was not referred to by his name, but
rather as “Alhazen”. The practice of
changing the names of great Muslim
scholars to more European sounding
names was common in the European
Renaissance, as a means to discredit
Muslims and erase their contributions
to Christian Europe.
Regardless, his brilliant mind
inspired countless others who stood on
his shoulders. It is not a stretch to say
that without his research, the modern
world of science that we know today
would not exist.
Sources:
Morgan, M. (2007). Lost History. Washington
D.C. : National Geographic Society.
Masood, E. (2006). Science and Islam. Icon
Books.
“Ibn al-Haytham.” The Columbia Encyclopedia,
6th ed.. 2012. Retrieved October 01, 2012 from
Encyclopedia.com:http://www.encyclopedia.
com/doc/1E1-IbnalHay.html
Steffens, B. (2007). Ibn al-Haytham : first
scientist. Greensboro, N.C. : Morgan Reynolds
Pub.
I I FEATURED
I November 2014
How should parents engage
in their child’s homework?
26
Parental engagement in their child’s
homework is an issue that worries me.
Many parents do not understand the
extent, by which, it is important, for
them, to get involved in their child’s
homework.
Parents could become more
proactive in contacting the school
about their child’s performance,
progress and homework. For younger
children, parents should ask teachers
about the due date and instructions in
completing the homework. So a 7 year
old child would need close supervision,
whilst a 15 year old would have more
autonomy.
The extent of parental-engagement
with a teacher would therefore vary
depending on the age of the child.
Parents of an older child would only
really engage with a teacher if the older
child’s teacher was not as helpful in
providing guidance for homework. Use
the planner as a starting point to probe
home to school communication. In
serious situations call the school.
An additional point is parents
should monitor their child’s homework.
www.pi-media.co.uk
For example, make yourself available
to advise your child, answer simple
questions and be aware of your child’s
emotional state and in those bad
circumstances offer positive feedback
to motivate your child.
Another point is parents could
better set-structures for school
homework at home. Structures could
be based on family routines and
context. Setting time and space for
homework is necessary for successful
learning. Without good routines based
on family-routines children might
not perform fully in their homework.
Family distractions may cause poor
performance in homework.
Parents often complain that their
child is easily-distracted. These
children who struggle with studying
need close monitoring. Distractions
such as TV, PS3, x-box, tablet,
computer games and mobile phones
should be switched-off until the
homework is completed.
Playtime of computer games and
similar should be controlled. Children
should be encouraged to play out for
the mind to work efficiently. A balanced
approach is advised.
This is to ensure that whilst
completing their homework, their focus
does not go into technology or playing
out with friends as they’ve already had
or will enjoy that time - as a reward.
However, a child who has strong
self-regulations skills can have “loose”
supervision and benefit from increased
autonomy.
Pupil’s homework offer
opportunities for students, teachers,
parents and carers to become involved
in helping children develop in learning.
It allows parents an opportunity to see
what is being learnt at school, then
interact and get involved in supporting
their child’s learning in various ways.
It allows study structures to be
set around family context. Taking an
interest in your child’s homework will
reap profits for later life.
For more advice, contact
Mr G. Dabhad on 01924 506010
www.improvetuition.org and like us on
www.facebook.com/improvetuition
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I November 2014
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