Month: April 2014

“Villagers said the stone mosque was built in 2008, and that soldiers removed prayer rugs and holy scriptures before tearing it down. Other razed buildings included three one-storey family houses, animal shelters and a communal well. Locals said around 30 people were made homeless”: Israeli Forces Demolish West Bank Mosque as Peace Talks Deadline Passes (Reuters)…

As number of members of  largest social organization sentenced to death doubles… Egypt Court Sentences 683 Muslim Brotherhood Workers Including Their Leader (AFP / News Tribe) … increasingly lower level members are pushed into the front lines, and internal splits such as those between the younger and older members and the rise of a “‘Brotherhood…

“[A]n interfaith advisory group of clergy members … overwhelmingly took strong exception to the film, believing some of the terminology in it casts aspersions on all Muslims, and requested changes…. In March, the sole imam in the group resigned to make clear that he could not endorse its contents”: Film at 9/11 Museum Sets Off…

“The no-fly list is supposed to be about ensuring aviation safety, but the FBI is using it to force innocent people to become informants,” said Ramzi Kassem, associate professor of law at the City University of New York. “The practice borders on extortion”: Lawsuit Says FBI Uses No-fly List in Bid to Recruit Muslim Informants…

“‘We all want Sissi [to be president], and that’s it,’ one gray-haired patron yelled at the young men, referring to Egypt’s popular presidential candidate, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi. Another man accused Mustafa and his friends of endangering the country’s stability with their views and threatened to call the police”: Young People Led Egypt’s Revolution, but the…

Shutting down the ill-conceived spy operation could be a boon to counter-terrorism, but first a stake may need to be driven through its heart: Why the NYPD’s Decision to Drop a Unit that Spies on Muslims May Help Counterterrorism (Washington Post) NYPD P:ressured to Eliminate All Traces of Muslim Surveillance Practice (Guardian) “Iran has completely…

“The New York Police Department has abandoned a secretive program that dispatched plainclothes detectives into Muslim neighborhoods to eavesdrop on conversations and built detailed files on where people ate, prayed and shopped”: New York Drops Unit that Spied on Muslims (NY Times) “With an 11-month-old state of emergency in three northeastern states failing to bring…

Erdogan swore to hit his opponents hard after the election, but his choice of first target may surprise you: Erdogan Chooses Soccer for First-post Election Strike Against Islamist Opponents (Huffington Post) “It is hoped that a decline in political support for anti-Muslim bigotry will lead to toning down of the rhetoric in mainstream circles. The results…

Although systematic “use of state-sponsored sexual harassment against women … is not new…, nothing matches the current level and the extent…. On the very day of the coup … more than 100 women were raped by a pro-coup mob celebrating their “victory”. Ever since, the targeting of female protesters has become a weapon of choice for…