Turkey: University rector orders headscarf ban on campus

Turkey: University rector orders headscarf ban on campus

23-04-2011

Istanbul, (Today's Zaman): 

Trakya University Rektor Professor Enver Duran has ordered a university-wide ban on the Islamic head covering, publicizing it through written notices posted on pin boards throughout the university.

In the written notice, effective April 19, Duran openly tells students and staff to “Ignore the debates and different practices in Turkey and implement the ban,” listing his specific instructions. The notice reads that “a person not complying with the ban will necessitate the commencement of a disciplinary investigation as per the Higher Education Board [YÖK].”

The rector separately lists the places and events where students wearing a headscarf are not allowed to go. These include “Faculties, institutes, graduate schools, conservatoriums and all teaching institutions, laboratories, clinics, polyclinics, surgery rooms, libraries, research and training centers, bureaus, dormitories, dining hall, canteen, cafeteria, corridors and meetings or ceremonies of all departments connected to the chancery.” The statement outlines the “necessity for all students, female or male, to be bare-headed, wear modern clothing and be of modern appearance in all the places mentioned.” Expressing dissatisfaction about “there not being any specific legislation regarding the headscarf” when there was great need for it, Duran justified the university ban in terms of Article 4 of the university’s General Appearance, Clothing and Behavior Regulations. The notice also includes threat of YÖK action in the event of an individual’s contravention of the ban, despite the lack of legislation.

The headscarf ban in Turkey was introduced in 1997 when the powerful military overthrew a coalition government led by a conservative party. The ban affected university students as well as women working in the public sector. Women with headscarves are currently not allowed to enter military facilities, including hospitals and recreational areas under the control of the Turkish military. While many of Turkey’s universities late last year announced their decision to set the use of the headscarf free both on their campuses and in classrooms, there were some that argued that entering university campuses with a headscarf was against the directives of YÖK.



http://www.todayszaman.com/news-241791-university-rector-orders-headscarf-ban-on-campus.html

NEWS: The Preacher of Truth Dr Bilal Phillips expelled from Germany

The Preacher of Truth Dr Bilal Phillips expelled from Germany

Dr Bilal Phillips was invited to address the Frankfurt demonstration in defense of "Islam, the Misunderstood Religion" by Pierre Vogel, a German-born convert to Islam After that demonstration many people there accepted Islam. As you can see in the following video.

After this event German authorities ordered the expulsion of the Islamic preacher. The news report says:

German police officials announced on Wednesday that Abu Ameena Bilal Philips, a hard line Islamic preacher from Jamaica who defends use of the death penalty for homosexuality, had been ordered to leave the country and asked never to return.

The officials said that immigration authorities had issued an order - prior to Philips' address to some 2,000 spectators in Frankfurt - instructing the 60-year-old Islam convert to leave Germany within three days, claiming his professed beliefs infringed on federal laws.

German law allows for the expulsion of visitors who "incite hatred against parts of the population" or advocate the use of violence against them. In a sermon published on the video website, Youtube, Philips can be heard defending the death penalty as a justified punishment for proven homosexual acts.

'Evil and dangerous to society'

Witnesses said no remarks regarding homosexuality were made in the Wednesday address and that its tone was not inflammatory.

He was invited to address the Frankfurt demonstration in defense of "Islam, the Misunderstood Religion" by Pierre Vogel, a German-born convert to Islam who authorities say harbors fundamentalist views that are closely linked to Islamism - the belief that Islam must prevail over political life.

An article on Philip's official website describes homosexuality - in reference to its connection with the proliferation of AIDS - as explicitly "evil and dangerous to society," concluding that it is the product of wayward volition.

Philips is entitled to appeal the expulsion order, according to police officials, but only from abroad. An arrest warrant is ready in case he does not leave Germany before the expulsion deadline.

Author: Gabriel Borrud (AFP, dpa)

Editor: Nancy Isenson

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6510494,00.html

NEWS: BBC accused of bias in Gaza flotilla documentary

BBC accused of bias in Gaza flotilla documentary

22-04-2011

London, (IRNA): The BBC has been accused of making up its own editorial rules to defend a whole series of complaints made about the alleged pro-Israeli bias in a documentary about last year's killing of nine activists in international waters.

Campaigners for fair reporting claimed to have won a major victory with the BBC ruling that Panorama's Death on the Med breached its rules on accuracy and impartiality on three critical points.

But according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), the whole process for making complaints was less than satisfactory with the internal investigation carried out by the BBC's own Editorial Standards Committee, rejecting 40 other issues.

'Until an independent adjudicator, one who is also free from political control, is appointed to examine the complaints of impartiality, bias and inaccuracy so often made against the BBC there will be little incentive on its part to learn any lessons and one-sided programmes like Death in the Med will continue to be made,' the PSC said.

In a statement obtained by IRNA, it revealed that PSC members ran up against an 'impenetrable wall of non-independence' during the complaints process regarding the Panorama programme, which was screened on BBC1 in August 2010.

The BBC, despite being state-funded by a television licence tax, writes its own editorial and content standards guidelines and then sits in judgement of complaints made that the guidelines have been breached, PSC said.

The corporation is accountable neither to the OFCOM broadcast regulator and its code of conduct rules (which other broadcasters are) nor the Press Complaints Committee, as are newspapers and publications.

PSC has a particular interest as its director of campaigns and operations Sarah Colborne was a survivor from the flotilla. It has also made its own video of the attack from testimonies and smuggled footage.

It accused the BBC of 'retrospectively altering' what was the purpose of the documentary after receiving complaints from nearly 1,500 complainants and also reducing the number to just 19 when it reached the appeal stage.

Complainants had originally been told that Death in the Med set out to examine 'what really happened that night on the Mavi Marmara' and they tailored their submissions accordingly.

But in its appeal correspondence, the BBC decided the programme explored a 'specific aspect of the story which Panorama considered key to understanding why events turned out the way they did on the Mavi Marmara.'

'In relating that narrative, the programme focussed on what it called a hardcore of 40 activists who were affiliated to the Turkish charity, the IHH,' PSC said.

The process had begun with initial complaints about the biased nature of the programme, in which presenter Jane Corbin embedded herself with an 'elite branch' of the Israeli navy in order to examine Israel's attack on an aid flotilla sailing for Gaza.

The PSC suggested the complaints alleging that Death in the Med was so biased that it completely failed to show 'what really happened' so strong that the BBC felt 'compelled to change the goalposts at such a late stage.'

In contrast, the chair of BBC Sir Michael Lyons welcomed the findings as showing that 'by having a robust system in place to reassure licence fee payers that issues are picked up and lessons are learned, the BBC can have the space and credibility to make these types of programmes.'

Points upheld included the failure to mention preliminary autopsy findings on the manner in which nine of the passengers were killed, which was fundamental because of what it might say about the motivation of the Israeli Defence forces.

The programme showed images of some of the injured being airlifted but also failed to mention that many did not receive treatment for hours and that many of the passengers were seriously mistreated.

The third was that Panorama should not have dismissed the medicines carried by the flotilla as out of date and did not give the full extent of the amount of aid being brought for the people of Gaza.

Islamic finance takes root Down Under

 Islamic finance takes root Down Under

By Paul McNamara & The Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry has announced that the inaugural Australia Arab Business Forum & Expo will be held in Melbourne on May 5-6. The event has a dedicated section devoted to Islamic finance and to exploring the opportunities open to Middle Eastern Islamic finance institutions wishing to take advantage of Australia's robust and growing economy.

"The scale of projects being undertaken in MENA is truly staggering, with governments, government linked or owned companies and the private sector investing trillions into a BRoad array of infrastructure projects that support national objectives and diversification away from reliance on petrodollars," according to AACCI CEO Cynthia Dearin. The banking and finance section of the conference will focus on trends in Islamic finance, the regulatory framework for investment in the Arab World and the growth of Arab world financial centers. It will seek to profile how opportunities can be created for Australia's financial institutions. Expert speakers in this section include Dr Nasser Saidi, chief economist from the Dubai International Financial Centre, Dr Ishaq Bhatti, director, Masters of Islamic Banking and Finance, Faculty of Law & Management, La Trobe University in Melbourne and Ian Johnston, deputy chief executive of the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

Islamic finance developments in Australia have been unspectacular to date and the taxation review of Islamic finance products is still ongoing with a report due in June. Both state and federal governments have highlighted the fact that their desire is to 'level the playing field' for Islamic finance products and services from both a taxation and a regulatory point of view although there is some indication that not all views on the subject are in harmony.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi is reported to have said in a background BRiefing to party colleagues that Shari'ah is incompatible with Australia's western values. He also said he wanted to ensure the Liberal Party opposed any move to introduce any form of Shari'ah law banking in Australia.

The opposition's legal affairs spokesman, George Brandis said it would be a bad thing if a separate set of laws applied only to one particular sub-group of the community. "I see nothing wrong with that as long as it doesn't violate... a common set of laws that governs all transactions." Finance minister Penny Wong said that when it came to Islamic finance, the government was still looking at the recommendations of a review into financial services. "We are an open and tolerant society. We have made our way and done well in the world by being open and competitive and tolerant."

© The Islamic Globe 2011¬

NEWS: Russian Muftis Reject Proposal to Add "Islamic" Symbol to Country's National Emblem

Russian Muftis Reject Proposal to Add "Islamic" Symbol to Country's National Emblem

 15 April 2011

Muhammedgali Khuzin, the head of the executive committee of the Russian Association of Islamic Consensus, rejected a suggestion to add a crescent to Russia's national emblem (pictured above).

He claims that Russia's muftis of Russia believe such an addition would counter-productive and dangerous to cultural harmony.

The decision of the Russian muftis came in response to a proposal by Talgat Tajuddin to add a crescent to one of the eagles' crowns on the Russian emblem. Tajuddin is the Supreme Mufti of the Central Moslem Board in Russia.

Tajuddin said in an interview: "We are only asking to crown one head of the double-headed eagle on the state emblem with the Crescent and the other with the Orthodox Cross. And let the Cross and the Crescent be capped by the crown in the middle," Tajuddin said.

"All the crowns on the coat of arms - two on the heads of the eagles and one above them in the middle - are topped by crosses. But Russia has 20 million Muslims. That's 18 percent of the population," he added.

Other Russian muftis disagree with his proposal, arguing that mixing religious symbols will lead to accusations of ecumenism from the traditional Orthodox Christians community as well as the traditional Russian Islamic community.

Khuzin cited the example of Christians in Syria, who do not demand that their symbols appear on the state emblem.

The initiative would augment xenophobia, he believes.

The Russian Orthodox Church has already expressed its objection to the idea.

"The Russian state emblem has a history of many centuries and it has stood the test of time. It has not been supplanted by Soviet symbols, which are falling into oblivion at an enormous speed, while the symbols, historically justified, are again finding their due place in Russia's life," Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations.

As for the history of the emblem, the double-headed eagle was adopted by Ivan III after his marriage with the Byzantine princess Sophia Paleologue on 12 November 1472, whose uncle Constantine was the last Byzantine Emperor. The double-headed eagle had been the official state symbol of the late Byzantine Empire, spanning both East and West. During the communist era, it was replaced by a sickle-and hammer emblem (pictured right). The double-headed eagle was officially reinstated in 1993.

The archpriest, however, welcomed the idea of predominantly Muslim areas of Russia adopting the crescent into their official regional emblems and coats of arms.

"It would be unfair to revise this (national) symbol from the point of view of Russia's historical heritage, the more so since the Muslim symbols - the Crescent, for instance - could be very well used in the regional emblems in the predominantly Muslim regions - there are such regions in this country," Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said.

The press secretary of the Russian chief rabbi, Andrei Glotser, said that they cannot take the initiative of adding a crescent to the Russian emblem seriously.

Sources:

"Russian muftis say Islamic symbols in Russian emblem would cause xenophobia" Vestnik Kavkaza April 15, 2011

"Russian Church opposes Crescent appearing on Russian state emblem" Interfax April 15, 2011

"Add moon to coat of arms: Imam" Independent Online April 15, 2011

Reproduced with permission from Islam Web

 

NEWS: Sudan: 19 people killed in clashes in Sudan's South Kordofan state

Sudan: 19 people killed in clashes in Sudan's South Kordofan state

14-04-2011

KHARTOUM, (Xinhua): At least 19 people were killed and 23 others were injured in tribal clashes Wednesday evening in South Kordofan state, which is currently witnessing complementary elections, an official told Xinhua Thursday.


"19 people were killed and around 23 others injured in armed clashes between two tribes at Um Al-Faid area on the eastern sector of the state," said Gamar Dalma, a leading member in the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and adviser to South Kordofan state government.


"The area has witnessed previous disputes between Dar Fayed and Tagali tribes in the wake of killing of a native administration leader at the area, but the dispute developed these days due to the complementary elections currently witnessed by the region," he added.


"The security conditions are presently calm after intervention of the joint forces to keep the security," he said.


Dalma accused trends he did not name of supporting armed militia with the aim to cripple the electoral process in the state, adding that "the SPLM has addressed the Sudanese National Elections Commission (NEC) and notified it with the recent events which took place in the state."


Media reports said 500 houses were burnt during the clashes and a great number of the citizens have fled the area.


South Kordofan State postponed the elections, in the wake of a memorandum presented by the state's political forces to the NEC and the Sudanese presidency, complaining that the share of the state constituencies and representation in the National Assembly (parliament) and the national legislative council was weak according to the result of the country's fifth population census.

News

Palestine: Clashes in Silwan, several Palestinians wounded, one kidnapped

  13-04-2011

 
IMEMC & Agencies:


Palestinian sources in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, reported on Wednesday morning that several residents were injured, one seriously, while one resident was kidnapped by Israeli soldiers and policemen following clashes that took place in the town.




The sources added that soldiers fired dozens of gas bombs at the Al Bustan neighborhood causing several residents to require treatment for the effects of teargas inhalation.


Soldiers attacked with clubs and batons four women in Al Bustan without any provocation.


Also, one resident suffered serious wounds and was moved to a local Palestinian hospital in Jerusalem.


Another resident was violently beaten by the soldiers while standing in front of his store, and lost consciousness; despite being unconscious, soldiers kidnapped him and took him to an unknown destination.


Also on Wednesday, soldiers broke into a home that belongs to the Shiokhy family, in Silwan. The attack came just one day after the army kidnapped Muath Shiokhy from his home.


The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan, reported that soldiers violently searched the home of Muath Shiokhy, 18, sabotaging its property and even confiscated clothes.


The army claims that Muath was wearing the clothes in question during Tuesday clashes with the police and the army.


Muath’s mother stated that the soldiers failed to locate the clothes allegedly worn by Muath during the clashes, but took a yellow shirt that belongs to his sister.


Shiokhy was kidnapped by the army on Tuesday while washing a friend’s car that was parked outside a café where he worked. The attack against the Al Shiokhy family home is not the first of its kind as it was repeatedly attacked and had its property sabotaged.


http://imemc.org/article/61053