Starbucks 'gender wall' collapses; women barred

Saudi Arabia’s religious police barred women from entering a Starbucks coffee shop after a gender-separating wooden wall collapsed many times under customer stampedes, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Women going to the café in the capital Riyadh were surprised to find a board placed at the door, telling them to keep out of the place.

The Arabic language daily 'Al Weaam' said the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential law enforcing authority in the conservative Gulf Kingdom, ordered the café’s management not to admit women.

It said the commission issued the order after its members, who were on a routine inspection in the market, found that the gender-separation wall ordered by authorities for all restaurants and other shops has collapsed. [Emirates247.com] Read more

Muslim extremists' 'campaign of lies' to undermine the government's fight against terror

An organised campaign to undermine Britain’s fight against terrorism can be revealed today.

Islamist activists linked to Cage, a group known to sympathise with terrorists, are using coordinated leaks to mainstream news organisations, including the BBC, to spread fear and confusion in Muslim communities about the Government’s anti-terror policy, Prevent.

nvestigations by the Telegraph reveal that several widely reported recent stories about Prevent are false or exaggerated – and many of the supposedly “ordinary Muslim” victims are in fact activists in the campaign, known as Prevent Watch. The stories include a claim which became a cause célèbre for Prevent’s opponents – that a Muslim schoolboy from London was “interrogated like a criminal” for using the phrase “ecoterrorism” in class.

The boy’s mother, Ifhat Smith, who took the story to the media, presented herself as a traumatised ordinary Londoner. She is in fact an activist in the Prevent Watch campaign and a key figure in the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which believes in replacing secular democratic government with Islamic government. [The Telegraph] Read more

Young Somali activist sentenced to death for being a lesbian

When the boy came into the room, his eyes brimmed with tears. The news he brought was devastating. “They are talking about killing you,” he told his older cousin.

Using a phone smuggled into her room, Sahra (whose name has been changed here over concerns for her safety) sent a despairing plea for help to friends on the outside. Although she didn’t know it then, her killing was thought to have been scheduled to take place after Friday prayers two days later, and time was running out.

Sahra, a 22-year-old Somali woman, remembers swaying with shock as she received the news. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe. One day they were looking for a guy for me to marry, the next they were looking to take my life,” she recalls. “It was horrible.”

In the eyes of her extended family, Sahra had brought shame on them all. From her family’s self-imposed exile in Uganda, she had long courted controversy as an outspoken advocate for women’s rights. But her personal safety took a turn for the worse when she was outed as a lesbian, setting in motion events that caused her to move to Mogadishu in Somalia, leaving her open to the wrath of her relatives. [The Independent] Read more

Britain's top judge wants ban on veils during criminal trials

Britain's senior-most judge has spoken out against veils being allowed during criminal trials, saying women should not be allowed to cover their faces in court to rule out any doubts over their credibility.

"I can see serious difficulties with the idea that a witness should have her head covered where evidence is contested. If there is any question of credibility, it should be uncovered," Lord Neuberger, the president of Britain's Supreme Court, told 'The Times'.

"The jury system works in this country by contested evidence being decided by witnesses giving evidence before a jury and having credibility weighed - and one factor taken into account is the impression the witness makes and that includes being able to see the witness's face," he said.

Lord Neuberger told the newspaper that previously he had been misunderstood when he was credited with backing the wearing of veils in court.

"What I was saying that - and I don't think many would disagree - was that witnesses and parties in court may have beliefs, convictions, which are not those that most people have or the judge is familiar with and the judge should be sympathetic and understanding of those factors, such as a woman not used to appearing with her face uncovered." [Press Trust of India] Read more

National Muslim advocacy group asks General Assembly to abandon Sharia law bill

.... “Deciding in favor of CAIR’s lawsuit challenging the amendment, U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange ruled that ‘the references to Sharia Law violated the Establishment Clause,’ ” Burgess wrote. “Should this legislation become law, I expect that it would meet the same fate.”

The House on Thursday approved the proposal 68-42, sponsored by Republican Rep. Chip Limehouse. It will be up for a third reading next week before being sent to the Senate.

Limehouse this week said though there are no known instances of an attorney or defendant trying to use Sharia law in a state court, the law is necessary.

“(With this law) an attorney can’t go into state court and say that the defendant that beat up his daughter for going on a date with a non-Muslim was within his rights according to (Sharia law),” he said. [The Post and Courier] Read more

40 percent of Germans demand Merkel's resignation over refugee policy, poll says

While 39.9 percent of Germans surveyed by the pollster Insa for "Focus" magazine said Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy is grounds for her to step down, 45.2 percent of the more than 2,000 people polled said they did not believe she should leave office. The remaining 15 percent did not state an opinion.

Merkel has long enjoyed high popularity ratings among Germans but that support has dwindled in recent months, particularly as the numbers of asylum seekers entering Germany from the Middle East and North Africa has increased.

Members of Germany's right-leaning Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) were particularly critical of Merkel, with two in three AfD members demanding the chancellor resign.

Among Germany's Left party, 45.4 percent of the survey's participants demanded Merkel's resignation, 44 percent of Free Democratic Party (FDP) supporters and 41.3 percent of Social Democrats (SPD).

The strongest support for the chancellor came from the Greens and Merkel's own Christian Democratic Union members, with lower figures of 30 and 26.6 percent calling for her resignation, respectively. [Deutsche Welle] Read more

Muslim leader blames Christians and women for domestic violence

A senior Muslim politician has been accused of blaming Christians for most domestic violence because they get drunk.

Muhammad Afzal, the lord mayor elect of Birmingham, also allegedly told women’s rights campaigners that men were more likely to suffer from domestic violence and denied that forced marriage was a problem in Muslim communities.

Mr Afzal, 72, who is also chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, is facing calls to resign after he condemned David Cameron as an “Islamophobe”. He was accused yesterday of dismissing the threat of domestic violence during a visit by the Muslim Women’s Network UK charity to the mosque, one of the largest in western Europe.

Shaista Gohir, chairwoman of the charity’s trustees, said that Mr Afzal’s “misogynistic attitudes” made him unfit for positions of authority. In a letter calling for the mosque to ask Mr Afzal to resign as chairman, Ms Gohir claimed that at a meeting in December he argued that forced marriage was no longer a problem in the Muslim community as “women these days are strong and educated”. [The Times (£)] Read more

Creationist views 'risk going unchallenged in schools'

The Government's Prevent strategy, introduced to tackle radicalisation in schools, has been blamed for creating a "hypersensitivity" among teachers when teaching evolution and challenging elements of the Muslim faith.

Headteacher, Tom Sherrington, said there was a risk that schools could shy away from teaching evolution for fear of "provoking a reaction" in pupils with creationist views.

He warned that the programme has "added to the sense that you treat Muslim students as different" and that the tone of the strategy "makes any engagement directly questioning the faith position of Muslim students more challenging".

Speaking to the Telegraph, following the publication of a controversial article detailing an assembly the head teacher gave on evolution, the head of Highbury Grove School, London, said that schools should create inclusive communities, but that "science should be promoted as science".

"The antagonism that creationist students feel when their faith is challenged by science is quite extreme; it’s a big deal to tell them that they are wrong. It provokes a response that in the current climate could be misconstrued. [The Telegraph] Read more

Yes, Muslims are different. No, we shouldn't accept that

Oh dear. Where to start with Trevor Phillips? It’s tempting not to bother, since you have to wonder if he just says silly things just to get attention. He is, after all, a former journalist, and old habits die hard.

But let’s assume he’s serious about what he said at Policy Exchange this week about British Muslims:

“Continuously pretending that a group is somehow eventually going to become like the rest of us is perhaps the deepest form of disrespect.

“Because what you are essentially saying is the fact that they behave in a different way, some of which we may not like, is because they haven’t yet seen the light. It may be that they see the world differently to the rest of us.”

In other words, we mustn’t talk about Muslims integrating into British society and living lives that are more like the lives of their non-Muslim compatriots. We should accept that Muslims are different and respect their different ways. [391 comments]

[A TOP RATED COMMENT 155 votes] All migrants to Britain should respect our historical culture and make every effort to integrate with the entire community.

If you do not wish to do this, you are advised to leave.

[ANOTHER 125] Few Muslim women, if any, wore the veil in the 1970's or even 1980's in the UK.

So the question is why are they wearing it now, unless to make a very public political statement ?

If its also a " human right " for the veil to be worn, then its also a "human right" for others such as shop owners, bank employees,etc, not to serve anyone who in effect is deliberately wearing a mask.

They can't complain of being victimised if such incidents occur.

Only the emancipation of Muslim women will see the end of Islamic extremism.

That British feminists have already been repeatedly posted missing when horrific misogyny is being inflicted on Muslim women via forced marriage, FGM, honour killings, etc, says so much about the British feminist sisterhood.

No doubt issues such as gender specific childrens toys or banning Page 3 is more important.

[ANOTHER 114] Muslim Shmuslim.... Am I alone at being HEARTILY SICK of the special pleading, accommodation and down right nuisance caused by these people? I spent most of my life as a pretty liberal sort of chap, but I am SICK TO THE BACK TEETH of these people dominating the news and the reports of crime and problems that they bring.

If you are brown, black or yellow, and pleased to be British, and accept our ways gladly and are a part of them, I don't care where you come from or what kind of a fairy tale god you believe in, but if you live here acting like a special group, entitled to despise our values, and our world, and act out pre-modern prejudices against half the human race, I want you gone. [The Telegraph] Read more

Sharia law UK: 'Ban Sharia? Say goodbye to chicken tikka masala' says Muslim leader

As the sun sets over the rolling green hills of the West Midlands, a black gate slowly opens giving way to a long gravel drive lined with trees. Here, on the outskirts of the drab commuter town of Nuneaton, is Britain's biggest Sharia court where – many believe – Muslim judges enforce Islamic law on British soil.

Inside, Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi sits behind a desk in his large office, surrounded by Quranic texts and cradling his baby daughter, Nabihah, in his arms. Branded a "hard-line cleric" in a prominent daily newspaper just weeks ago, he speaks in a posh – almost plummy – English accent tinged with the twang of his native Coventry.

"What [they] want to do is titillate [their] readers and sell a good story. We have British judges as part of this tribunal. We have barristers, solicitors, women, and professional people on the panel. We are not some backstreet Sharia council. It is a cheap shot," says Siddiqi. [International Business Times] Read more

Tory MP calls for complete veil ban as it 'stops women from enjoying British values of smiling and saying hello'

A complete ban on women wearing veils should be introduced because it stops them from "smiling, waving and saying hello" in a very British way, a Tory MP has said.

Philip Hollobone said it was "really, really sad" that Britain would be a "miserable country" if everyone went about their business with their faces covered.

The MP for Kettering, who is calling for a complete ban on wearing the veil in public, told LBC radio: "I don't want to live in a country where we go around with our faces covered because part of the British way of life is smiling, waving and saying hello to passersby and if we're all going to go around with our faces covered it is going to be a very miserable place indeed.

"I think it is really, really sad in 2016 talking about it being acceptable to live in a miserable country where everyone goes around with their faces covered. How sad is that."

France passed a law in 2010 which bans the wearing of any face-covering headgear, including balaclavas, niqabs and other veils in public places. [The Telegraph] Read more

Iran and France cancel diplomatic lunch to welcome Hassan Rouhani after French refuse to take wine off the menu

A lunch between the French and Iranian presidents in Paris has been scrapped after the hosts refused to take wine off the menu.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had been due to eat lunch with French President Francois Hollande in an upmarket restaurant as part of Mr Rohani’s tour of Europe - but negotiations broke down after the Iranians requested a halal, alcohol-free meal.

French officials insisted on serving traditional local food and wine and said making a meal “Iran friendly” went against their Republican values.

The Elysee Palace suggested the heads of state share breakfast instead but this was rejected as “too cheap”.

A source told French radio station RTL: “The leaders have missed out on a great opportunity to meet in the relaxed environment of a meal.” [The Independent] Read more

Schools that allow face veils could fail Ofsted inspection

Schools that allow pupils or teachers to wear the veil risk being failed by Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw has announced.

The chief inspector of schools backed head teachers who do not want girls to cover their faces at school and ordered inspectors to mark down schools if the veil was acting as a barrier to learning and positive social interaction.

David Cameron and Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, said last week that public organisations such as the courts should be free to restrict the wearing of veils.

Sir Michael said that they had been “right to give their backing to schools and other institutions which insist on removing face coverings when it makes sense to do so”.

He added: “I am concerned that some heads who are trying to restrict the wearing of the full veil in certain circumstances are coming under pressure from others to relax their policy. I want to assure these leaders that they can rely on my full backing. [The Times (£)] Read more

Oxford Muslim leader Dr Hojjat Ramzy criticises Sir Michael Wilshaw's statement on veils in the classroom

A Muslim leader in Oxford has accused the chief inspector of schools of "bullying" after he ordered Ofsted inspectors to mark down schools if the veil was acting as a barrier to learning.

Dr Hojjat Ramzy said the policy could lead to some Muslim students deciding to stay at home instead of attending class.

Sir Michael Wilshaw's warning that schools which allow pupils or teachers to wear the veil risk being failed by Ofsted came after Prime Minister David Cameron said last week that public organisations such as courts should be free to restrict the wearing of veils.

Dr Ramzy said Sir Michael's warning amounted to bullying.

The director of the Oxford Islamic Information Centre, and former chairman of the Education Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "As an Imam and educationalist, personally I do not encourage Muslim women to wear the face cover, however I do not discourage them either. [Oxford Mail] Read more

Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot jailed for insulting Islam

An Egyptian court has sentenced secular writer Fatima Naoot to three years in prison and a fine of $2,550 after being found guilty of insulting Islam, daily Al-Ahram reported.

Naoot, a former parliament candidate, is the second public figure to receive a jail term in less than a month for charges related to blasphemy, the paper said.

The jail sentence is effective immediately, although Naoot will be able to lodge an appeal from behind bars.

In October, she described in a post on her Facebook account Eid Al-Adha’s tradition of slaughtering sheep as the “greatest massacre committed by human beings”.

Naoot also wrote in an article in Egyptian daily El-Masry El-Youm criticizing the traditional slaughter of sheep during Eid, the Islamic festival of sacrifice and one of the main Muslim religious holidays worldwide. [The Indian Express] Read more

Muslims are not like us, race equality chief says

Muslim communities are unlike others in Britain and the country should accept that they will not integrate in the same way, the former head of the equalities watchdog has said.

Trevor Phillips said that it was disrespectful to suppose that Muslim communities would change, claiming that we should accept that they “see the world differently from the rest of us”.

“Continuously pretending that a group is somehow eventually going to become like the rest of us is perhaps the deepest form of disrespect,” he told a meeting at the Policy Exchange think tank on Monday night.

“Because what you are essentially saying is the fact that they behave in a different way, some of which we may not like, is because they haven’t yet seen the light. It may be that they see the world differently from the rest of us.”

Mr Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, added: “Part of the integration process is for the rest of us to grasp that people aren’t going to change their views simply because we are constantly telling them that basically they should be like us.” [The Times (£)] Read more

PC brigade 'failing victims of sex abuse': Minorities tsar slams liberals over Muslim criminals

David Cameron's integration tsar has blasted 'hand-wringing' liberals for failing to tackle forced marriage and other abuses in Muslim communities.

Louise Casey said some officials were 'so wrapped up in political correctness' they ignored shameful scandals which led to vulnerable women and children being harmed.

Miss Casey, who chaired the Government's troubled families unit and led an investigation into social services in Rotherham – where Asian sex gangs had abused as many as 1,600 children – is carrying out a review of how to boost integration in the most isolated communities.

Commissioned by the Prime Minister, this is looking at how to help migrants learn English, as well as other ways of boosting women's job prospects.

But Miss Casey claimed one issue was that the liberal elite had turned a blind eye to problems within some Muslim groups.

Speaking to the Policy Exchange think-tank in London last night, she said: 'We let forced marriage happen because we were so wrapped up in political correctness and wanting our multicultural Britain. We forgot to talk about equality and we forgot to talk about equal rights.

[TOP RATED COMMENT 1605 votes] The problem we have is that since 1997 we have had nothing but "hand-wringing" liberals running the country!

[2ND 1395] The liberal elite are clueless, and that includes Mr Cameron who is one of those "hand-wringing" liberals himself who has promoted PC non stop since he came into power. I don't like hypocrites.

[3RD 1246] At last someone in authority is pointing this out, even if it is a little late. Not like her boss isn't one of those 'hand-wringing liberals' himself though. We need a proper Conservative government to sort this country out and put British people first. [Mail on Sunday] Read more

Fireman Sam creator detained at airport for veil comment at security gate

As David Jones arrived at the security gates at Gatwick airport, he was looking forward to getting through swiftly so he could enjoy lunch with his daughters before their flight.

Placing his belongings, including a scarf, into a tray to pass through the X-ray scanner he spotted a Muslim woman in hijab pass through the area without showing her face.

In a light-hearted aside to a security official who had been assisting him, he said: “If I was wearing this scarf over my face, I wonder what would happen.”

The quip proved to be a mistake. After passing through the gates, he was confronted by staff and accused of racism.

As his daughters, who had passed through security, waited in the departure lounge wondering where he was, he was subjected to a one hour stand-off as officials tried to force him to apologise.

Mr Jones, 67, who is the creator of the popular children’s character Fireman Sam, said: “Something like George Orwell’s 1984 now seems to have arrived in Gatwick airport. [The Telegraph] Read more

Sharia law UK: 'Things are getting ugly for British Muslims' says Islamic court scholar Khola Hasan

.... Hasan sees the rights of women as enshrined in the Quran and their violation as a modern phenomenon, born out of the hundreds of years of confusion that followed the colonisation of the Middle East by the West. It was this, she argues, that created inequality between the sexes in the Muslim world – not Muslim scholarship and certainly the teachings of Mohammed.

.... But Sharia law has an image problem in 2016 and debates about the origins of sexism and Islam are not likely to change that. Hasan may be angry but she says British Muslims are choosing to ride out the wave. Friends have had their hijabs ripped off in the street, while somebody threw a beer bottle at her just the other day. Britain's streets, she said, are getting ugly.

"I've been called a member of Isis. It is very hurtful and scary. [We] are the new hated people and Muslims are very aware of that. We all feel not only how much we are hated but how huge the job is. We are constantly trying to prove that we are not traitors," she said.

"For Muslims now it is about keeping under the radar, sitting tight and just hoping that this blows over without many of us being killed. I am not sensationalising this, people are terrified." [International Business Times] Read more

Indonesia province bans Ahmadiyah from spreading minority Islamic sect

A tiny Indonesian province has banned a minority Islamic sect from conducting religious activities, a move activists say raises concerns over intolerance in the Muslim-majority nation.

The move by Bangka-Belitung, made up of two main islands off South Sumatra, is the latest in a series in which religious minorities including Christians and Shi’ite Muslims have faced harassment and complained of a lack of protection.

“The Ahmadiyah have a right to live in Bangka,” Fery Insani, a senior official in the local government, told Reuters. “In a meeting with community leaders and religious figures, all of us have agreed that it is forbidden for them to conduct activities like spreading their faith.”

Indonesia has the world’s largest population of Muslims, the majority of whom adhere to moderate Sunni beliefs. But hardline Indonesian Muslims accuse Ahmadiyah and other Muslim minorities of apostasy. [Reuters] Read more

Can schools ban the veil?

No-one knows how many adult women in the UK wear the full face covering known as the niqab.

But it is a minority of British Muslim women, many prefer to simply cover their hair with the hijab.

Uniform rules in state-funded schools in England tend to reflect the sensibilities of local communities, as each school determines its own policy.

Many allow the hijab and adapt their uniforms to accommodate concerns about modesty.

Now, Ofsted says head teachers are coming under pressure to relax rules that exclude full face coverings.

It will not say where or how many schools are facing this pressure, but the chief inspector of schools in England is massively raising the stakes.

On Tuesday, Sir Michael Wilshaw said a school could be judged by Ofsted inspectors as inadequate if the wearing of a full face covering was "clearly hindering communication".

It is a line in the sand. [BBC] Read more

Ofsted chief backs schools that restrict 'inappropriate wearing of veil'

School inspectors will be allowed to rate schools as “inadequate” if they let pupils or staff wear full-face veils such as niqabs in their classrooms, according to a policy announced by the chief inspector of schools.

Sir Michael Wilshaw said Ofsted would support heads and principals banning what was described as the “inappropriate wearing” of the veil, in an intervention that was supported by ministers but criticised by Muslim leaders and teaching unions for polarising the issue.

“I am concerned that some heads and principals who are trying to restrict the wearing of the full veil in certain circumstances are coming under pressure from others to relax their policy. I want to assure these leaders that they can rely on my full backing for the stance they are taking,” Wilshaw said.

“Where leaders are condoning the wearing of the face veil by staff members or by pupils when this is clearly hindering communication and effective teaching, they should give consideration to judging the school as inadequate.” [The Guardian] Read more

Ofsted threatens to penalise schools where Muslim veil is worn

Schools will be marked down by Ofsted for the first time if inspectors judge that wearing the veil – by students or teachers – is a "barrier to learning".

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector, has on Tuesday written to all inspectors instructing them to mark down institutions where they believe the veil hinders "positive social interaction".

He said that people need to listen to David Cameron’s concerns that “our liberal values, our liberal West values, are protected”. The new rules will affect around 16,000 children and just under 1,000 teachers who currently wear the veil to school.

It comes after the Prime Minister announced that Muslim women can be banned from wearing veils in schools, courts and other British institutions.

Mr Cameron said that he will give his backing to public authorities that put in place “proper and sensible” rules to ban women from wearing face veils in comments which will reignite debates.

The Government is preparing to announce a series of measures designed to stop British Muslims becoming radicalised and traveling to the Middle East to join terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). [The Telegraph] Read more

Listen: Damning audio which proves future Lord Mayor Muhammad Afzal called David Cameron an Islamophobe

Birmingham’s future Lord Mayor has been caught on tape labelling David Cameron an Islamophobe at a protest meeting about anti-terror measures - a day after denying saying it.

And Muhammad Afzal, Chairman of the Central Mosque , said the Prime Minister “keeps on talking about extremists, extremists, extremists”, as he questioned claims that up to 700 Islamists had travelled from Britain to fight in Syria.

The Birmingham Mail told on Friday how the future civic leader had attended a protest meeting about the Prevent anti-terror laws and controversial new measures giving Ofsted power to inspect out-of-hours ‘schools’, including madrassas.

Coun Afzal later issued a statement denying he did not back Prevent and claimed his comments had been ‘sensationalised’ and ‘taken out of context’ - while he also denied calling the Prime Minister an Islamophobe, during a telephone call with our reporter.

But a photograph appeared today of him standing alongside a banner saying ‘No to Prevent’ while in our tape recording of the meeting he attacks David Cameron and his Government’s claims about the number of British Muslims travelling abroad to fight in Syria. [Birmingham Mail] Read more

Sharia law UK: Baroness Cox says move to restrict Islamic courts 'has MPs' support'

A new law that seeks to restrict the power of Sharia courts in Britain could soon be debated on the floor of the House of Commons after passing its final reading in the Lords.

Baroness Cox's Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill passed unamended in the Lords on 20 January and is now on its way to the Commons, where the 78-year-old cross party peer believes it already has significant support from both Labour and Conservative MPs.

Cox told IBTimes UK that she has a meeting with Justice Secretary Michael Gove on Monday (1 February) and is optimistic that David Cameron's government may consider taking on her bill. If not, she said at least three Labour MPs had expressed an interest in taking it on as a private members bill.

The bill could see Sharia court scholars jailed if they present themselves as judges, and could force Islamic courts to ensure equality of the sexes. Cox believes this dovetails with plans by the Home Secretary to launch an enquiry into the Sharia system and the announcement of new funding for Muslim women to learn English. [International Business Times] Read more