The Trap: What Happened to our Dream of Freedom

Worth another viewing…

Man arrested at gunpoint for listening to MP3 player

“The description was extremely good and if that’s the report we get we have to act quickly.”

When my girlfriend reported recently that a man had followed here home and was trying to kick the door in the response was, er, less quick. Four hours later and a no show despite two 999 calls. i turned up from across London and flagged a patrol car down. The explanation was ‘we are having problems with new equipment’.

 Man arrested at gunpoint after police mistake his MP3 player for a gunArmed police held an innocent mechanic at gunpoint when they mistook his

MP3 player for a pistol.

Darren Nixon, 28, was arrested and put in police cell for simply

listening to music on his way home from work.

The shocked garage worker was then swabbed for a DNA sample, had his

mugshot taken and was fingerprinted.

The armed officers swooped on Mr Nixon when a woman thought she saw him

carrying a handgun and called the police.

Mr Nixon, from Stoke-on-Trent, has now received an apology from

Staffordshire Police but said the mistake was still a "stain on his

character". 

Dr Rowan Williams’s words were understood

 I listened to and read the text of what he said. Allowing for his  obscurantism, it was clear what he said. This wasn't a case of the media 'making something out of nothing'.

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 12/02/2008

In his speech to the opening session of the Church of England Synod
yesterday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said that he "took responsibility" for any "unclarity" in his contentious
comments on sharia law.

His admission that it was his own "misleading" choice of words that
had caused public distress and misunderstanding is likely to be taken by his colleagues in the English Church as sufficient contrition to protect him from immediate demands for resignation.

Whether it will be enough to save his position at the Lambeth
Conference, scheduled for July, is another matter. On that occasion, Dr Williams will have to face the entire Anglican Communion, many of whose African members - who were already at odds with their North American counterparts over such issues as the ordination of homosexual clergy - are facing threats from Islamic law that are a matter of life and death, rather than abstract debate.

In spite of his words of mitigation, there are still grounds for doubt
about whether Dr Williams fully appreciates how justified was the anger that his original remarks provoked.

Certainly, some of his supporters have been quick to blame the media for a "knee-jerk" reaction to what they describe as a "serious piece of academic work", implying that the tide of criticism that has enveloped Lambeth Palace has been simple-minded or deliberately obtuse.

The Vicar of Putney, Rev Giles Fraser, has likened the press to "a pack of dogs" who had not even tried "to understand what [Dr Williams] said".
This is quite untrue: the serious media have examined both Dr Williams's lecture and his BBC interview and focused their critique precisely on the legal and theological significance of his views.

It would seem that some of Dr Williams's apologists are simply failing
to come to grips with the enormity of what his (perhaps badly chosen) words implied.

There are two quite separate points of legitimate concern. One is that the archbishop - who heads a national institution with a constitutional function - explicitly called into question the most fundamental principle of British justice: that we have a single system of law that applies equally to everyone.

The other is that, at a time when British cultural assumptions and
institutions are under threat from a particularly aggressive
interpretation of Islam, the head of its Established Church is
unprepared to offer a robust defence of its values, apparently
preferring to concede to the demands of what is in fact a minority, even among the Muslim community.

Dr Williams is guilty, at the very least, of arrogant insensitivity. His
self-inflicted injury may yet prove to be fatal.

The Telegraph online

Mark Steyn on ‘hate crimes’

Mark Steyn on multi-culturalism

Here are the details of the stoning in Marseilles referred to:

France: A woman stoned to death in Marseilles

Days before she was due to be married, Ghofrane Haddaoui, 23, refused the advances of a teenage boy and paid with her life. Lured to waste ground near her home in Marseilles, the Tunisian-born French woman was stoned to death, her skull smashed by rocks hurled by at least two young men, according to police.

Although the circumstances of the murder are not clear, the horrific “lapidating” of the young Muslim stoked a French belief that the country can no longer tolerate the excesses of an alien culture in its midst.

Later, pop celebrities joined 2,000 people in a march through Marseilles denouncing violence against women, particularly in the immigrant-dominated housing estates. The protest against Islamic “obscurantism” and the “fundamentalism that imprisons women” was led by a group of women of Muslim origin who call themselves Ni Putes ni Soumises (Neither Whores nor Submissive).

The movement, which emerged three years ago to defend Muslim women, is spawning similar groups across Europe, supported by a mainstream opinion that has recently abandoned political correctness and wants to halt the inroads of Islam.
from Middleeastwomen.org

Sharia court frees London knife youths

Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor
08.02.08

Related Articles

• Sharia law in Britain ‘a recipe for social chaos’
• How the law governs every aspect of a Muslim’s life
• Evening Standard comment: No to sharia law in Britain

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Sharia law “courts” are already dealing with crime on the streets of London, it has emerged.

The revelation came after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, called for an “accommodation” with parts of the Islamic legal code in a speech which attracted widespread condemnation.

The Archbishop said parts of civil law could be dealt with under the sharia system but already some communities have gone much further – and it was revealed today that a teenage stabbing case among the Somali community in Woolwich had been dealt with by a sharia “trial”.

Youth worker Aydarus Yusuf, 29, who was involved in setting up the hearing, said a group of Somali youths were arrested by police on suspicion of stabbing another Somali teenager.

The victim’s family told officers the matter would be settled out of court and the suspects were released on bail. A hearing was convened and elders ordered the assailants to compensate the victim.

“All their uncles and their fathers were there,” said Mr Yusuf. “So they all put something towards that and apologised for the wrongdoing.”

An Islamic Council in Leyton also revealed that it had dealt with more than 7,000 divorces while sharia courts in the capital have settled hundreds of financial disputes.

Today’s revelations came as controversy raged over Dr Williams’s call for parts of sharia law to be adopted in Britain.

His comments were condemned by Downing Street, the Tories and the chairman of the Government’s Equalities and Human Rights Commission. They were described as a “recipe for chaos” by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.

Along with the Islamic Council in Leyton, there are reports of at least two other sharia courts sitting in London. There are also courts in a number of other areas of the country with high Muslim populations, including Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, Birmingham and Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Most are understood to concentrate on divorce cases – although such judgments are not recognised in British law – as well as financial disputes.

Suhaib Hasan, a spokesman for the Islamic Sharia Council in Leyton, which was set up in 1982, said that he and his colleagues dealt with more than 200 cases a year, ranging from inheritance to marriage and divorce.

“From the beginning, people have wanted our services. More and more come back to us. Each month we deal with 20 cases,” he said.

On its website, the Islamic Sharia Council warns those who use its services that the divorces it grants cannot invalidate a union under British civil law and advises that a separate civil divorce should be obtained.

As well as giving advice on legal matters, such as inheritance, the website also gives general guidance on Muslim practices including the need for beards and the need for women to cover themselves in public.

It also covers issues such as whether women should train as doctors. It supports this as a “lesser evil”, but suggests that training should take place at an all female college and that future treatment should be given to “women only”
From the Evening Standard

A question of honour: Police say 17,000 women are victims every year

Ministers are stepping up the fight against so-called 'honour' crime and
forced marriages. Detectives say official statistics are 'merely the tip
of the iceberg' of this phenomenon. Brian Brady investigates

And official figures on forced marriages are the tip of the iceberg,
says the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

It warns that the number of girls falling victim to forced marriages,
kidnappings, sexual assaults, beatings and even murder by relatives
intent on upholding the "honour" of their family is up to 35 times
higher than official figures suggest.

The crisis, with children as young as 11 having been sent abroad to be
married, has prompted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to call on
British consular staff in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to take more
action to identify and help British citizens believed to be the victims
of forced marriages in recent years.

The Home Office is drawing up an action plan to tackle honour-based
violence which "aims to improve the response of police and other
agencies" and "ensure that victims are encouraged to come forward with
the knowledge that they will receive the help and support they need".
And a Civil Protection Bill coming into effect later this year will give
courts greater guidance on dealing with forced marriages.

Commander Steve Allen, head of ACPO's honour-based violence unit, says
the true toll of people falling victim to brutal ancient customs is
"massively unreported" and far worse than is traditionally accepted.
"We
work on a figure which suggests it is about 500 cases shared between us
and the Forced Marriage Unit per year," he said: "If the generally
accepted statistic is that a victim will suffer 35 experiences of
domestic violence before they report, then I suspect if you multiplied
our reporting by 35 times you may be somewhere near where people's
experience is at." His disturbing assessment, made to a committee of MPs
last week, comes amid a series of gruesome murders and attacks on
British women at the hands of their relatives.

Marilyn Mornington, a district judge and chair of the Domestic Violence
Working Group, warned that fears of retribution, and the authorities'
failure to understand the problem completely, meant the vast majority of
victims were still too scared to come forward for help. In evidence to
the home affairs committee, which is investigating the problem, she
said: "We need a national strategy to identify the large number of
pupils, particularly girls, missing from school registers who have been
taken off the register and are said to be home schooled, which leads to
these issues. Airport staff and other staff need to be trained to
recognise girls who are being taken out of the country.

"We are bringing three girls a week back from Islamabad as victims of
forced marriage. We know that is the tip of the iceberg, but that is the
failure end. It has to be part of education within the communities and
the children themselves."

Women who have been taken overseas to be married against their will are
now being rescued on an almost daily basis. The Government's Forced
Marriage Unit (FMU) handled approximately 400 cases last year – 167 of
them leading to young Britons being helped back to the UK to escape
unwanted partners overseas. And it is not just women who are affected.
Home Office figures show that 15 per cent of cases involve men and boys.

In an attempt to crack down on the crimes being committed in the name of
honour, police are to introduce a new training package that will give
all officers instructions on handling honour cases. In addition,
detectives are believed to be conducting a "cold case" style review of
previous suicides amid suspicions that cases of honour killings are more
common than previously thought.

Almost all victims of the most extreme crimes are women, killed in half
of cases by their own husbands. Sometimes murders are carried out by
other male relatives, or even hired killers. The fear that many
thousands are left to endure honour violence alone may be supported by
the disturbing details of the incidence of suicide within the British
Asian community. Women aged 16 to 24 from Pakistani, Indian and
Bangladeshi backgrounds are three times more likely to kill themselves
than the national average for women of their age.

A report published last week by the Centre for Social Cohesion found
that many women felt unable to defy their families and therefore "suffer
violence, abuse, depression, anxiety and other psychological problems
that can lead to self-harm, schizophrenia and suicide". James Brandon,
co-author of Crimes of the Community: Honour-based Violence in the UK,
said: "The Government is still not taking honour crime seriously. Until
this happens, the ideas of honour which perpetuate this violence will
continue to be passed on through generations. Religious leaders, local
authorities and central government must work together to end such abuses
of human rights."

The human cost of honour crime was vividly captured in a haunting video
message from murdered Banaz Mahmood, who revealed how her own father had
tried to kill her after she abandoned her arranged marriage and fell in
love with another man. In the grainy message she told how he plied her
with brandy – the first time she had ever drunk alcohol – pulled the
curtains and asked her to turn around.

The 19-year-old fled, but less than a month after making the grainy
video on a mobile phone, Banaz was dead. Her naked body was found buried
in a yard in Birmingham in 2006, more than 100 miles from her London
home. She had been raped and tortured by men hired by her uncle to kill
her. Mahmood's father, uncle and one of her killers were sentenced to a
total of 60 years in jail for the murder.

And the fatal potential of honour disputes was laid bare last month when
a coroner said he was convinced that a Muslim teenager who feared she
was being forced into an arranged marriage by her parents had suffered a
"vile murder." Ian Smith said the concept of an arranged marriage was
"central" to the circumstances leading up to the death of 17-year-old
Shafilea Ahmed, whose decomposed body was discovered on the banks of the
River Kent at Sedgwick, Cumbria, four years ago. After running away from
home in February 2003, Shafilea told housing officers: "My parents are
going to send me to Pakistan and I'll be married to someone and left
there." The tragic story of the bright teenager who wanted to go to
university and study law is far from the only example of the anguish
suffered by British teenagers in recent years.

Toafiq Wahab, British consul in Dhaka, Bangladesh, recalls a "rescue
mission" to recover a 17-year-old who called his office from Sylhet.
"We
had to track her down and 36 hours from taking that call, we had turned
up at her house with an armed police escort," he said. "The house was
filled with over 20 of her relations, most of whom were from Britain and
stunned to see me. They obviously did not want her to leave. We simply
asked her if she wanted to leave and go back to the UK in the presence
of all her family and she agreed. I then spoke to the family and
explained what we were doing and tried to make them understand. In the
end, we had to get the police to assist in helping us to leave."

Former Bradford policeman Philip Balmforth, who works with vulnerable
Asian women, said he saw 395 cases of forced marriage in the city last
year. "I had a case of a 14-year-old girl at school," he recalled.
"The
teacher tells me that the girl claims to have been married. So I went
along to the school with a Muslim colleague. We saw the girl. We asked
her a few questions and we were not sure. Then the girl said: 'If you
don't believe me I have the video at home.'"

In Bradford alone, a total of 250 girls aged between 13 and 16 were
taken off the school rolls last year because they failed to return from
trips abroad. Campaigners suspect many were victims of forced marriages.

"If contacted by concerned young British men and women in the UK, the
FMU provides free and confidential advice on the potential dangers of
being forced into marriage overseas and precautions to take to help
avoid this happening," said a Foreign Office spokesperson last night.
"If we learn that a British national overseas is being forced into
marriage, or has already been forced into marriage, we look at various
means of consular assistance ranging from action through the courts to
rescue missions."

"The FMU can also help to arrange accommodation for victims for when
they return to the UK and can refer victims to counselling and supports
groups, legal centres, and so on.

"When it is necessary, the FMU and our embassies and high commissions
work closely with the police and judiciary overseas in order to organise
emergency rescue and repatriation missions."

Britain's hidden scandal

The kidnap victim

In June 2000 Narina Anwar, 29, and her two sisters claim they were
tricked by their parents into going on a family holiday to a remote
village in Pakistan, where they were held captive for five months in an
attempt to force them to marry three illiterate villagers. The sisters
fled to Lahore and contacted the British High Commission, which
persuaded their parents to hand over their children's passports so they
could return home.

The 'slave'

Gina Singh, 28, sued her former mother-in-law for £35,000 in 2006 after
she was forced to work 17 hours a day around the house. Ms Singh, from
Nottingham, was forbidden to leave the house on her own after an
arranged marriage in 2002.

The runaway wife

In 1983, Zana Muhsen and her sister Nadia, from Birmingham, were pushed
by their father to visit Yemen and forced to marry. Zana, now 35,
escaped eight years later. Her father had sold her for a few thousand
dollars. The experience is recounted in her book, 'Sold'.

The murder victim

Surjit Athwal disappeared with Bachan Athwal, her mother-in-law, after a
family wedding in India in 1998. Her body was never found. Bachan later
boasted that she arranged for her son, Sukhdave, to murder Surjit after
finding out that she was having an affair.

The attempted suicide

Shafilea Ahmed was the victim of a suspected honour killing. The
17-year-old's body was found months after she had returned from a trip
to Pakistan in 2003. On the trip she drank bleach. The coroner said he
saw it as a 'desperate measure' to avoid a forced marriage.

The Independent

Appeaser pleads ’shock’

Williams ’shocked’ at Sharia row

Dr Williams has been taken aback by the response to his comments

The Archbishop of Canterbury is said to be overwhelmed by the “hostility of the response” after his call for parts of Sharia law to be recognised in the UK. Friends of Dr Rowan Williams say he is in a state of shock and cannot believe the criticism from his own Church.

All the main political parties, secular groups and some senior Muslims have expressed dismay at his comments.

However, the Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, criticised the “disgraceful” treatment of Dr Williams.

The BBC understands from sources who work on Christian-Muslim interfaith issues that Dr Williams has faced a barrage of criticism from within the Church and has been genuinely taken aback by how his words were received.

Resignation call

Islamic Sharia law is a legal and social code designed to help Muslims live their daily lives, but it has proved controversial in the West for the extreme nature of some of its punishments.

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said moves such as those suggested by the archbishop would create “social chaos”.

The Reverend Rod Thomas, chairman of evangelical Church group Reform, said the archbishop’s comments were unhelpful.

“The Church at the moment, and the country, needs a clear lead. The country is itself in a debate about its own sense of identity,” he said.

It would be most helpful for the leader of the Church to be able to explain to people how the values we cherish stem from our Christian tradition The Reverend Rod Thomas Reform Reaction in quotes: Sharia law Profile: Rowan Williams

“The moral values that we pursue are ones that we need to know are clearly grounded, and it would be most helpful for the leader of the Church to be able to explain to people how the values we cherish stem from our Christian tradition.”

UKIP MEP Gerard Batten said it would be the “thin end of the wedge” and called on the archbishop to resign.

He said: “I think he’s shown he is totally unfit for the role he undertakes. He’s not fit to be Archbishop of Canterbury, he doesn’t seem to know what his own business is, and he’s not fit to sit in the House of Lords. I think he should go.”

‘Hysterical misrepresentations’

However, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said it was grateful for the archbishop’s “thoughtful intervention”.

The organisation added that it was saddened by the “hysterical misrepresentations” of his speech, which would only “drive a wedge between British people”.

SHARIA LAW Sharia law is Islam’s legal system It is derived from the Koran and the life of the prophet Mohammed Sharia rulings help Muslims understand how they should lead their lives A formal legal ruling is called a fatwa In the West, Sharia courts deal mainly with family and business issues English law recognises religious courts as a means of arbitration Q and A: Sharia law explained

Muhammed Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the MCB, said: “The archbishop is not advocating implementation of the Islamic penal system in Britain.

“His recommendation is confined to the civil system of Sharia law, and only in accordance with English law and agreeable to established notions of human rights.”

Bishop Lowe said the archbishop had been “ridiculed” and “lampooned” by some people.

“We have probably one of the greatest and the brightest Archbishops of Canterbury we have had for many a long day,” he said.

Catherine Heseltine, from the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, said some people might be getting the wrong end of the stick.

“I’m concerned this debate is getting out of control because people hear the word Sharia and instantly scary images of beheadings,” she said.

“But this is not what British Muslims want and it’s not what British Muslims are asking for in any way.”

‘British values’

She added: “Sharia in our everyday lives means things like certification of halal meat, in the same way as Jewish religious bodies will certify kosher meat. No-one’s forced to eat it but it’s a choice if consumers want to buy it.”

HAVE YOUR SAY

There is, and should only be, one law which covers all people and to suggest it can be otherwise is to seriously damage our rights

Patricia London, UK

Send us your comments

Dr Williams told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday that he believed the adoption of some Sharia law in the UK seemed “unavoidable”.

In an interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau, Dr Williams said Muslims should not have to choose between “the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty”.

Gordon Brown’s spokesman said the prime minister “believes that British laws should be based on British values”, but that the archbishop was perfectly entitled to express his views.

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said to fundamentally change the rule of law and adopt Sharia law would be “fundamentally wrong.”

Shaista Gohir, a government advisor on Muslim women, said the majority of British Muslims did not want Sharia courts.

READ THE FULL TEXT Islam in English law [54KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he did not agree with the archbishop him on the issue.

Under English law, people may devise their own way to settle a dispute in front of an agreed third party as long as both sides agree to the process.

Muslim Sharia courts and Orthodox Jewish courts which already exist in the UK come into this category.

DNA farce of white man on rape charge in case where victim said attacker was black

By CHARLOTTE GILL and DUNCAN ROBERTSON

A white man was wrongly charged with rape on flawed DNA evidence, even though the victim said her attacker was black.

The 26-year-old was arrested after police carried out a cold case review on the assault of a teenage girl seven years ago.

Scientists tested a hair on the girl and came up with a match to the father of two. He was bailed, tagged and warned he faced a trial.

Yesterday, following a four-month ordeal, he walked free from court after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.

One Law For All

A batty old booby, but dangerous with it
8th February 2008
Stephen Glover

Dr Rowan Williams likes to give the impression that he is a liberal-
minded Archbishop of Canterbury.

Who would have guessed that there lurks beneath that genial, bearded
exterior a dyed-in-the-wool reactionary who wants to take Britain back
to medieval times?

His amazing suggestion in a BBC interview yesterday that sharia law
should be adopted in Britain marks a gigantic step backwards.

We have one law in this country. It may be based on Christian values, but it is a secular law upheld and interpreted by secular judges.

To have produced a single body of law, observed and respected by the great majority of people, is one of the triumphs of our civilisation.

Many centuries ago the Church had to accept that it should play no part in the administration of worldly justice. Its role is to appeal to our
consciences – not to arbitrate in our everyday disputes, or to apportion guilt and pass sentences.