Tag: MIDDLE EAST

Brunei’s law mandating STONING TO DEATH of gays & adulterers to come into force next week

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A harsher version of penal code, which includes sharia-based punishments for things like adultery and same-sex relations, is to come into force next week in Brunei. The ‘human rights defenders’ in Washington, however, are silent.

Brunei, a tiny Muslim-majority absolute monarchy located in Southeastern Asia is about to put into force the last amendment to its criminal code as part of a reform initiated back in 2014. The renewed code, which is aimed at reflecting Islam’s tenets of morality and punishment for those who break them, will include caning and even stoning to death of Muslims, who are found guilty of adultery, sodomy and rape.

ALSO ON RT.COMBrunei’s plan to stone gays riles UNCAPThe government wanted to roll in the new laws in stages, but put the process on pause after international public outcry over the milder phase one, which included fines and jail terms for offenders, but not corporal punishment. Last week a rights group reported that Brunei quietly announced earlier this year the date, when the harsher version of the code would come into force: April 3.

“We are trying to get pressure placed on the government of Brunei but realise there is a very short time frame until the laws take effect,” Matthew Woolfe an Australia-based founder of the group, the Brunei Project, told Reuters. “It took us by surprise that the government has now given a date and is rushing through implementation.”

Homosexuality was outlawed in Brunei even before the 2014 reform and in fact since colonial times, with jail sentences of up to 10 years possible. If its government goes ahead with the plan, the nation will become the first in Asia to allow punishing gay people by death. At the moment only a handful of nations like Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have such provisions in their law.

The news has horrified some international rights groups. Amnesty International, in particular, decried the introduction of “cruel and inhuman penalties” and called on the world to “urgently condemn Brunei’s move to put these cruel penalties into practice.”

ALSO ON RT.COMIndonesia: 140+ arrested in ‘gay party’ raid, critics say people harassed afterwardsCAPHowever, the US has so far stayed conspicuously silent on the issue. Washington, which actively develops economic ties with the oil-rich nation while regularly holding annual naval drills with a particular focus on maritime security in the South China Sea, has not yet issued a single statement on the latest developments in Brunei.

And neither did London, which also enjoys “close ties” with its former protectorate. Although, one could hardly expect any damning statements from the US aimed at the Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The man, who recently described the amendment of the penal code as “a great achievement,” has traditionally enjoyed warm relations with the White House, which were sometimes marked by some extraordinary gifts like jewelry worth $71,468 presented to the former first lady, Michelle Obama, by the Queen of Brunei back in 2013.

However, such a situation would probably surprise no one. The fact that another of Washington’s major allies – Saudi Arabia – also punishes same-sex relations by death – alongside adultery, apostasy and blasphemy – never stopped the US from striking billions-worth of deals with Riyadh.

ALSO ON RT.COMPentagon says Riyadh is too important to whip, rolls out $15bn THAAD arms deal insteadThe recent scandal over the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which resulted in global fallout for the Saudis, failed to change the attitude of the White House and the Pentagon to Riyadh.

In theory, Iran-style crippling sanctions of its exports would swiftly change the mind of the Brunei government on whether stoning gays is a good idea. But considering how selective Western powers are in using this tool against nations accused of human right violations, one shouldn’t expect such a development anytime soon.

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UK Denies Asylum To Christian Convert From Iran Because “Christianity Is Not Peaceful”

By Tyler Durden

The UK has denied asylum to an Iranian man because he said on his application that he converted from Islam to the “peaceful” religion of Christianity, according to The Independent.

The Home Office quoted excerpts from the bible in the man’s rejection letter – saying the book of Revelations is “filled with imagery of revenge, destruction, death and violence,” and concluded that “These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you converted to Christianity after discovering it is a ‘peaceful’ religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence, rage and revenge.”

When contacted by The Independent, the Home Office essentially said “our bad” – claiming that the letter was “not in accordance” with proper policies for claims based on religious persecution, and that it was working to improve employee training.

Lawyers and campaigners said the case demonstrated a “distortion of logic” and a “reckless” approach to asylum seekers’ lives, stemming from a tendency by the department to “come up with any reason they can to refuse” cases. –The Independent

The asylum seeker’s caseworker, Nathan Stevens, tweeted “I’ve seen a lot over the years, but even I was genuinely shocked to read this unbelievably offensive diatribe being used to justify a refusal of asylum.”

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According to the latest immigration statistics, there has been a marked increase in incorrect asylum refusals – with successful appeals up 5% since 2015-2016.

“You can see from the text of the letter that the writer is trying to pick holes in the asylum seeker’s account of their conversion to Christianity and using the Bible verses as a tool to do that,” said legal expert Conor James McKinney – deputy editor of the website Free Movement. McKinney said the case was a symptom of the Home Office’s reputation to “come up with any reason they can to refuse asylum.”

“The Home Office is notorious for coming up with any reason they can to refuse asylum and this looks like a particularly creative example, but not necessarily a systemic outbreak of anti-Christian sentiment in the department.” -Conor James McKinney

The case is a “particularly outrageous example of the reckless and facetious approach of the Home Office to determining life and death asylum cases,” said Sarah Teather, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the UK. Teather added that JRS frequently encounters cases where asylum has been refused on “spurious grounds,” adding “Some of these cases require more legal knowledge to recognise than this bizarre misquoting of the Bible, but as this instance gains public attention, we need to remember it reflects a systematic problem and a deeper mindset of disbelief, and is not just an anomaly that can be explained away.”

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Norwegian Writer Slams ‘Dishonest’ Media For Hiding Truth About Mass Migration

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A prominent Norwegian author and media personality has blasted the mainstream press and government officials for hiding harsh realities about mass migration and Islamization from the general public.

Ulf-Arvid Mejlænder, a former journalist himself, penned a scathing op-ed titled, “Say It as It Is,” which was surprisingly published by NRK, Norway’s government-owned media organization.

Mejlænder called out tactics employed by much of the Western press, asserting that key details about crimes are manipulated or left out completely when the perpetrators are migrants or have foreign backgrounds.

“We rarely get to know who commits gang rape, uses a knife or beats up casual victims in the new Norway,” Mejlænder wrote. “I get embarrassed when the media’s clouding of criminal ethnicity is so predictable that ‘the Norwegian’ and ‘Norwegian citizen’ become the code words for foreign origin.”

Mejlænder cited multiple recent examples of misleading coverage of stories involving migrant crime, concluding, “There is no pressure on politicians who repeat their ‘sleep in peace’ message, citing better integration as the solution to everything.”

“The gap between the risk of our multicultural experiment and the storytelling of the mainstream media must not grow larger.”

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He also pointed out that major cultural and economic shifts are taking place due to Islamic migration, with very little accurate coverage by the press.

“Immigration costs are increasing, cultural conflicts are building up and Islam is gaining more and more space,” Mejlænder wrote. “The danger signals of our greatest social change process are clearly visible today, but traditional media show limited interest in exploring them. It weakens the press’s relevance and credibility.”

“…one has to go mainly to alternative media to gain knowledge about studies that show that anti-Western attitudes and intolerant interpretations of the Qur’an are relatively widespread among Muslims in Western countries.”

You can read Mejlænder’s full piece with English translation here.

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Breakup of EU ‘can’t be ruled out’ if Brussels tries to enforce pro-immigration policies – Orban

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that a breakup of the European Union cannot be ruled out if one part of the bloc tries to impose pro-immigration policies on another.

Quoted on the Hungarian government’s website, Orban said he could see a danger of fragmentation within the European Union.

“If we are left alone and they do not force islamisation on us, Europe can continue to live as the club of free nations,“ Orban said, but added that if Brussels forces Hungary “to accept the UN migration pact or the European Commission’s decisions so as to make us fit their own Western concessive policies, a breakup [of the EU] cannot be ruled out.”

Orban has repeatedly butted heads with the EU over his reluctance to open Hungary’s borders to refugees, denouncing “Muslim invaders” and saying that no country should be forced to adopt imposed immigration policies or adhere to quotas set in Brussels.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

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Swedish prime minister refuses to strip citizenship: “ISIS fighters can return”

By   

Stefan Löfven, Sweden’s Prime Minister and the leftist Socialist Party leader has ruled out the possibility of stripping Swedish Islamic State Fighters of their citizenships, and has said that they have the right to come back to the country.

Nyheter Idag recently reported that Löfven stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously warned those who were traveling in and around the region in which IS had been fighting, that those individuals who were captured shouldn’t anticipate any assistance from the Swedish government at a consular level.

The prime minster did, however, state that he would refrain from stripping the Islamic State fighters of their Swedish citizenship, asserting that it was their right to return to the country if they desired. He then said that upon their return, it would be up to the intelligence service and law enforcement to keep track of the returning terrorists whereabouts and to potentially arrest and prosecute them.

Löfven’s statement lies in stark contrast with what right-wing populist leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, had to say regarding the issue. Åkesson stated, “If they choose to travel away to support the terrorist organisation Islamic State, in my opinion, they have used up all of their rights to call themselves Swedish. Then they should also not be a citizen.”

In a reaction to the comments given by Löfven, Paula Bierler, the Sweden Democrat’s migration policy spokeswomen, agreed with Åkesson, writing, “The people who left Sweden to join the Islamic State should be considered to have terminated their Swedish citizenship.”

Since 2012, at least 150 of the approximately 300 terrorists that left the country to fight for the Islamic State have now returned back to Sweden. According to Jan Jönsson, a local politician, at least 19 of these Islamic State terrorists are currently living in the Swedish Capital of Stockholm.

In Malmö, a southern city that’s become infamous for its no-go zones and significant Middle Eastern and North African migrant population, around twenty or so former Islamic State terrorists have purportedly been operating underground and illegal mosques and using them to recruit new radical Islamic terrorists for their jihad against the West.

Michael Helders, an anti-violence extremism activist stated that, former IS fighters are often ‘seen as heroes for young people who are at risk and radicalized.’ He added that, “It increases concern, of course, and creates instability. People are worried about their children.”

Of the 300 Islamic terrorists that left Sweden to join Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, about half have returned to Sweden, whereas 50 are thought to have been killed, while another 100 remain in the Middle East.

As the dismantling of the Islamic State continues, we can expect this issue to remain at the forefront of political debate in many western European countries.

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KNOWLES: ISIS Widows Want ‘Therapy’ After Marrying Terrorists

By Michael J. Knowles

Kashmiri protesters seen with the ISIS flag.

Former American citizens turned ISIS brides want to return to the United States after being captured by Western forces in the Middle East. Michael Knowles explains why this is a bad idea on Thursday’s episode of “The Michael Knowles Show.” Transcript and video below.

You had this influx of women, these radicalized Islamic women in the United States, in Great Britain, throughout continental Europe who during the rise of the Islamic state actually left to go fight … on behalf of the Islamic State. So now because President Trump promised we would crush ISIS militarily, and we have, now these women don’t have a state. ISIS barely exists anymore, if it exists at all. Now they want to come back and say, “Whoopsie-daisy, let’s pretend that nothing happened.”

Here is a woman named Hoda Muthana, she left at the age of 19, left Alabama, the good ol’ USA, moved to Syria and married an Australian jihadi who died within three months. Then she married another jihadi, had a child with him, That’s now 18 months old. That guy got killed as well — good job, Western forces — and now she wants to come back to Alabama. Here she is:

Muthara: When I was 17 I had an account on Twitter and we were all just normal Muslims speaking together, and we were just learning off of each other, feeding off of each other. We heard the Caliphate was announced and then we interpreted ourselves that it was obligatory upon us to go…[when she went to Syria] we didn’t see much about, what we did see when we did see it, we would see dead bodies in public.

“You know we’d see dead bodies.” But they knew that they were gonna see dead bodies because they were on these Twitter threads and in these internet groups that we’re talking about this, that’s why they left. Who wants to stay in boring, peaceful, free Alabama, when you can move to Syria and help Islamic militants slaughter innocents? Which is what this woman did. By the way, it’s not like she was eight or nine years old here, was captured and brought over there. She was 19 years old when she left the United States, she helped to spread ISIS propaganda on Twitter. She tweeted out “Americans wake up, go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood.”

We have a hard time in the West believing that people can think this way because we live in a basically decadent, secular, liberal society, so we have no conception of anyone truly believing that people should go on drive-bys and spill all of the blood, as this woman said, on Twitter. So we have this vulnerability, we don’t have a natural defense against these people who are vicious, vile terrorists who want to burn down everything that we have, want to spill our blood in the street — her words, not mine — what we want to do is just let them come back and that’s the compassionate thing, that’s the nice thing to do — that’s the imprudent thing to do. What does this woman think her punishment should be for leaving the United States and going to fight for ISIS?

Muthara: Maybe therapy lessons, it may be a process that will insure us that we’ll never do this again. Jail time, I don’t know if that has an effect on people.

Yeah, jail time, let’s not even consider that. How about just some nice therapy, maybe a good day at the spa, kind of let me get some of my troubles out of here, just relax a little bit, de-stress, maybe that would help. Wow, to be able to look an interviewer straight in the face and say, “Yes, I called for the spilling of American blood in the name of the Islamic state, I’d left and renounced my country, I joined a major international terrorist group and helped people slaughter innocents throughout the Middle East. I think I probably just need a little touch of therapy.” She does need some therapy, she also needs some prison.

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Salvini to left-wing activist: “Take in 10-20 migrants in your home!”

By EMMA R. 6 February 2019

When Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini recently held a campaign speech in the city of Giulianova, he was interrupted by an angry left-wing activist who called him a “shitty murderer”.

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Salvini patiently explained that communists who are well-off financially are the people who preach the most morals to other citizens.
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He then offered the activist an opportunity to host migrants in his home instead of screaming insults.
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“A round of applause for the gentleman who has won 10 migrants for his home. Give your first name, family name, fiscal code, and we will send you 20 migrants and you take care of them – lunch, mid day snack and dinner”, he said.
Salvini then clarified the hypocrisy of leftist citizens from the middle class who always welcome migration but prefer to avoid the consequences.
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“The more money communists earn, the more they preach morality to others”, he continued.
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The Interior Minister also gave a direct response to the left-wing activist’s accusation that he would be a murderer.
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“The real murderers are the people who have been accomplices of the smugglers and welcomed migrants and turned the Mediterranean Sea into an open air cemetery”, he said.
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In conclusion, Salvini stated that he will never in his life accept that criminal migrants reside in the country. He will personally ensure that those migrants return to their home countries.
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12 people fined for violating new Danish ‘burqa ban’ law

By EMMA R. 5 February 2019

The new law against facial coverings in public in Denmark was introduced six months ago. Since then, 20 people have been served with suspicion of the crime classification, and twelve of those were then also convicted.

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The law came into force on 1 August, 2018. Anyone who defies the ban risks a €135 fine, a sum that is raised to €1,350 if it happens on repeated occasions.
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Exceptions can be made when there is a so-called reasonable purpose, such as cold weather. In such cases, it will be up to the police to determine whether or not an offense has been committed.
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The law was voted through with a large majority in the Danish Parliament Folketinget, 75 votes in favour and 30 against.
There is agreement that the garments are oppressive of women and incompatible with Danish values. The Danish People’s Party, which originally proposed the ban, wanted to go a step further and impose prison sentences for violations of the ban.
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Until 15 January of this year, 105 reports of violations of the masking ban have been made and twelve people have been fined.
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However, the statistics from the Danish police do not reveal exactly how many cases are related to the Muslim burqa or other types of masks – at least one case is said to not be about either a burqa or niqab.
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At the Danish People’s Party, migration policy spokesperson Martin Henriksen says that the figures show that the law has had a real effect and that they are now on the right path.
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Anti-Semitic Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar Appears to Cry as President Trump Knocks Illegal Immigration

By Jim Hoft

Far left Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) supports the anti-Semitic BDS movement.
She regularly attacks Israel.

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Ilhan Omar compares the United States to Al-Qaeda killers.

Ilhan Omar blames terrorism on the US.

Via Jim Hanson:

On Tuesday the American audience cheered when President Trump demanded an end to illegal immigration and open borders.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar appeared to cry.

Weird.

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Minister Szijjarto: “Hungary maintains zero tolerance stance on migration”

By HUNGARY JOURNAL 4 February 2019

Hungary has a policy of zero tolerance for migration and will never back any document that uses the UN’s global migration compact as a point of reference, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said, responding to a query by MTI.

Peter Szijjarto commented on recent reports by several Hungarian news portals citing a German news agency’s EU diplomatic source as saying that Hungary’s government has refused all of the European Union’s offers of a compromise on a joint position on migration, and has isolated itself within the bloc.

“Pro-migration politicians are continuing to run amok”, the minister said. Every EU document will try to refer to the UN’s global migration compact in spite of the fact that nine EU member states did not vote for it, he added.

Szijjarto said the Hungarian government will never support the compact, which he said wanted to facilitate immigration. “A document on which there is no unanimous agreement by all member states cannot be a point of reference”, he said.

The minister added that Hungary’s isolation “has long been a pipe dream for those who support migration”. “Anyone who says no to migration will continue to be our ally”, he said.

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