This American Muslim: Tariq Ramadan: Innocent Until Proven Guilty says the Court

Looks like the Court has decided Tariq Ramadan deserves some American justice- ie, not guilty until proven guilty!

If you don’t know Tariq Ramadan is an eminent Muslim scholar, probably the FIRST EVER hailing from the West- Switzerland- and who writes predominantly about Muslims in the West.

He is seen as a intellectual force to contend with, and has consistently spoken against the ideologies that are now claiming to “represent Muslims” worldwide- the fanatical, extremist, stark raving mad al-Qaeda types, and also the ignorant, we-wanna-try-to-make-a-difference-but-are-to-stupid-to-think-for-ourselves Taliban types.

He’s provided Muslims in the West the ability to intellectually challenge, but also engage with some realities of living in the west- dealing with post-colonization, Islam and post-modernity, this idea of “reformation in Islam”.

via This American Muslim: Tariq Ramadan: Innocent Until Proven Guilty says the Court.

FORMER BOEING ENGINEER CONVICTED OF ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE IN THEFT OF SPACE SHUTTLE SECRETS FOR CHINA – News – All the information you need! Anytime, anywhere! – Crime, Intelligence, Terrorism, Drugs, Technology, Defense & Security

A former Rockwell and Boeing engineer from Orange County, Calif., was remanded into custody this morning after a federal judge convicted him of charges of economic espionage and acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China, for whom he stole restricted technology and Boeing trade secrets, including information related to the Space Shuttle program and Delta IV rocket.

Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 73, who was employed by Rockwell International from 1973 until its defense and space unit was acquired by Boeing in 1996, was found guilty by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, who presided over a three-week bench trial last month.

In his ruling read this morning in court, Judge Carney found Chung guilty of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, six counts of economic espionage to benefit a foreign country, one count of acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China and one count of making false statements to the FBI.

Immediately following the reading of the verdicts, Judge Carney remanded Chung into custody, where he will remain until his sentencing, which was scheduled for Nov. 9, 2009. Chung had been freed after being arrested by special agents with the FBI and investigators with NASA in February 2008.

via FORMER BOEING ENGINEER CONVICTED OF ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE IN THEFT OF SPACE SHUTTLE SECRETS FOR CHINA  – News – All the information you need! Anytime, anywhere! – Crime, Intelligence, Terrorism, Drugs, Technology, Defense & Security.

Mesjid di Xinjiang Kembali Dibuka Dengan Pengawasan Ketat – Arrahmah.com

URUMQI (Arrahmah.com) – Mesjid-mesjid di wilayah Urumqi kembali dibuka untuk keperluan sholat Jumat di bawah pengawasan ketat tentara Cina, kemarin (17/7).

Sejumlah besar mesjid ditutup oleh otoritas Cina untuk ibadah sholat jumat pada minggu lalu setelah terjadi bentrokan antara etnis Han dan Muslim Uighur di Urumqi 5 Juli silam.

“Sekitar 433 mesjid telah dibuka pada minggu ini,” ujar pejabat Cina seperti yang dilansir Xinhua.

Kehidupan kembali berjalan normal, pasar-pasar mulai dibuka, namun akses internet masih diblokir, akses telepon pun tidak bebas didapatkan.

Xinjiang merupakan rumah bagi jutaan Muslim Uighur yang selalu mendapat tekanan dan perlakuan diskriminasi sejak beberapa tahun silam dari etnis Han Cina. (haninmazaya/reuters/arrahmah.com)

via Mesjid di Xinjiang Kembali Dibuka Dengan Pengawasan Ketat – Arrahmah.com.

YouTube – Tens of thousands echo the call for Khilafah/unit: Masjid Al Aqsa; Rajab campaign 09

Scenes from outside Al masjid Al Aqsa on the 17th of July (Friday) 2009. The speech given was part of Hizb ut Tahrir’s Rajab events.

via YouTube – Tens of thousands echo the call for Khilafah/unit: Masjid Al Aqsa; Rajab campaign 09.

AFGHANISTAN: “Opium eases my pain, keeps my children quiet”

Tordi, 45, finally quit her opium habit after six stillborn births and delivered a healthy baby girl. “I was using opium to ease my body pains and to be able to work better,” she told IRIN in her home in the Shortapa District of northern Balkh Province.

Addiction, long hours of hard labour and poor nutrition had weakened Tordi’s body so much that she almost died during her sixth delivery before her family rushed her to a district hospital.

“Doctors told me if I don’t stop using opium I will die in my next pregnancy,” she said.

Tordi’s predicament is common among women working in Afghanistan’s traditional carpet-weaving industry, who use opium as a painkiller or to stave off fatigue.

The country produces about 200 million sqm of carpets and rugs every year, with annual exports valued at US$170 million. From sheep breeders who produce the wool to merchants who export the final product, about six million out of a population of 30 million are involved in the business, according to the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency.

via AFGHANISTAN: “Opium eases my pain, keeps my children quiet”.

Israeli warships attack Gaza coastline & video about natural gas reserves in Gaza

The coastline along the Gaza Strip has come under the fire of patrolling Israeli warships which invariably monitor the shores.

The barrages, which had taken aim at vast swathes of the littoral area on Friday, caused no casualties, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency quoted locals as saying.

Doctor Muawiyah Hassanein, the director of the Gazan Health Ministry’s Emergency and Ambulance Services confirmed there had been no casualties.

The naval bombardments frighten off the local fishermen further restricting the sources of livelihood for the blockaded sliver.

The patrols have been staged on a regular basis since the recent three-week-long Israeli attacks on the strip which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and left thousands of others injured.

via Israeli warships attack Gaza coastline & video about natural gas reserves in Gaza.

Dangerous Untreated West Bank Wastewater By Stephen Lendman

B’Tselem is the Jerusalem-based independent Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (OPT) with a well-deserved reputation for accuracy and integrity. It was founded in 1989 to “document and educate the Israeli public, policymakers (and concerned people everywhere) about human rights violations in the OPT, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public (and elsewhere, especially among Jews), and create a human rights culture in Israel” to convince government officials to respect human rights and comply with international law.

via Dangerous Untreated West Bank Wastewater By Stephen Lendman.

Unratified India And Tortured People By NM Salih

Former United States Attorney General, Ramsey Clark once said, ‘A right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you’. But here things turn different, ‘right is not something what we can give you; it will be taken from you’, so is the state of affairs when it comes to the torture in police custody in India. In the wake June 26, which marked the International Day against torture, the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) released a report named ‘Torture in India 2009’, compiling the true facts of ill-treated human rights in India. This report has zeroed in on custodial tortures especially by the police, armed forces and armed opposition groups etc. It reveals several accounts of atrocities by the so called law enforcement officers from all over India. The panoptic narrative of deaths in the police custody with detailed state wise account of such incidents rules the roost in this report.

via Unratified India And Tortured People By NM Salih.

M e d e s h i: Islamists ’share French crusader’s criminal military agents

Two French security advisers seized in Somalia this week have been split up and are now being held by two different hard-line groups, reports say.

The pair were snatched by gunmen from a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday and were being held by the Hizbul-Islam group.

But officials say the al-Shabab group wanted them and after a row, Hizbul-Islam handed one of the men over.

Al-Shabab has recently carried out several beheadings, amputations and stonings in the areas it controls.

They are allied with Hizbul-Islam against the UN-backed interim government and together control much of southern Somalia.

Both groups are said to have links to al-Qaeda and have been reinforced by foreign fighters.

via M e d e s h i: Islamists ’share French hostages’.

Video – CIA Caught ‘Off-Guard’ By Jakarta Hotel Terror Attack – ABC News

A senior U.S. official told ABC News the attacks came as a “surprise.”

A second U.S. counter-terrorism official said the CIA and other intelligence agencies had given no indication to the White House of “any threat reporting in the last 18 months” involving the Indonesian al Qaeda affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah.

US officials had been confident that the group had been dismantled after almost of all its leaders were killed or captured in a joint operation involving Indonesian, U.S. and Australian personnel.

via CIA Caught ‘Off-Guard’ By Jakarta Hotel Terror Attack – ABC News.