Over 5000 dead in Syria since the uprising began

More than 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on protests, the United Nations human rights chief has told the UN Security Council.

The UN's Navi Pillay said on Monday there were reports of increased attacks by opposition groups on President Bashar al-Assad's security forces but highlighted "alarming" events in the besieged protest city of Homs, according to diplomats in the closed meeting.

More than 14,000 people are estimated to have been detained and at least 300 children are among the dead, Pillay told the 15-member council. She estimated that at least 12,400 have fled into neighbouring countries since the anti-government protests erupted in March.

"It is my estimation that the total number of people killed since the protests began earlier this year is now likely to exceed 5,000. This situation is intolerable," Pillay said.

But Bashar Jaafari, Syria's UN ambassador, said the session was part of a "huge conspiracy concocted against Syria since the beginning" and said Pillay was neither objective nor fair.

"She is not genuine in all her approach, in the report she presented... She has trespassed her mandate, she allowed herself to be misused in misleading the public opinion by providing information based on allegations collected from 233 defectors," Jaafari said.

"How could defectors give positive testimonies on the Syrian government? Of course they will give negative testimonies against the Syrian government. They are defectors."

Responding to Jaafari's comment, Frej Fenniche, chief of Middle East section of the UN Human Rights Council, told Al Jazeera that the body was in contact with some people within both the Syrian government and its security forces.

"Who said to Mr. Jaafari that we are not in contact with people within the army now and with people at a high level within the government?... We have contacts with officials on the basis of confidentiality."

"If the government is saying we are lying we can say: 'OK let [us] go into the country and we will see.'"

The Syrian authorities have not granted human rights observers access into the country.

The Security Council held a private briefing on Syria with Western nations stepping up pressure for the body to condemn the violence. Russia and China vetoed a resolution on the Syria crisis in October.

'Immoral stance'

But Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday said that Western accusations that it was blocking UN action condemning the Syrian regime's crackdown on the opposition were "immoral" because the West was refusing to put pressure on armed opposition groups.

"There are those who refuse to put pressure on the armed, extremist part of the opposition and are at the same time accusing us of blocking the UN Security Council's work. I would call this position immoral," Sergei Lavrov said in televised comments.

Germany's foreign minister on Monday urged those countries blocking UN Security Council action on Syria to change their minds.

"I am really shocked about what I heard about the atrocities in Syria. We owe this to those who lost their lives," said Guido Westerwelle.

Gerard Araud, France's UN ambassador, said "history will judge the silence of some and the indifference of others" and that "the honour of the Security Council is at stake".

Pillay told the meeting that the Syrian protesters had remained largely peaceful.

"However, reports of armed attacks by opposition forces, including the so-called Free Syrian Army, against Syrian forces have increased," she said.

The death toll did not include Syrian security forces, she stressed. The Syrian government says more than 1,000 police and troops have been killed in the unrest.

Fresh clashes

Fresh clashes were reported on Tuesday between army deserters and regular troops in two Idlib villages as well as in Daraa province.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that army defectors on Tuesday in Idlib's Bab al-Hawa road killed seven members of Syria's security forces in retaliation for an attack that cost the lives of 11 civilians.

Syrians voted on Monday in municipal elections and many closed their businesses and kept children home from school in several parts of the country in a show of civil disobedience against the government.

The head of the elections committee, Khalaf al-Ezzawi, said voting had taken place "in a democratic spirit," and turnout had been "good".

But activists mocked the election on their Facebook page.

"The election farce organised by the authorities was a failure in the city of Deir Ezzor where we think the turnout was no more than one per cent. The roads were empty the whole day," an activist said of the vote in the eastern city.

General strike

Meanwhile, the Syrian National Council opposition bloc said the "dignity" general strike launched Sunday was widely observed in 12 provinces against "all expectations".

Opposition activists say the ongoing strike, if widely heeded, could place added economic pressure on the government at a time when it is already struggling with growing international sanctions and isolation.

The opposition wants the strike to remain in force until the government pulls the army out of cities and releases thousands of detainees.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from near the Jordan-Syria border, said that troops loyal to Assad were taking revenge against boycotting business owners.

"We heard reports that troops burned down at least 178 stores and shops in Deraa to try and take revenge against civillians who have shut down their stores and shops and are basically observing this general strike," she said.

Residents in the capital, Damascus, said business continued as usual on Sunday and Monday with shops, schools and other businesses operating normally.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/12/2011121210732547262.html

Viewpoint:

1) The killing of protestors including children, reflects the level of brutality of the Syrian government and the lengths Assad's government will go to in order to clamp down on those calling for change. This is a pure utter act of desperation to stay in power.
2) The UN have been forward in exposing the crimes more recently. However, this is indicative of the fact that foreign intervention is being planned as in Libya.
3) The Muslims of Syria do not need foreign intervention. For now Muslims are continuing to speak out in mass demonstrations. InshaAllah Bashar Al-Assad's government will fall as the momentum is reaching an anticlimax. The aftermath is what the international community is speculating about since a pull between Britain and America's influence over Syria is at question.
4) Before foreign inteference happens, we as an ummah must be absolutely clear what we want; Islam. We must also be absolutely clear how this will occur; the Islamic system. We must also be clear what the Islamic system represents and how we can rapidly create a strong awakening for the Islamic system.

ALLAHUAKBAR! University students take the courage to speak out against Israeli ambassador

Ten US college students from Southern California have been convicted of unlawfully disrupting a speech by Israel's ambassador to the US last year and placed on probation.

Friday's verdict followed two full days of deliberations by a six-man, six-woman jury in a case that has touched off a furore over free-speech rights at the University of California at Irvine.

The students, who were ordered to perform 56 hours of community service, are to remain on probation for three years. But they could have that reduced to a year once they complete the community service.

Charges against an 11th defendant have been tentatively dismissed.

"We're going to continue fighting this. We're going to appeal this decision," supporter Marya Bangee, 25, said outside the court.
"These men to us represent our struggle for civil rights in this country and for them to be found guilty and sentenced for speaking their minds is devastating for us all."

The case stems from a protest organised by the Muslim Student Union at the university against a February 8, 2010, speech there by Michael Oren, the Israeli diplomat.


Pro-Palestine protest

Prosecutors say the students interrupted his appearance by shouting statements such as "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!" and "It's a shame this university has sponsored a mass murderer like yourself".

The US constitution guarantees Americans the right to freedom of speech.
But the Orange County district attorney's office, which is prosecuting the case, has said the students - rather than exercising their own free-speech rights - were interfering with the right of Oren to be heard.

The students were condemning Israel's war on Gaza

The total amount of time taken up by the students' disruptions was approximately only one minute, an attorney for the group said.

The charges drew an outcry from civil liberties advocates and Southern California's Muslim community, who say the students were unfairly singled out for prosecution even though similar protests are common at universities and do not result in prosecution.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Berkeley, California, Liz Jackson from Students for Justice in Palestine, said that this conviction was a "disgrace to the criminal justice system".
"This is a political witchhunt trial that reminds me of what I studied about McCarthyism in the 1950s," she said.

Arab and Muslim students are more vulnerable when they protests because of Islamophobic sentiments, but trials like this are actually encouraging more students to speak out against Israel, Jackson said.
"There is so much outrage on Facebook, over email - students feel outraged and emboldened now."
Spectators began crying in the packed courtroom in Santa Ana, California, when the verdicts were read by a court clerk, and about 50 people left the courtroom visibly upset.

Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at UC Irvine, has also criticised the criminal charges as heavy-handed.

The Muslim Student Union was suspended by the university for an academic quarter and put on probation for two years.

Al Jazeera

The Plight of the Ummah- Ramadhan 2011

Massacre in Hama (Syria)

On the eve of Ramadhan, 31^st July, Syrian tanks stormed Hama killing over 140 people including women and children, for calling for an end to the corrupt Syrian government. On the first day of Ramadhan tanks continued to attack Hama. President Assad directed his security forces on these brutal attacks, claiming ‘it is a duty of the state which must defend security and protect the lives of civilians’. We can clearly see Assad is not protecting his people as he has claimed to, as 16,000 people have been killed in the uprisings and thousands have already been arrested. Is this the type of security that the Muslims need? Being attacked for commanding the good (mahruf) and forbidding the evil (munkar)? The absence of Islam in places such as Syria has allowed corrupt rulers like President Assad to massacre innocent Muslims in an attempt to quash the call for an Islamic system.

The Ummah does not have a shield (Khaleefah) to protect itself. Abu Hurayrah (RA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said, “Behold, the Imam is but a shield from behind which the people fight and by which they protect themselves” (Muslim)

The Ummah needs a Khaleefah who will implement justice and take care of the affairs of the ummah. Khaleef ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul Aziz was once found by his wife weeping after his prayers; asked if anything had happened to cause him grief, he replied,

“O Fatimah, I have been made the ruler over the Muslims and the strangers and I was thinking of the poor that are starving, and the sick that are destitute, and the naked that are in distress, and the oppressed that are stricken, and the stranger that is in prison, and the vulnerable elder, and he that has a large family and small means, and those of them in the countries of the earth and the distant provinces, and I felt that my Lord would ask an account of them at my hands on the day of resurrection, and I feared that no defence would avail me and I wept”

The corrupt Muslim rulers do not take responsibility for their people and have no fear of accountability for their actions. We need to replace these rulers with a Khaleef who will take responsibility for the people and deal with the Ummah with care and concern, as he will fear the day when Allah SWT will account him for his actions. An Islamic system will ensure the accountability of the rulers by the means of the Court of Unjust Acts (Mahkamatul Madhalim). As one of the principles of the ruling system, sovereignty belongs to the Shariah, and the authority belongs to the ummah; therefore dictators cannot rule nor can the brutality of man-made laws exist since the Shariah forbids massacres and killing of women and children.

A Call to implement Shariah (Egypt)

On Friday 29^th July 2011 people demonstrated in Tahrir Square Cairo in their millions, calling for the implementation of Shariah law in Egypt. Protesters arrived from different areas in buses. The crowd delivered its message through signs, flags and chants: "Egypt will return to Islamic Shariah law! Liberals and secularists are the enemies of Allah! The solution is Islam!"

It is now clear the ummah not only knows what it doesn’t want, it clearly knows what it wants, ‘return to Islamic Shariah law’.  

Poverty due to drought (Somalia)

As the drought continues, over 1,000 Somali refugees are arriving in refugee camps in Kenya every day. The famine is forcing many people to walk 15 to 20 days in dry, dusty weather to reach the camps. Many Muslims will struggle during Ramadhan, living in over cramped refugee camps due to severe lack of food and water shortage.

We witness our brother and sisters in Somalia dying of starvation, while the West usurps the wealth of the third world countries. This is only the product of Capitalism.  The implementation of an Islamic State (Khilafah) will ensure every individual has the right of shelter, food and clothing.

The Prophet (SAW) said; "The Son of Adam has no better right than that he would have a house wherein he may live, a piece of clothing whereby he may hide his nakedness and a piece of bread and some water." [Tirmidhi]

Therefore, the state will be responsible to meet the basic requirements for all citizens, regardless of where they reside. These are among the provisions the Islamic Khilafah system considers to be not only basic needs but human rights.

Nationalism leaves many homeless and disunited (Sudan)

On 9^th July 2011, in the name of freedom, South Sudan became an independent state from Sudan. This has led many Sudanese citizens to move to the new state leaving their previous homes behind, however, others struggle to find their place of residence as they are not welcome in either province. The national assembly has agreed on a draft law that removes Sudanese nationality from anyone the authorities consider South Sudanese, and all southerners living in the north will not have a right to northern nationality. Many are homeless, without money and nothing to eat, not knowing where to go and what to do. The Sudanese officials have already made it clear dual nationality will not be an option. It seems likely that South Sudanese will be able to acquire some sort of residency, but the current situation is very unclear.

Nationalism is haram in Islam. It promotes disunity and pride. Prophet Muhammed (SAW) said “He is not one us who calls for ‘Asabiyah, (nationalism/tribalism) or who fights for ‘Asabiyah or who dies for ‘Asabiyah.”
[Narrated Abu Dawood]

As Muslims we must eradicate our Ummah from this disease, and we must stay far away from this as the Messenger of Allah (SAW) referring to nationalism, racism, and patriotism said: "Leave it, it is rotten." [Muslim and Bukhari]. The divide and rule policy has tricked the ummah into disunity for decades now. We must now wake up to expose colonialist and imperialist policies.

US ‘War on Terror’ continues

On 10^th August 2011, a US drone attack has killed at least 21 in north-western Pakistan. North and South Waziristan are regularly targeted by drone missiles. The US says the region provides sanctuary to al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents who are involved in attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan. Last month, drone strikes killed at least 30 people in less than 24 hours in the area.

On Wednesday 10^th August an air strike by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan has reportedly killed Taliban fighters, including Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah who was associated with shooting at a US helicopter.

As an excuse to combat the ‘War on Terror’, the US persist exploiting Afghanistan and Pakistan with frequent attacks, providing no solutions, yet further destruction. The absence of Islam has clearly allowed such catastrophes to continue for endless years. Only the Khaleef who will be a shield for this Ummah will truly be able to put an end on the ‘War on Terror’ synonymous to the war on Islam.

Niqab ban in Europe

On 23^rd July 2011, Belgium implemented the niqab ban in all public places including government buildings, hospitals and in public. Muslim women who choose to wear a face veil will be fined 137.50 Euros or imprisonment for up to 7 days. Liberal MP Daniel Bacquelaine who proposed the bill commented, “Wearing the burqa is not compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society.”

On 2^nd August 2011, an Italian parliamentary commission has approved a draft law that would ban women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public, if passed by parliament in September. Women who violate the ban would face fines of $140 to $400, while third parties who force women to cover their faces in public would be fined $42,000 and face up to 12 months in jail.

The Italian law was sponsored by Souad Sbai, a Moroccan-born member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative Freedom People party, who said she wanted to help Muslim women better integrate into Italian society. "Five years ago, no one wore the burqa [in Italy]. Today, there is always more. We have to help women get out of this segregation ... to get out of this submission.”

The hypocrisy of secularism is exposed further in Europe, as the banning of niqab is in reality the banning of a piece of cloth. These so called tolerant societies are resorting to desperate measures to force Muslims to leave their values, since Muslims at large are yet to be won over by the hypocrisy of western liberal values.

Three Muslim Men killed in riots (England)

As the riots and lootings continued in England, three Muslim men, Haroon Jahan, 21, Shahzad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, were killed whilst protecting their property in Birmingham. Members of the Muslim community gathered together to offer prayer in congregation for those lost.

The behaviour of looters is indicative of the fact that broken Britain has left generations of people lacking social and moral values. Criminality is rampant and opportunities for looting in these days reflect the greed and irresponsibility money making capitalism brings. Under Capitalism the individuals are nurtured to live without a sense of responsibility to the community.

The Khilafah will be based on the Islamic Aqeedah, where the society will be fostered with Taqwa (God consciousness). The communities interest is taken care of to protect the society from degenerative values of individualism and freedom that results in a broken society. Islam promotes goodness as Allah SWT says in the Qur’an, “Help each other in al-Birr and at-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help each other in sin and transgression” [al-Maa’idah 5:2]

Conclusions

It is evident that since the absence of Islam, the plight of our Ummah has escalated and the implementation of secular liberal democracies has only lead to further turmoil. Islam tends to the needs of human beings and is capable of governing the affairs of the whole of mankind as Allah SWT said,

"This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion." [Al-Maida 5:3]

The Ummah desperately needs the implementation of Islamic values to eradicate the distress the world is facing, from the East to the West.

Muslims need to work together to improve the situation of our Ummah by a call for the Islamic system. Allah SWT sent His Qur’an as a guidance and furqan (criteria for right and wrong), and not just a book to be recited during the month of Ramadhan. We need to wake up and take responsibility to unite the Ummah under one leader, one land, one Islamic system Insha’Allah. The ummah has taken great steps with the Arab uprising, and since the wall of fear has broken we must make head way by advocating the khilafah system globally. A united message to uproot western liberal democracies and dictatorships and to replace it with an Islamic khilafah system will no doubt shake the thrones of the tyrants but also pave way for true change. We know what we don’t want but can we advocate what we want?

On the authority of `Abd Allah ibn `Umar, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said,

"The Faithful are to one another like [parts of] a building - each part strengthening the others" and "Every Muslim is a brother to a Muslim, neither wronging him nor allowing him to be wronged. And if anyone helps his brother in need, Allah will help him in his own need; and if anyone removes a calamity from [another] Muslim, Allah will remove from him some of the calamities of the Day of Resurrection; and if anyone shields [another] Muslim from disgrace, Allah will shield him from the disgrace on the Day of Resurrection." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. 

Afsana Hye, UK

Oppression of Muslim women in Russia

The domestic security agency of Russia (FSB) arrested a Muslim woman, Sidikova Oomidjan Ganevna (b. 1976) on the morning of 19 May 2011 in Moscow . They did not allow her to inform anyone of her whereabouts, and her three children – a daughter, Meerkhan (12), and two sons, Nusratullah (10) and Salahuddin (8) – were placed in an orphanage.

Earlier, on the 7 December 2010, the husband of Sidikova, Farookh Fadl Dinovic (b. 1972), was arrested upon allegations of membership with a political party, Hizb ut-Tahrir . His wife was then arrested in order to put pressure on him to confess to the allegations, which were not true. The court sentenced Sidikova to two months in prison.

We see today that Russian leaders are trying to portray Russia as a civilised nation that respects human rights, yet in reality this is how they act to achieve their objectives: by separating a mother and her children in order to force a man to confess to crimes he did not commit.

On 23 May, in the city of Ufa and its surroundings, security agencies carried out raids on homes without warrants and arrested some Muslim women from their homes.

The house of Manapova Yula Kazikhanov (b. 1984) was raided by officers of the National Security agency on 23 May 2011. Her house is apartment no. 617, 11 Moshanikova St. in the city of Ufa . They led her to 55a Kalinina St. and there threatened her with a screwdriver and awl and verbally abused her. They threatened her with the arrest of her sons as a form of pressure. They repeated all this throughout the day, whilst her baby and her infant of 5 years were left alone in the house.

The house of Elmira Minnibiva Yonnerova (b. 1985) was searched while she was eight months pregnant. She lives in Ufa on Kriliva St . The search was carried out in a way contravening the law: the address written in the legal papers was wrong and the two female witnesses used during the investigation were from the agency itself. The agents of the agency recorded everything on video in order to record the face of the sister properly. The name of employee recording was Vitslav and he focused the camera upon her. During all this, her husband, Tahir Vanisovic, and her one-year old son, Aleem, were in the apartment witnessing the actions of the agents, part of which was the trampling with their dirty feet on books that contained Quran’ic verses.

By this sort of conduct the agencies seeks to degrade the feelings of the believers.

The result of their practices appeared on the sister in the form of symptoms of pressure, increase in heart rate, and pain in the lower abdomen. The ambulance was summoned and, after examination, the doctor concluded that her condition was precarious and she may lose her child. He gave her a sedative and took her to natal hospital no. 6, located in Shaviva st, and after examination to the hospital, they refused her entry on grounds that it is full.

Caquerova Ramilva Leila, born in 1982, and having 4 small children – Zainab (6 years), Salah al-Din (4 years), Ali (2 years) and Jannat (1 year) – was put under pressure, her and her family, by the security agencies. Two cars arrived at her house at 7am on May 23, 2011 and many men exited. Among them were some women, and later it became apparent that they were witnesses over the inspection process. At this time the sister was leaving her house to go to meet her husband Albert Shakirov Zkjevic, who was sentenced to imprisonment in accordance with Article 282-1 since September 22 2010, and thus this family had already lost its breadwinner and patron. They stopped her and inspected her from all sides, and without any reason they forcibly pulled her mobile phone from her. Then they started to act according to old custom, showed her a warrant, and forced her to open the gate to enter the house. During the search for prohibited literary material they searched everything and moved everything out of its place, even the freezer in the refrigerator was not spared, despite the fact that all the books in the house were issued in this country. Still not satisfied with what they found, they began threatening to tear the panels of the walls which were made of wood. They began shouting, scaring the young children and waking them up from their sleep.

After interrogating the sister they took her to the section located in Kalenna St. , 55A, room no. 218. Then they started to talk and, in sum, they had prepared written note in which the sister’s confesses to being a fundamentalist and they wanted to force her to sign it. She ask to call a lawyer, and mentioned to them Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation , but this did not affect them. Rather, the response was a threat to imprison her and to take her children and place them in an orphanage. They began calling the management in order to find the address of the nearest orphanage, and they began waving a knife and awl at her face.

O Muslims: till when will these illegal and extra-legal practices against our wives, mothers, sisters and children continue? Till when will we remain silent and act as if nothing has happened to us? How will we answer Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgment when He asks us as to what we did to help our sisters and their children? Allah (swt) says

[وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْر]

“And if they seek your help in the deen, than it is upon you to help them”; and at this point in time our brother, his wife and their children ask of our help. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor betray him. He who assists his brother, Allah assists him, and he who relieves a Muslim of a calamity, Allah will relieve him of a calamity on the Day of Resurrection. He who conceals a Muslim, Allah will conceal him on the Day of Resurrection” (Bukhari and Muslim), and he (saw) said, “Allah continues to assist his slave, so long as he assists his brother” and he said, “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor degrade him.” (Muslim)

Thus everyone who is able to protect or assist but does not do so will be considered as having left his brother without helping him. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “A Muslim does not abandon another Muslim in a place where he desires his help except that Allah will abandon him in a place where he desires the help of Allah.”

It is necessary that this incident impact us, and that each one of us partakes in freeing this Muslim family, in particular the sister and her children. We know, and we have been reminded again, that without the Imam these calamities will continue and be repeated. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “The Imam is a shield, behind whom the people fight and by whom they are protected.” The ruler of the Muslims protects the honour of the Muslim women, as was done in the past by the Prophet with Bani Qaynuqa’ and as Khalifah Mu’tasim did by sending an army in response to the call of a Muslim woman.

Dear Muslims: you are able to assist our brothers and sisters, first by making du’a for them that they be swiftly released. Second, we must spread the news of this incident to all the Muslims. Everyone must know about it. We must inform the Muslims and draw their attention to the like of these incidents. We must draw the attention of all segments of society and the media to this incident and to the extra-legal practices of the Government. We must demand that the prominent Muslims and Muslim activists partake in solving this problem.

O Muslims: help the deen of Allah, and He will help you.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Russia

25 May 2011 CE

www.hizb.org.uk

David Cameron to target Islamists who hold 'un-British' values

PM wins cabinet battle over counter-terrorism strategy against those holding extremist views, such as intolerance of women’s rights.
David Cameron has won a cabinet battle to toughen up the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy and take a harder line against Islamic traditions that fail to “reflect British mainstream values”.

The successor to Labour’s Prevent strategy is likely to redefine extremists as those who hold “un-British” views, such as intolerance of equal rights for women, because ministers believe there is a link between non-violent extremism and violent acts of terrorism.

The new policy, which could be unveiled this week, will reflect the prime minister’s February speech in Munich in which he claimed “state multiculturalism” had failed. Further education colleges are likely to be targeted in the belief that they have become a breeding ground for young Islamists.

Cameron is set to tackle a string of policies that have posed a threat to his authority over the next two weeks. He is expected to give a major speech, possibly on Tuesday, on the NHS, giving the government’s first official indication of how it will respond to the listening exercise on the NHS bill.

He is also scheduled to give a speech on crime to tackle accusations from the right that he has failed to prioritise crime-fighting and allowed the justice department under Ken Clarke to liberalise prisons policy.

The justice minister Nick Herbert has indicated that up to 10,000 people every year could benefit from the government’s controversial policy to change the plea bargaining system so offenders can cut their sentence in half, instead of the current third, if they admit guilt early.

Defending the policy, Herbert told BBC1′s Politics Show: “Ten thousand offenders are pleading guilty at the very latest point in a trial and that is often particularly damaging to the interests of victims. It’s costly and it’s not in the interests of justice.

“We need a system that is deterring unnecessarily late pleas and is also incentivising those who plead guilty at an earlier stage.”

It has been reported that the Prevent strategy had split the cabinet, with Cameron and the education secretary Michael Gove pushing for a toughened version of the Prevent strategy, against the wishes of the Liberal Democrats and even the home secretary, Theresa May.


Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “Preventing extremism is … too important to be dogged by government confusion and this kind of ministerial in-fighting. It seems Theresa May has lost another battle on her own policies.”

Guardian  5th June 2011

Viewpoints: 

Cameron demands Muslims adopt ‘British values’. Meanwhile he has left the globe in wonderment of what these British values are and what they represent. The Prevent strategy is attempting to go one step further by now considering any Islamic tradition that does not represent ‘British mainstream values’ as extreme. Such ambiguity corners nearly all Muslims and this is not surprising since Cameron’s Munich speech reflected the totalitarian streak that he wishes to transcend to British society.

The hypocrisy of Cameron is highlighted by his words addressing Muslims on his campaign trail, ‘integration is a two-way street. If we want to remind ourselves of British values – hospitality, tolerance and generosity to name just three – there are plenty of British Muslims ready to show us what those things really mean’. Now that he is in power, the tone has vehemently changed. Clearly, Muslims can no longer be duped into thinking the British government is willing to protect Islamic values since now they are prepared to outlaw us as second class citizens by defying what is supposedly their own value ‘tolerance’.

The governments approach reflects an utter act of desperation to force Muslims to adopt secular liberal values over Islamic values. Threats of taking away funding will not deter this ummah from sticking to Islam and speaking for the Muslims who are suffering around the world; nor will this stop us from advocating the global call for Khilafah in the Muslim world. This ummah has gone beyond the point of bribes. We say, you can keep your money and we will keep our values regardless of the false labels and demands you introduce.

Osama bin Laden’s death: The US patriot reflex

In one episode of The Simpsons the school bell rings, prompting the students to sprint for the door before the end of a history lesson. The teacher pleads with them to let him finish. “Wait a minute! ” he says. “You didn’t learn how World War II ended!” There’s silence as the class waits expectantly. “We won!” shouts the teacher. Delighted, the class cheers, as one: “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!”

The patriotic impulse in American society is intense and pervasive. The kind of national fervour reserved elsewhere for occasional events like royal weddings, World Cup victories or major tragedies is a dormant reflex waiting for a trigger. The flags are always out; the pledge is recited every day in schools. The muscle that converts shared citizenship into a form of national genius is well-trained and prepared. By the early hours of Sunday morning, as hundreds poured into the streets to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden, it was flexed and ready to do battle.

By lunchtime Jack Bauer, the terror-fighting star of the television series 24, was trending on Twitter. In the evening Comedy Central’s leftwing dynamic duo took the baton. Jon Stewart declared: “We’re back, baby,” while Stephen Colbert called on al-Qaida to “suck on [his] giant American balls”. The comment may have been half in jest, but the audience cheered in earnest.

While many nations suffered from al-Qaida’s terrorism and few in the world will mourn Bin Laden’s death, the United States is the only place where it sparked spontaneous outpourings of raucous jubilation.

The national unity that Barack Obama has sought to harness following the announcement is indeed eerily familiar. Albeit in joy rather than sorrow, it’s the same kind of unity that followed 9/11. It is also the same kind of unity that rallies around flags, dismisses dissent and disdains reflection. And however comforting it may have been at the time, the consequences of that kind of unity has been disastrous.

The reason Bin Laden’s death was a source of such elation is in part because almost every other American response to 9/11 is regarded as a partial or total failure. Two thirds of the people believe that the Iraq invasion was not worth it, and the country is evenly divided on the issue of whether the invasion Afghanistan is a good idea. The public mostly supports keeping Guantánamo open – but nonetheless concedes that doing so will fuel anti-American sentiment.

So the frustration of the last decade, during which the limits of America’s military superiority were tested and found wanting, had their outlet in the murder of a single man at the hands of a crack team of US Navy Seals.

Having effectively declared war on the world it is hardly a surprise that Bin Laden would come to this kind of end.

This was not so much the exercise of American power as the performance of it. Coming eight years to the day after George W Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln to announce “Mission accomplished” in Iraq, news of Bin Laden’s death was yet another mediated milestone in this war on an abstract noun. Like the capture of Saddam Hussein, the murder of Bin Laden changes little. Al-Qaida was never a top-down organisation, and was in decline anyhow – and the principal reason for its waning fortunes is the uprisings in the Arab world, revolts that have mostly taken place against America’s client states.

But to suggest that “justice has been done”, as President Obama did on Sunday night, seems perverse. This was not justice, it was an extra-judicial execution. If you shoot a man twice in the head you do not find him guilty. You find him dead. This was revenge. And it was served very cold indeed.

Given the nature of the 9/11 attacks a popular desire for vengeance in the US is a perfectly understandable and legitimate emotional response. It is not, however, a foreign policy. And if vengeance is a comprehensible human emotion then empathy is no less so.

Americans have a right to grieve and remember those who died on 9/11. But they have no monopoly on memory, grief or anger. Hundreds and thousands of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis and Pakistanis have been murdered as a result of America’s response to 9/11. If it’s righteous vengeance they’re after, Americans would not be first in line. Fortunately it is not a competition, and there is enough misery to go around.

But those who chant “We killed Bin Laden” cannot display their identification with American power so completely and then expect others to understand it as partial. The American military has done many things in this region. Killing Bin Laden is just one of them.

If “they” killed Bin Laden in Abbottabad then “they” also bombed a large number of wedding parties in Afghanistan, “they” murdered 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha and “they” gang-raped a 14-year-old before murdering her, her six-year-old sister and their parents near Mahmudiyah. If “they” don’t want to be associated with the atrocities then “they” need to find more to celebrate than an assassination. Vengeance is, in no small part, what got us here. It won’t get us out.

Gary Young

Guardian 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/bin-laden-death-us-patriot-reflex

11th February 2011- Pharaoh's down, but the game's not over yet

Allahu Akbar, 30 years of tyranny and now the people of Egypt can finally see a glimmer of light, a glimmer of hope for the Muslims. What the last 18 days represented was not western freedom and a call for democracy- terms and rhetoric's that have been politically used and sometimes a tool for abuse in the last 150 years. The last 18 days represented an obligation of Islam that came to life- commanding good and forbidding corruption (amr bil ma'hruf wa nahy an al munkar). It also represented the power of the people when this is done collectively. 

When the Iraq and Afghanistan war happened the west used the pretext of importing 'democracy' and 'freedom' to the people. The impact of the war has been devastating, leaving the people with a sham system. As much as the Muslims are clear about the tyranny of Mubarak, Muslims are also very clear what imported freedom, democracy and man-made law can bring to our lands- more tyranny and more oppression as scripted by the ongoing catastrophe of colonialism. 

The Muslims of Egypt are making it clear to the world that they wish to determine the future for the region. A change of face will not uproot a corrupt system and the people know it; nor will imported freedom and democracy do the trick since the western system has been tried and tested by many nations and has failed the masses. It has to be a reinvigoration of an Islamic system that paves the way for change in the whole region and afar since this is where the Muslim sentiments lie. We often forget that the Khilafah system was one of the first systems to ever introduce a voting and election process. So why does the west claim exclusivity to this aspect; almost as though our call for Islam must be a call for western liberal democracy; and our call for freedom from oppression is a call for man-made freedom as understood in western countries. 

We pray and hope the bravery and courage we witnessed from our brothers and sisters in Egypt culminates in the establishment of Allah (SWT) justice on earth. Like the people were not fooled into accepting the American and Israeli stooge Omar Suleiman as an alternative figure head, we pray and hope the people will not accept any other system other than the khilafah system.

We have all seen staged elections post Iraq war. They have not represented change; though many were deceived into participating. Ultimately those who lead the process of elections will dictate how it is done. Therefore, the people also hope and pray from the ranks of the military in Egypt, great wisdom, courage and bravery can also be delivered (like those in Tahrir square) to restore Islam with the establishment of an Islamic state so fair elections can happen, an end to western interference and oppression, securing the rights of Muslims and non-muslim citizens alike. Wouldn't it be nice if Cairo became the capital of the re-born Khilafah system?...A hope not just for Egypt but a hope for the Muslims and non-muslims suffering all around the Muslim world.

It has been great up to now...but the future is yet to be painted. And the game is not over yet!

Bring Islam Back

News Perspective: The Muslim Ummah deserves REAL change

All across the Muslim world, ordinary Muslims are waking up to the prospect that change is possible

The unprecedented wave of public demonstrations in recent weeks began in Tunisia, toppling the tyrant Zine al-Abedine Ben-Ali. They have since swept through the rest of the ummah shaking the thrones of oppressors. Now protests against the Egyptian regime have grabbed the world’s attention with courageous protesters openly defying the forces of one of the world’s most brutal and fearsome regimes. Images of unarmed civilians pouring out from Friday prayers to face batons, tear gas, tanks and rubber bullets with their Iman and their voices have spread throughout the globe.

The truth is that such outpouring of anger and frustration was always inevitable. The presence of these regimes ruining the lives of the people, impoverishing them and destroying their hope whilst they amass huge riches and treat the people as their slaves was always going to lead to conflict.

The only question was when the ummah would rise up against their rulers, not if. Knowing this the dictators in every part of the Muslim world have always tried to subvert momentum for change so it ultimately achieves nothing of substance and the situation remains as it always was.

So when the people decide to act decisively they will face offers and proposals to buy time for the regime, to let the energy for action calm a little, to divide the people, prevent them from achieving lasting results and to maintain the existing state of affairs.

Whenever pressure builds on these regimes the ummah is routinely offered a few crumbs to appease them and buy them off, hoping they’ll settle for something cosmetic that will appear like a victory but will only uphold the status quo of the ugly regime. Perhaps the regime will offer a few reforms, some handouts of money or food, the promise of an election or even a new face to replace the old tyrant but who will continue to oppress them and prevent the real solution for the disastrous situation to emerge.

Real change does not come through a change of faces. It doesn’t come from a plodding reform. It is sudden, it is sweeping, it is uncompromising and it is comprehensive. Genuine change is to remove the systems of kufr in our lands once and for all. Genuine change is to return to what the people of the region have lived under in peace, independence and prosperity for over a thousand years. Genuine change is for the Ummah to liberate herself from the shackles of its oppressors and return again to living under the shade of the Islamic Khilafah state.

The West also fear real change in the Muslim world knowing full well what it means. The rise of Islam to power and influence in world affairs represents an ideological challenge to their dominance of global politics and finance and is utterly unacceptable to them.

This is why Western leaders have been united in urging that any change that takes place in the Muslim world is gradual, creeping and ineffectual. They prefer stability since they want the situation to continue to provide them with an advantage.  Hillary Clinton called for the Egyptian government to “implement political, economic and social reforms”. Robert Danin of the Council on Foreign Relations spoke of the Obama administration seeking “managed change” in Egypt not wanting a situation “which would necessitate the leadership to flee”. Middle East Peace Envoy, Tony Blair, when interviewed on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, said “All over that region, there is essentially one issue, which is how do they evolve and modernise, both in terms of their economy, their society and their politics. All I’m saying is that, in the case of Egypt and in the case in Yemen, because there are other factors in this – not least those who would use any vacuum in order to foment extremism – that you do this in what I would call a stable and ordered way”.

The West wants ‘reform’, ‘managed change’, ‘evolution’, anything except the kind of transformation that would see the return of Islam and an end to their colonial influence through their agents.

The time for change is long-overdue but it has to be more fundamental than accepting appeasement from the current regime, accepting a new oppressor to take his place or helping to continue Western interference through cosmetic reforms. For change to be complete, lasting and productive it has to be extended not just to the head of state but to the system itself.

REAL change is possible. The time has come and the Ummah now has an opportunity to achieve something lasting. It should not be wasted but it can only be accomplished if the system changes from kufr to Islam

www.hizb.org.uk