Cyprus: Turkish Islamic groups plan to turn historic
12th-century monastery into a mosque
Cyprus: Outrage Over Turkish Plans To Turn Historic Monastery Into Mosque
An announcement late last month of a proposal by local Islamic groups to build a Muslim prayer centre (masjid) on the grounds of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery sparked national outrage as officials in the south of the island said it was “unthinkable” that the plans could go ahead.
Indonesia: Muslim mob destroys church constructed in Muslim-majority area
Mob Damages Church Building in Indonesia
France: Man converts to Islam, praises jihad and Sharia,
plots jihad attack, ‘God called me to bring people to him’
Yvelines: the worker wanted to commit an attack on July 24
Mézian, who converted to Islam at a young age, was targeted by the Versailles criminal investigation department following his postings on Snapchat and Tik Tok. Videos in which he praises jihad and takes very extreme positions. In them, he praises the values of Sharia law as “a necessity.” In them, he describes his idea of an infidel, “a human being who rejects the truth.”
French education minister announces ban on Islamic abayas in schools
French authorities are to ban the wearing in school of abaya dresses worn by some Muslim women, the education minister said Sunday, arguing the garment violated France's strict secular laws in education.
Issued on: Modified:
"It will no longer be possible to wear an abaya at school," Education Minister Gabriel Attal told TF1 television, saying he would give "clear rules at the national level" to school heads ahead of the return to classes nationwide from September 4.
The move comes after months of debate over the wearing of abayas in French schools, where women have long been banned from wearing the Islamic headscarf.
The right and far-right had pushed for the ban, which the left argued would encroach on civil liberties.
There have been reports of abayas being increasingly worn in schools and tensions within school over the issue between teachers and parents.
"Secularism means the freedom to emancipate oneself through school," Attal said, describing the abaya as "a religious gesture, aimed at testing the resistance of the republic toward the secular sanctuary that school must constitute.
"You enter a classroom, you must not be able to identify the religion of the students by looking at them," he said.
A law of March 2004 banned "the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation" in schools.
This includes large crosses, Jewish kippas and Islamic headscarves.
Unlike headscarves, abayas -- a long, baggy garment worn to comply with Islamic beliefs on modest dress -- occupied a grey area and had faced no outright ban until now.
But the education ministry had already issued a circular on the issue in November last year.
It described the abaya as one of a group of items of clothing whose wearing could be banned if they were "worn in a manner as to openly display a religious affiliation". The circular put bandannas and long skirts in the same category.
Mixed reaction
Approached by head teachers' unions about the issue, Attal's predecessor as education minister Pap Ndiaye replied that he did not want "to publish endless catalogues to specify the lengths of dresses".
At least one union leader, Bruno Bobkiewicz, welcomed Attal's announcement Sunday.
"The instructions were not clear, now they are and we welcome it," said Bobkiewicz, general secretary of the NPDEN-UNSA, which represents head teachers.
Eric Ciotto, head of the opposition right-wing Republicans party, also welcomed the news.
"We called for the ban on abayas in our schools several times," he said.
But Clementine Autain of the left-wing opposition France Unbowed party denounced what she described as the "policing of clothing".
Attal's announcement was "unconstitutional" and against the founding principles of France's secular values, she argued -- and symptomatic of the government's "obsessive rejection of Muslims".
Barely back from the summer break, she said, President Emmanuel Macron's administration was already trying to compete with Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally.
The CFCM, a national body encompassing many Muslim associations, has said items of clothing alone are not "a religious sign".
The announcement is the first major move by Attal, 34, since he was promoted this summer to handle the hugely contentious education portfolio.
Along with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, 40, he is seen as a rising star who could potentially play an important role after Macron steps down in 2027.
(AFP)
Libya sacks foreign minister over ‘unofficial encounter’
with Israeli counterpart
Libya's internationally recognised prime minister has sacked his top diplomat after she met her Israeli counterpart, with news of the encounter triggering protests in a country that does not recognise Israel.
Modified: 28/08/2023 - 21:54, 3 min
Oil-rich Libya, which plunged into chaos after dictator Moamer Kadhafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising, has been divided since 2014 between the UN-supported government of Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah in Tripoli and a rival administration based in the country's east.
Analysts who spoke to AFP appeared to agree that Najla al-Mangoush was the "fall person" for decisions made by Libya's rival leaders, and linked the meeting with United States efforts to pressure more Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel.
Al-Ahrar private news channel, citing a government source, said Mangoush had been fired following a meeting last week in Rome with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
The Palestinian embassy in Tripoli also reported her dismissal, saying it had been announced by Dbeibah during a visit Monday to the mission. Dbeibah also declared "his rejection of normalisation with Israel" and Libya's total support for the Palestinian people, the embassy said.
In the east, Libyan lawmakers demanded an investigation into the meeting at a special session during which they wore the chequered black-and-white Palestinian scarf.
The Mangoush-Cohen meeting sparked protests Sunday night in Tripoli and other cities, when demonstrators blocked roads with burning tyres and waved Palestinian flags.
Before visiting the Palestinian embassy, Dbeibah's government said Mangoush had been "provisionally suspended and subject to an 'administrative investigation'", while in Israel Cohen confirmed the meeting took place.
Mangoush's whereabouts were uncertain on Monday, following social media reports she had flown to Turkey as protests flared.
Libya's Internal Security Agency (ISA) said she had not been authorised to leave the country and was on a "travel ban list" awaiting investigation.
Turkey's Anadolu news agency, citing security sources, said Mangoush had already left for Istanbul following the diplomatic furore.
The Libyan foreign ministry, in a statement, defended the meeting with Cohen as a "chance and unofficial encounter".
Mangoush had reiterated "in a clear and unambiguous manner Libya's position regarding the Palestinian cause", it said, accusing Israel of trying to "present this incident" as a "meeting or talks".
'Scapegoating'
Libya expert Anas El Gomati of the Sadeq Institute said that Dbeibah, his rival military strongman Khalifa Haftar and the eastern-based parliament that backs him, all knew about the meeting.
They "have used Libya's first female foreign minister as the fall person for decisions they all partook in," Gomati said.
"It's not about politics. It's blatant scapegoating," he told AFP.
Fellow analyst Jalel Harchaoui agreed Dbeibah's survival is at stake and the meeting was spurred by "pressure" on Libya from both the United Nations and the United States to push ahead with much-delayed presidential and legislative elections.
According to Harchaoui, Dbeibah "tried to play at diplomacy but failed because he did not evaluate correctly" the response of Libyans opposed to ties with Israel.
"There are talks to create a new interim government between the Dbeibah and Haftar families brokered in Abu Dhabi instead of holding elections," said Gomati.
"There has been pressure to join the Abraham Accords and begin the process as a gesture to bolster the deal, which would increase US support," he said, adding: "Tel Aviv's backing of Haftar is no secret."
Israel has normalised ties with some Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, under US-backed deals reached in 2020 and known as the Abraham Accords.
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