Islam in Pakistan > In Pakistan, Sharia is more powerful than federal laws; Pakistan arrests man for disinformation on Southport murders

 

Pakistan: Muslim mobs demand Chief Justice’s resignation

for saying Ahmadiyya man has ‘right to religion’

Aug 21, 2024 9:00 am By Robert Spencer

How can Mubarak Sani have a “right to religion” when the Qur’an directs Muslims to “fight them until persecution is no more and religion is all for Allah” (8:39)?

Pakistan: Islamist mobs descend into Supreme Court premises, demand Chief Justice’s resignation for saying Ahmadiyya man booked for blasphemy has ‘right to religion’

OpIndia, August 20, 2024:

The “Sar tan se juda” mob comprising thousands is protesting in Pakistan against Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Isa, who was appointed the Chief Justice of Pakistan in November last year has been facing death threats and protests since February this year after he ordered the release of a Ahmadiyya man Mubarak Sani. On the 29th of May, a three-judge bench including Chief Justice Isa, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan reserved its decision.

The fresh protests erupted after the court on 24th July accepted the Punjab government’s plea alongside those of several Islamist organisations seeking a review of its February ruling and said that the right to profess religion and religious freedom, as ensured by the Constitution, is subject to law, morality and public order. A hearing on these pleas will be held on 22nd August.

The protesting Islamists are demanding CJP Faez Isa’s resignation. On 19th August, a large number of protesters from various Islamist groups breached Islamabad’s highly secured, Red Zone storming the Supreme Court entrance gates to protest the Pakistan apex court verdict in the Mubarak Sani case.

In the February ruling, Justice Isa granted bail to Ahmadiyya man Mubarak Ahmad Sani who was accused of blasphemy in 2019 over distributing pamphlets promoting his religious beliefs. Sani was convicted under the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Act, 2021, however, the 3-judge bench led by Justice Isa noted that Sani was charged for an offence not criminalised until 2021. Consequently, the top court granted bail to Sani and ordered his immediate release. Soon after, the TLP and other Islamists launched a hate campaign against Qazi Faez Isa. In Peshawar, around 3000 people blocked the roads in February and raised slogans like “Death to Qadianis” etc. The agitation of Islamists compelled the Supreme Court to issue a statement ‘defending’ its decision in the Mubarak Sani case.

Notably, the Islamist outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has even placed a bounty of 1 crore Pakistani rupees on Judge Isa’s head. Pir Zaheerul Hasan Shah, the second top leader of TLP, placed this bounty.

“TLP aside, as a momin [faithful Muslim] and a slave of Prophet Muhammad, I announce in my capacity to give one crore [ten million] rupees to any person who beheads Faiz Isa who desecrated the law of the country, kicked the blood of 10,000 martyrs and permitted Marzai [Ahmadis] and hurt the feelings of Muslims,” Shah said in a rally….

Pakistan authorities arrest man for spreading

disinformation on Southport stabbing

By Clyde Hughes

Anti-racist protesters take part in a national day of protest in Liverpool, Britain, on August 10 in response to far right protests and violence spurred by the July 29 Southport stabbing. A Pakistan man was arrested to allegedly spreading disinformation over the stabbing. Photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA-EFE

Aug. 21 (UPI) -- A man was arrested in Pakistan for spreading disinformation that helped spark anti-immigrant unrest in Britain after the Southport stabbing, authorities said.

Pakistani law enforcement told the BBC that the man, Farhan Asif, was arrested on suspicion of cyber terrorism, as they connected him to a website that posted false information about the alleged attacker in the stabbing on July 29 that left three girls dead and 10 others injured.

The website, called Channel3Now, posted in the hours after the attack a fictitious name for the suspect. More information on the website suggested that the suspect was an asylum seeker who reached Britain on a small boat, a stereotype used to describe poor immigrants arriving from other countries.

The false information went viral on social media as violent far-right unrest in England and Northern Ireland erupted after the stabbing.

Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency interviewed Asif in DIG Kamran, where he allegedly runs his news platform alone. The FIA said that Asif admitted to posting the information after supposedly gathering it from social media.

The ritos have led to a wave of arrests as Kieran Usher became the first adult to face rioting charges in connection with the far-right unrest in Britain last Friday. He did not enter a plea in South Tyneside Magistrates' Court and is expected to return to court on Friday in Newcastle Crown Court.

Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, died during the stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 18, of Lancashire, was charged with three counts of murder and 10 charges of attempted murder.

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Sofia Sapega pardoned by Lukashenko after her plane was forced down in Minsk

..

Belarus pardons Sofia Sapega, Russian citizen arrested on seized Ryanair flight

By Patrick Hilsman

 

Russian activist Sofia Sapega has returned to Russia after being pardoned by Belarusian dictator

Alexander Lukashenko. File Photo by EPA-EFE/Leonid Scheglov/BeITA Handout

June 8 (UPI) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen who was arrested the Belarusian government after she was on a flight that was forced to land in Minsk in 2021.

Sapega returned to Russia Wednesday where she was greeted by the governor of the Primorye region, Oleg Kozhemyako, who took credit for her release in a statement posted to Telegram.

"Our compatriot Sofia Sapega got a unique chance to start life anew. She is free after my appeal to the President of the Republic of Belarus," said Kozhemyako.

In footage posted to Telegram following her release, local officials in Russia can be seen greeting Sapega, who thanked Lukashenko "for the opportunity to return home."

Sapega was detained along with her then-boyfriend, Belarusian activist Roman Protasevich, when the Belarusian government diverted a plane carrying the pair from Greece to Lithuania into Belarusian airspace under the pretext that there was an active bomb threat.

In May, Protasevich, said he also received a pardon, that he had "signed all the relevant documents," and that "of course this is great news."

Protasevich said he would go to "a quiet place in the countryside for a couple of days... in order to take a breather and start to move forward."

The Belarusian government accused Sapega of being the editor behind the Black Book of Belarus channel, alleging she had posted personal information of security personnel. Her lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, said he didn't previously believe a pardon was likely.

"There was little hope. Thank god it worked out," Gashinsky told the Russian state-backed TASS news agency. Gashinsky said Sapega was back in Russia and that "she went to her father."

Sapega and Protasevich were arrested after the Ryanair flight flew over Belarus as military aircraft forced it to land in Minsk in what was later revealed as a Belarusian plot to detain them.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency blocked civil aviation from Belarusian airspace following the kidnapping and the European Union also blocked Belarusian civil aviation from its airspace.

The U.N. Human Rights Commission said the plane was "hijacked" so the Belarusian regime could "abduct" the pair.

It's called "arrest", not "abduct" in the rest of the world.

Protasevich was accused of running the Nexta Live Telegram channel that covered the regime's crackdown following the 2020 election, which was broadly denounced as fraudulent by international observers.

The Nexta organization was designated as a terrorist group by the regime.

Members of the European Parliament denounced the elections as illegitimate, issuing a statement that they do not recognize Lukashenko as the elected president.

In May 2022, Sapega was sentenced to six years and Protasevich was sentenced to eight years.

The War on Christianity - Another Battle Lost in British Columbia Over Assisted Suicide; Pastor Arrested for Preaching the Bible

..

Supreme court dismisses Delta Hospice Society appeal

over membership dispute

Community group wins another round in fight against board of directors

who banned medically assisted dying

Karin Larsen · CBC News · 

Posted: Apr 09, 2021 5:36 PM PT 

The Harold and Veronica Savage Centre for Supportive Care is pictured in Delta, B.C. The Delta Hospice Society,

which used to operate the facility, was evicted from the building and the Irene Thomas Hospice in March, 2021.

(Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal by the Delta Hospice Society (DHS) in a fight over medically assisted death, society memberships and attempts by a new board of directors to bring in an expressly Christian constitution.

DHS launched the appeal after the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld a B.C. Supreme Court decision in favour of community advocates, backed by the group Take Back Delta Hospice.

Community advocate Chris Pettypiece, who speaks on behalf of Take Back Delta Hospice, said it was gratifying to see the DHS board held accountable for "improper conduct."

"What an ordeal it has been to have to fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada so that local residents who wish to become members of the [Delta Hospice] Society are treated fairly," said Pettypiece.

In a statement, the Delta Hospice Society said: "The court does not give reasons for refusing leave to appeal so we'll let others speculate if they want to play that game. No one will ever know if the speculation is correct or wildly wrong."

It goes on to say, "Anyone who criticizes our exercise of legal due process does a disservice to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and to the foundations of the rule of law on which this country was created. They know who they are."

Allegations of vote-stacking

Pettypiece, Sharron Farrish and Jim Levin brought the original petition alleging that the DHS board had contravened the B.C. Societies Act and stacked the voter list by denying applications of community members who were seen as not supporting its new agenda.

The Delta Hospice Society argued that as a private society, it had the right to choose who could join and who couldn't.

In the decision, the B.C. Supreme Court sided with the petitioners, cancelling an extraordinary general meeting and ordering the board accept over 300 would-be members who had been rejected.

How it all started

The legal wrangling began soon after the new board came to power and banned medical assistance in dying (MAiD) at the 10-bed Irene Thomas Hospice in Ladner.

The board then proposed a number of amendments to the society's constitution to turn it into a faith-based organization. It then called an extraordinary general meeting to vote on the changes.

In B.C., faith-based palliative care hospices are exempt from a requirement to offer MAiD. MAiD has been legal in Canada since 2016.

The conflict intensified when Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the province was withdrawing $1.5 million in annual public funding to the society effective Feb. 25, 2021 because of its refusal to offer MAiD. 

BC's provincial government is far-left, as are its higher courts and Canada's Supreme Court.

Last month the Delta Hospice Society was evicted from the Irene Thomas Hospice and the Harold and Veronica Savage Centre for Supportive Care, but only after a number of dying residents of the hospice were forced to move and many long-time staff terminated.

Fraser Health (The Provincial Government) has taken over the facilities and said they will re-open April 15.

Do you think they can run them for $1.5m?

London Pastor Arrested for Sermon on Marriage: 'I Was Only Saying What the Bible Says'

Michael Foust | ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | 

Friday, April 30, 2021

Last week, a pastor was arrested in London after he delivered a public sermon on the biblical definition of marriage out of Genesis 1.

John Sherwood, who is 71 and the pastor of a north London church, was arrested April 23 in the center of Uxbridge, London, under the Public Order Act for making "allegedly homophobic comments," according to The Daily Mail.

A video shows him standing on top of a step stool before being handcuffed and led away by police as a crowd watched. One person can be heard gasping in shock.

"For a man preaching about Christianity!" a woman says in the video, critical of police action.

He was later released.

"I wasn't making any homophobic comments. I was just defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman," he said, according to The Daily Mail. "I was only saying what the Bible says – I wasn't wanting to hurt anyone or cause offense. I was doing what my job description says, which is to preach the gospel in open air as well as in a church building.

"When the police approached me, I explained that I was exercising my religious liberty and my conscience. I was forcibly pulled down from the steps and suffered some injury to my wrist and to my elbow. I do believe I was treated shamefully. It should never have happened."

Christian Concern, a UK-based organization that defends people of faith, criticized the arrest. Police had received three complaints about Sherwood, Christian Concern said.

The organization called it a "brutal arrest."

"There is an idea that if people are offended, you should arrest someone, but in this country, we also have freedom of speech," Andrea Williams of Christian Concern told The Daily Mail.

Sherwood was arrested after preaching "on the final verses in Genesis 1, where it says that God created mankind in his own image," Christian Concern reported.

Peter Simpson, the pastor of Penn Free Methodist Church in Buckinghamshire and a friend of Sherwood, also defended the minister.

"Everything he said was Bible-based," Simpson said, according to The Daily Mail. "He was not saying anything abusive; he is a Christian minister. There did not seem to be any recognition from the police that Christian ministers and such views exist. If there was a Pride parade in Uxbridge, the police would support it even if Christians were offended. You don't have to be an evangelical Christian to be shocked by this. Anyone who cares about liberty should be concerned about what happened in Uxbridge."

Uxbridge, UK

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in Kyrgyzstan's Presidency

Shots fired as Kyrgyz special forces storm mansion of

ex-president Atambayev 

Former Kyrgyz president, Almazbek Atambayev; Special Forces at his mansion. © Ruptly

A dramatic showdown, with gunfire and even fireworks, broke out amid scuffles outside the mansion of Kyrgyzstan’s former president, Almazbek Atambayev, as special forces were sent there to arrest him over corruption charges.

Armed troops clad in body armor stormed Atambayev’s residence in the village of Koi-Tash late on Wednesday as his supporters audaciously defended their man with sticks and stones.

Witnesses said shots were heard inside the mansion, but it wasn’t immediately clear who’d fired them. At least 15 people were wounded during the operation, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

One of the special forces troops reportedly received a gunshot wound during the operation.

Atambayev was elected president in 2011, to replace interim president Roza Otunbayeva, one of the leaders of the 2005 “Tulip Revolution.” He had previously served as prime minister under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who ruled between 2005 and 2010, when he was overthrown in another revolution and fled to Belarus.

However, as soon as Atambayev retired in 2017, the new authorities in the Central Asian state launched an investigation after accusing the 62-year-old of concealing income, corruption, and other violations.

In June, parliament stripped Atambayev of his immunity and his official status as a former president. The politician has denied all accusations, saying that a “campaign of lies and slander” had been launched against him.

Bill Browder - Hero or Villain? Where's the Truth?

Yesterday, Bill Browder accused GOP Congressman Rohrabacher of being a Russian stooge. He had no proof, only the accusations that Rohrabacher was trying to undue some of what Browder has 'accomplished'; things like the Magnitsky Act. Rohrabacher accused Browder of intimidation, which, he thought, was suspicious in itself.

Bill Browder Escapes Again

by philip giraldi, Ron Paul Institute

There was some good and bad news last week. The good news was that William Browder, a London-based investor and dedicated foe of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin was arrested by the Spanish police on Wednesday. The bad news is that even though Russia has on six occasions requested Browder’s arrest through Interpol for tax fraud, the Spanish national police determined that Browder had been detained in error because the international warrant was no longer valid and released him.

Interpol, an organization of 190 countries cannot legally enforce any action of a “political character.” This can make it difficult to obtain red notices such as those being sought by Russia on Browder, which are the equivalent of international arrest warrants.

One might reasonably ask why there is a crisis in US-Russia relations at all since Washington and Moscow have much more in common than not, to include confronting international terrorism, stabilizing Syria and other parts of the world that are in turmoil, and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In spite of all that, the US and Russia are currently locked in a tit-for-tat unfriendly relationship somewhat reminiscent of the Cold War and it is only getting worse as self-appointed “experts” including Browder continue to prowl the fringes of policy making. Browder was in Spain to testify in a case against several Russian companies.

That William Browder might be regarded as controversial is somewhat of an understatement. Many who regard him as a crook serving as a catalyst for the bad policies relating to the US-Russia relationship would like to see him in jail. Israel Shamir, a keen observer of the American-Russian relationship, and celebrated American journalist Robert Parry both think that Browder single-handedly deserves much of the credit for the new Cold War.

William Browder, the grandson of Earl Browder, former head of the American Communist Party, is a hedge fund operator who made his fortune in the corrupt 1990s world of Russian commodities trading. One of many Jewish profiteers who descended on Russia, his current role is symptomatic of why the United States government is so poorly informed about overseas developments as he appears before Congress frequently and is the source of much of the “testimony” contributing to the current bad international climate. He has somehow emerged as a trusted source in spite of the fact that he has considerable interest in cultivating a certain outcome favorable to himself. Also ignored is his renunciation of American citizenship in 1998, reportedly to avoid taxes. He is now a British citizen.

Browder is notoriously the man behind the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which exploited Congressional willingness to demonize Russia and has done so much to poison relations between Washington and Moscow. The Act has sanctioned individual Russian officials, which Moscow has rightly seen as unwarranted interference in the operation of its judicial system.

Browder, a media favorite who self-promotes as “Putin’s enemy #1,” portrays himself as a selfless human rights advocate, but is he? He has used his fortune to threaten lawsuits for anyone who challenges his version of events, effectively silencing many critics. He claims that his accountant Sergei Magnitsky was a crusading "lawyer" who discovered a $230 million tax-fraud scheme that involved the Browder business interest Hermitage Capital but was, in fact, engineered by corrupt Russian police officers who arrested Magnitsky and enabled his death in a Russian jail.

Many have been skeptical of the Browder narrative, suspecting that the fraud was in fact concocted by Browder and his accountant Magnitsky. A Russian court has supported that alternative narrative, ruling in late December 2013 that Browder had deliberately bankrupted his company and engaged in tax evasion. He was sentenced to nine years prison in absentia.

William Browder has also been regularly in the news in connection with testimony related to Russiagate. On December 16, 2017 Senator Diane Feinstein of the Senate Judiciary Committee released the transcript of the testimony provided by Glenn Simpson, founder of Fusion GPS. According to James Carden, Browder was mentioned 50 times, but the repeated citations apparently did not merit inclusion in media coverage of the story by the New York Times, Washington Post and Politico. Browder has become such an essential asset in the media story about “evil” Russia that he has become in a certain sense bullet proof in spite of his own personal very questionable history.

Fusion GPS, which was involved in the research producing the Steele Dossier used to discredit Donald Trump, was also retained to provide investigative services relating to a lawsuit in New York City involving a Russian company called Prevezon. As information provided by Browder was the basis of the lawsuit, his company and business practices while in Russia became part of the investigation. Simmons maintained that Browder proved to be somewhat evasive and his accounts of his activities were inconsistent. He claimed never to visit the United States and not own property or do business there, all of which were untrue, to include his ownership through a shell company of a $10 million house in Aspen Colorado. He repeatedly ran away, literally, from attempts to subpoena him so he would have to testify under oath.

Per Simmons, in Russia, Browder used shell companies locally and also worldwide to avoid taxes and conceal ownership, suggesting that he was likely one of many corrupt businessmen operating in what was a wild west business environment. My question is, “Why was such a man granted credibility and allowed a free run to poison the vitally important US-Russia relationship?” The answer might be follow the money. Israel Shamir reports that Browder was a major contributor to Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, who was the major force behind the Magnitsky Act.

Cardin and others in Congress have made Russia the bete noir of American politics, finding it convenient to scapegoat Moscow for the failure of the United States to put together a coherent and functioning foreign policy. Bill Browder is an essential component in that effort. Perhaps someone should ask him how he became a billionaire in a corrupt Russia going through political crisis and democratization in the 1990s. It would be interesting to learn what he has to say in his defense.

We may never really know what happened in Russia when Browder made his fortune. But it seems clear that he didn't play ball with the other oligarchs. I'm quite sure that no-one is innocent in this entire affair, least of all the Russian government, but it's unfortunate that the American government and media take Browder's accusations as Gospel because it fits their current narrative,  instead of casting doubts upon his story and his character as anyone interested in the truth would do.

Doesn't anyone truly desire the truth anymore?

South Korean Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrant for Korean Air Chairman

Corruption is Everywhere

 - and it's completely trashed this once powerful South Korean family

By Wooyoung Lee 

Korean Air Lines Co. Chairman Cho Yang-ho appears at a prosecution office in Seoul on June 28, 2018, to undergo questioning over allegations of tax evasion, breach of trust and embezzlement. Photo by Yonhap

SEOUL, UPI -- South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant Monday for Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho for charges of inheritance tax evasion and embezzlement, among others.

Cho was summoned for a 15-hour questioning last week over such allegations at the Seoul Prosecutors' Office.

He has been under probe over suspicion that he evaded taxes for more than $45 million (50 billion won) in his inheritance of overseas properties from his father Cho Joong-hoon, the founder of Korean Air Lines, according to Yonhap.

Cho is also accused of paying his lawyer's fee from the company budget when his daughter Cho Hyun-ah, then the Korean Air vice president, was under trial over the notorious "nut rage" incident in 2014.

He also allegedly paid another lawyer's fee with the company fund when he was being investigated over a scandal, in which he received an unfair request to hire a lawmaker's relative in 2015.

Cho also faces an allegation of raising illicit profits from running a pharmacy.

It is the third time that a key member of the Korean Air founding family was called for an investigation and sought with an arrest warrant. Earlier, prosecutors requested arrest warrants for Cho's wife Lee Myung-hee for charges of illegally hiring foreign housekeepers, assault and verbal abuse.

Cho's daughter Hyun-min, the former vice president of Korean Air Lines' budget Jin Air, was also accused of assault from throwing a cup of water to a business meeting attendee.

The court, however, declined to issue arrest warrants for both mother and daughter.

You would almost think this family had made some powerful political enemies considering some of the charges leveled at them. Regardless of whether or not they have enemies, they seem to keep giving them ammunition to shot them with. Both daughters resigned from the airlines in April, and the father resigned in May (2nd story on link). 

West Turns Blind Eye to Arrest of Ukrainian Lawmaker Savchenko

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in the Ukrainian Politics

and Western Media?

Savchenko’s arrest and detention in Russia had been subject to intense scrutiny by the Western media, but her recent arrest in Ukraine went almost unnoticed in the West, Maria Zakharova said

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Tuesday expressed her concern about the lack of international reaction to the arrest of Ukrainian lawmaker Nadezhda Savchenko.

"Does anyone in the world still remember Savchenko?" Zakharova asked rhetorically during the "60 minutes" show on Russia’s Rossiya-1 TV.

Savchenko, a former Ukrainian military pilot who had taken an active part in Kiev’s military operation in eastern Ukraine, was detained in Russia in June 2014. She had been sentenced to 22 years in jail over complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists in east Ukraine. She spent nearly two years in Russian custody and was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 25, 2016. 

Upon her return to Kiev, Savchenko began an active political career as a member of the Ukrainian parliament. However, she fell into disfavor of Ukraine’s authorities after her private trips to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine and talks with their leadership.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Savchenko’s arrest and detention in Russia had been subject to intense scrutiny by the Western media. However, her recent arrest in Ukraine went almost unnoticed in the West.

"Right now, Savchenko is in prison again. And, again, she is on a hunger strike. The charges <…> that had been laid against her are totally absurd," Zakharova said.

"I will reveal a secret to you about how Western politicians describe Savchenko in unofficial talk. The people, who used to talk about her as a hero, a fighter woman… now describe her as a mad person," she added.

Ukrainian investigators claim that Savchenko plotted to carry out terrorist attacks in the parliament building and in the government district. If found guilty, she may face more than five years in prison. 

The Verkhovna Rada (parliament) stripped Savchenko of her parliamentary immunity and granted the go-ahead to detain and arrest her. A Kiev court put Savchenko into custody for two months on March 23, prompting her to declare a hunger strike. The court later rejected her appeal against the arrest and extended it for another two months.

'We Will Wring the Neck of the Ukrainian Oligarchy,' Vows Deported Saakashvili

Corruption is Everywhere - Definitely in the Ukraine

By Jonathon Gatehouse, CBC News

Mikhail Saakashvili is gone from Ukraine, but he is unwilling to be forgotten.

The former president of Georgia, who became an ally and then a foe of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, gave a fiery press conference in Warsaw, Poland, this morning following his forced deportation from Kiev yesterday.

"Poroshenko believes that he has beaten off the opponent whom he is fearful of the most. He falsified a case against me and threw me out of the country," said the 50-year-old opposition leader.

Ukrainian opposition figure Mikheil Saakashvili arrives for a news conference in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday.

(Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

"We will wring the neck of the Ukrainian oligarchy. They will be sent to prison, where they belong. I promise this."

The falling out between Saakashvili and Poroshenko, once university chums and then political admirers who bonded over their mutual mistrust of Russia, is operatic in scale.

Living in exile in the United States after his 2012 electoral defeat, and facing corruption charges at home, Saakashvili accepted his old friend's offer to become governor of Odessa in early 2015.

Saakashvili supporters rally in Kiev on Feb. 4. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

In the months that followed, Ukraine denied Georgia's attempts to extradite Saakashvili and even granted him citizenship.

But relations between the two leaders quickly soured. Saakashvili resigned from his job in late 2016 and started his own anti-corruption political party, the Movement of New Forces.

Last summer, Poroshenko stripped him of his Ukrainian citizenship while he was outside the country. In September Saakashvili stormed back across the border with Poland, carried by a crowd of supporters.

For months, he and members of his party have staged almost daily demonstrations outside of Ukraine's parliament calling for Poroshenko's ouster.

Saakashvili is detained by officers of the Security Service of Ukraine outside his apartment in Kiev on Dec. 5, 2017. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

An initial attempt to deport Saakashvili last December was foiled by angry protesters who gathered outside of his Kiev apartment and pulled him from a police van.

But yesterday, Ukrainian authorities had the element of surprise when they descended on the opposition leader while he was eating lunch in a Georgian restaurant. CCTV footage shows helmeted riot police placing a bag over Saakashvili's head and hustling him out of the building.  An hour later, he was aboard a chartered jet on its way to Warsaw.

Saakashvili, who is now technically stateless, having given up his Georgian citizenship in 2015, says the fight is not over.

Ukrainians holding a banner reading 'Poroshenko is not our president' demonstrate in front of President Petro Poroshenko's office in Kiev on Monday.

(Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)

Addressing Ukraine's "idiots" at today's press conference, he vowed to recover his passport and head back to Kiev.

"I will be almost as efficient in Europe over the next few weeks as I used to be in Ukraine," he said, and then switched into the third person.

"Saakashvili at liberty is more dangerous for Poroshenko than Saakashvili whom they persecuted in Ukraine. We will peacefully oust the oligarchs from power."

Islam Attempts to Bury Christianity in Indonesia

It is absurdly easy to rile up a Muslim crowd, all you have to do is mention the Quran and people go berserk. Muslim political opponents to the Christian Ahok, Governor of Jakarta, are inciting the  crowds in order to sway the judiciary, which is not very difficult it appears. Their goal is not

only political gain but the end of political power by a Christian. Indonesia is not officially a

Muslim country, but that is just a matter of time, and not a lot of time at that.

Islam, like sin, is progressive!

Hundreds of thousands protest for arrest of Jakarta governor accused of blasphemy

By Stephen Feller 

Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, at center, is escorted by Indonesian officers as he arrives at the Indonesian Attorney General Office on Dec. 1. Purnama is accused of blasphemy due to statements made during a campaign speech in late September. The governor will be tried for the offense and could receive up to five years in prison if found guilty. Photo by Bagus Indahono/European Pressphoto Agency

JAKARTA, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The second protest of Jakarta's governor was almost as big as the first, making clear some residents in the city want to see Basuki Tjahaja Purnama jailed for allegedly insulting the Quran.

A protest Friday morning against Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, drew about 200,000 people to Indonesia's national monument accusing the Christian governor of not respecting Islam and committing blasphemy by suggesting his opponents in a political race were using religion to trick them.

In early November, roughly the same amount of people gathered to protest Ahok after he said in a speech that candidates running against him were lying when they claimed the Quran says Muslims should not vote for non-Muslims to rule them.

Ahok has since been investigated by the government for committing blasphemy, and was just served an official report on the investigation. He is expected to be tried for the crime. If he is convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in jail.

Ahok is close with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, but the president said he would not intervene because the case is already being handled by the courts.

Police Arrest Cleric Who ‘Incited’ 15yo Boy to Cut Off His Own Hand Over Blasphemy

© Alaa Al-Marjani / Reuters

Pakistani police have arrested the imam of a mosque in Okara, in the Punjab province, for inciting violence after a 15-year old boy cut off his own hand, believing he had committed blasphemy, a serious crime in the majority Muslim country.

Police filed anti-terrorism charges against the imam and arrested him, local police chief Nosher Ali told Reuters.

"Such illiterate imams of mosques should not be allowed to deliver speeches. His arrest is under the National Action Plan that hate speeches inciting violence are no longer allowed in this country," Ali said.

This is the first I've heard of the National Action Plan, but I like it. However, only time will tell if it is simply window-dressing for international audiences or if it is a genuine move toward a modern society. I have doubts that the Imam will face any consequences.

Delivering a sermon at a village in the Hujra Shah Muqeem district, some 125 kilometers south of Lahore, imam Shabbir Ahmed preached that “those who love Prophet Mohammed always say their prayers,” Pakistan Today reported.

Then he asked the gathering if anyone did not love the Prophet Mohammed.

The teen misheard the question and raised his hand. The cleric immediately singled him out from the crowd and alleged he was a “blasphemer and was liable to be killed,” Pakistan Today reported.

Members of the crowd reportedly said they knew that the boy had not committed blasphemy and that he was the victim of a misunderstanding.

However, the boy went home and rushed to cut his hand off. The act was welcomed by his father, who reportedly told police he was proud of his son and didn't want the cleric arrested.

Ah, the insanity of Islam knows no bounds! There is something intrinsically wrong with a society that allows a boy to cut off his hand because of a misunderstanding, and then praises him for it.

Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws have received international criticism over concerns they are often abused. Adopted in 1947 and tracing their roots back to British rule, the country's blasphemy laws make it a crime to insult religious beliefs. The punishment may range from several years in jail to a death sentence.

A total of 1,400 cases of blasphemy were registered in Pakistan in 2014, the Fides news agency reported, citing senior lawyer Syed Mumtaz Shah. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), local courts sentenced three people to death, six to life imprisonment, and three others to two years' imprisonment for blasphemy in 2014.

Nisar Shar, spokesman for the association of lawyers in Karachi, said that "even for lawyers it has become dangerous to do their job and defend a defendant accused of blasphemy," recalling the case of Rashid Rehman, a lawyer who was shot dead by gunmen in the Pakistani city of Multan in 2014 because he was defending a university lecturer accused of blasphemy.