Islam - Current Day - ISIS Bride; Afghan Car Bomb; Islamic Rage; Women's Rights Activist Goes Silent

ISIS bride Shamima Begum’s UK return put on hold after British government wins right to appeal decision

Shamima Begum’s return to UK shores has been cast in doubt after the British government dramatically won a court battle allowing it the right to appeal an earlier decision. The appeal will be heard by the UK’s Supreme Court.

Begum, now 20, who was one of three east London schoolgirls who traveled to Syria to join Islamic State in 2015, won a High Court appeal earlier this month, allowing her to return to the UK and challenge the withdrawal of her British citizenship.

However, on Friday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the case raised a point of law of public importance, meaning that Begum’s return must be paused while the UK government appeals the decision.

Begum left the UK five years ago and lived under IS rule for over three years, having married Dutch-born Islamic State fighter Yago Riedijk. She was found in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019, and was discovered to be pregnant.

Then-UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship later that year on national security grounds. Last year, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) said that Begum had not been unlawfully rendered stateless while she was living in Syria because she was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship.

Afghanistan car bomb kills 8, injures 30

By Danielle Haynes

Afghan security officers stands guard outside the emergency hospital in Kabul after a car bomb blast targeted
a crowded market in Logar province of Afghanistan, on Thursday. Photo by Jawad Jalali/EPA-EFE

July 30 (UPI) -- A car bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least eight civilians and injuring dozens more, the Interior Ministry said.

Multiple children were among the victims.

"The incident occurred at 7:40 p.m. local time in Sharwal Square of Pul-e-Alam city, capital of Logar [province]. The initial information indicated that eight civilians were martyred and 30 wounded," tweeted ministry spokesman Tariq Arian, according to a translation by Xinhua news agency.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack; the Taliban denied involvement, Tolo News reported.

The explosion comes ahead of a planned three-day cease-fire between the Afghan government and Taliban militants for the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Pol-e-Alam, AFG

Egyptian kills brother in row over Eid meat

Accused had warned his family against accepting meat being distributed to the poor

Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
Gulf News

The accused told prosecutors in the Delta province of Beheira that he flew into rage on learning that his family had accepted the meat given away to the poor during the Eid of Sacrifice, private newspaper Al Masri Al Youm said.

He added that his family had ignored his earlier warnings against accepting such gifts. In a fit of rage, he flew the meat piece out of the house window, triggering a fight with his brother. Wielding a knife, the accused reportedly fatally stabbed his brother and inflicted wounds in the abdomen of his sister.

Local prosecutors ordered him to be kept in custody for four days pending further interrogation.

During Eid Al Adha, Muslims, who can afford it, sacrifice animals such as sheep, goats, camels and cows, honouring the Prophet Ebrahim’s willingness to slay his son Ismael at Allah’s command. As the Prophet Ebrahim and Ismael showed unwavering obedience to the divine order, Allah sent a ram slaughtered in the son’s stead.

Was it that he was too proud to accept meat given to the poor? Did his pride exceed all common sense and love for his brother and sister? 

Of course, the son Abraham nearly sacrificed was Isaac. Ishmael had been sent away by Abraham as an illegitimate son after Isaac, the promised son was born. The Ishmael sacrifice story was invented by Mohammed thousands of years after Isaac's story was written.

'It's psychological torture': Saudi activist's family say she hasn't been heard from in 6 weeks

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UBC graduate Loujain Alhathloul turned 31 on Friday in a Saudi jail

Michelle Ghoussoub · CBC News 

Alhathloul, a graduate of the University of British Columbia, was arrested in May 2018 along with nine other high-profile women's rights activists. (Loujain Alhathloul/Facebook)

Women's rights activist Loujain Alhathloul, currently jailed in Saudi Arabia, hasn't been heard from in six weeks — the longest time she's been silent since she was arrested over two years ago, according to her brother.

Alhathloul, a graduate of the University of British Columbia, has been detained since May 2018, when she was arrested along with nine other women's rights activists. She turned 31 in prison on Friday.

"We don't know anything about her well-being and we don't know anything about where she is exactly," said her brother Walid Alhathloul, speaking on the phone from Toronto.

He said she was previously detained in Ha'er Prison, a maximum-security prison and the country's largest, but the family now isn't sure whether she's been moved to a different location.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, her family was able to visit her weekly. But those visits were replaced by weekly phone calls when Saudi Arabia tightened restrictions on prison visits to prevent the spread of the virus.

Alhathloul says the family now hasn't heard from her since June 9. "I would say it's a way to torture us, the family. Loujain knows that we are doing fine, but we don't know if she's doing fine," he said.

"We're safe — she's not safe. It's psychological torture."

Detained since 2018

Alhathloul was first accused of attempting to destabilize the kingdom. Since then, those charges have been changed to communicating with foreign journalists and attempting to apply for a job at the United Nations.

Her trial was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're expecting that we're not going to get any updates from the court, or from the judge," said her brother, who said that even two years on, the family maintains hope that she will be released.

"We're holding up. We're used to that and we know that the target is us. This was difficult at the beginning, but right now it's becoming part of our DNA."

Loujain Alhathloul's birthday triggered an outpouring of support on social media, and protests

outside of the Saudi embassy in Washington DC. (Loujain Alhathloul/Facebook)

Alhathloul was a vocal activist known for her vivacity and spirit even prior to her high-profile arrest.

In 2014, following her graduation from UBC, Alhathloul was arrested for live-streaming herself breaking Saudi Arabia's female driving ban by driving across the border from the United Arab Emirates.

The stunt, which captured the world's attention, earned her 70 days of detention. She followed that up by running in Saudi Arabia's first election open to women.

After 14 months of detention, she was offered to sign a deal that would have let her walk free if she posted a video statement denying that she'd been tortured. She tore up the document.

She had previously told her family that she'd been held in solitary confinement and suffered electrocution, flogging, and sexual assault

Alhathloul's birthday triggered an outpouring of support on social media and protests outside of the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C.

Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Walid Alhathloul said he believes his sister, who in February was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by United States Congress members, has become a symbol for women's rights across the world.

"People saw that when she got involved, she didn't have to, because she had all her own privilege," he said. "And despite that, she sacrificed her own privilege for the sake of greater women's rights in Saudi Arabia. She did that unconditionally."

Immigration Activist Stabbed to Death By Immigrant She Was Housing

Lionel Du Cane
National File

Medical Student, Audrey Coignard, 27, was stabbed to death on September 16th allegedly by a man believed to be an immigrant and ex-partner who was staying at her home.

Coignard was brutally stabbed fourteen times and found in a pool of her own blood at her home in Saint-Ouen, near Paris.

Coignard, a medical student in Caen, volunteered for activist causes, offering assistance to migrants at different locations in Normandy, Northern France.

According to the local outlet, Ouest-France:

Former medical student at the University of Caen, she was also very committed to migrants from Caen and Ouistreham “she helped and treated.” A tribute could be paid to him in the coming days in Caen and a Leetchi kitty has already been opened to support the family. Colleagues of the young woman greet “an adorable woman” and a professional “who invested 300% in everything in which she believed”.

Aside from providing direct assistance to migrants, Coignard had also worked for causes opposing deportations.

#PCMadness

Sadly, this isn’t the first time a pro-immigrant activist in the Western World paid dearly for the causes they support.

A Norwegian socialist said he felt guilty for the deportation of a Somali man who had raped him.

In Colorado, earlier this year, a pro-immigrant activist, Sean Buchanan, a father-of-five, was killed by an illegal immigrant who was awaiting deportation.

Last year, a Swedish feminist mother refused to report an Afghan man–27 years her junior–she was dating to authorities after he molested her daughter.

How utterly insane that these people would want these child molesters and rapists to remain in their countries so as to enable them to rape and/or murder more innocent people. What is the difference between them and Catholic Bishops who simply moved paedophile priests from one parish to another when they got caught?

Coignard’s funeral was due to be held on September 25. Coignard’s murder was the 107th ‘femicide’ (female spousal murder) of the year, in France.

War on Christianity in Canada About to Get a Whole Lot Uglier

Anti-gay activist wanted for promotion of hatred

surrendered to police in Calgary

By MICHAEL MUI StarMetro Vancouver
TESSA VIKANDER StarMetro Vancouver

William Whatcott, a well-known anti-LGBTQ activist wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for wilful promotion of hatred, turned himself in last week, according to his lawyer.

Whatcott, who once lived in New Westminster, is accused of distributing 3,000 pamphlets to attendees at Pride Toronto’s 2016 parade. They contained what Toronto police call “hateful” content. A warrant was issued in spring 2018.

The pamphlets, which reportedly included negative remarks against the Liberal Party and left-wing politicians, also said that supporting homosexual acts without repentance could lead to "eternal peril," and repentance to "the free gift of eternal life."

However, reports say that the pamphlets neither encouraged hate against homosexuals, nor advocated violence.

William Whatcott, seen in a Facebook photo, is the subject of a Canada-wide warrant issued by Toronto police

alleging wilful promotion of hatred in relation to an incident at Pride Toronto in 2016.  (FACEBOOK)

Whatcott’s lawyer, Charles Lugosi, said his client turned himself in to police in Calgary on Friday, June 22nd. 

Whatcott, who has been fired from his job, said he wasn't given food for 24 hours while in jail, according to The Daily Wire.

"It might have been on purpose, because it didn't happen, like — some inmates did go half a day without food — but they actually made me go a full 24 hours," he was quoted as saying.

He said he was also denied medical attention for a leg injury. "I had a leg infection, and it was bad enough that I was brought to the hospital, but they simply refused to fill the prescriptions. So for four days I had no medications. The infection was actually going up my leg. I was a little concerned it was gonna go systemic."

The allegations contained in the warrant have not been proven in court.

In July 2016, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Roman Catholic, became the world's first national leader to march in a gay pride parade when he took part in Toronto's event.

Trudeau has also supported Canada's embrace of same-sex marriage, which stands against the Catholic Church's definition of marriage between one man and one woman.

Months later that year, a poll showed that the majority of Canadians supported the expansion of the country's non-discrimination laws to include gender identity. The Angus Reid Institute survey was conducted four months after Trudeau's Liberal Party introduced a bill that would punish transgender discrimination with up to two years in prison for violators.

Earlier this year, Ontario Province started allowing individuals born there to remove "male" or "female" on their birth certificates or opt for a "nonbinary" designation.

The pace at which Canada is moving to the extreme left is nothing short of astonishing. Trudeau is not a Roman Catholic, he is an anti-Catholic and an anti-Christian. He easily prefers Islam to Christianity as is obvious by the respect he pays Islam and the complete disrespect he pays Christianity. He will not allow anyone in his cabinet who is not pro-abortion. He will not allow the Canadian government to sponsor church youth employment programs unless they commit to supporting abortion. He has declared war on Christianity in Canada and it will get worse before it gets better.

In a post on Freenorthamerica.ca — a website associated with what appears to be Whatcott’s Twitter account — a user called “Bill Whatcott” described the pamphlets distributed on July 3, 2016, when he and several others dressed in skin-tight full-length green bodysuits to hand out anti-LGBTQ materials. A copy of the material posted on the website contains Whatcott’s name and warns parade goers of “homosexual inspired oppression.”

Toronto police spokesperson Const. Caroline de Kloet said part of the reason the warrant was issued two years after the incidents is because police had to to “liaise” with the prosecution to approve the charge.

And, apparently, in Toronto, that takes two years!!!???

In an interview, Whatcott — who described himself in previous court proceedings as a “Christian activist” who formerly “engaged in same-sex sexual activity” — said he does not believe he did anything criminal. He said his distribution of pamphlets should be considered fair criticism of a public event.

“I have little enough confidence in the justice system. The judge might look at it, know it’s wrong and convict me anyways. I think that can happen in our courts,” Whatcott said.

“I gave out medical information. I made theological arguments that I don’t think homosexuality is a good idea ... I don’t believe I committed a criminal offence.”

His current lawyer, Lugosi, said his client intends to co-operate with police but will challenge the allegation. Lugosi said Monday he has yet to read the warrant.

Canada-wide warrants normally for murderers

“Usually, a Canada-wide warrant is issued with somebody alleged to have committed a very serious crime, like murder,” Lugosi said. “Normally, with something like this, it’s never done. It’s abnormal.”

Pride Toronto executive director Olivia Nuamah said it’s a “positive” step that an arrest has been made.

“LGBTQ hate crime has gone up significantly this year,” Nuamah said. “Just in general, the arrest and prosecution rates are incredibly low ... It’s important that the rates of both arrest and prosecutions go up significantly.”

After the 2016 Toronto Pride Parade, Whatcott was the subject of a $103-million class-action lawsuit alleging hate speech directed at the LGBTQ community. In a March 2017 ruling from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the judge said the class-action suit would not stand but that the people who filed the suit could pursue individual civil lawsuits against Whatcott.

Jeremy Dias, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, said police need to do more to discourage anti-LGBTQ activists from disrupting Pride festivities. Dias, who attended the 2016 parade, said the pamphlets were “reprehensible.”

“We really need police services to take these actions more seriously,” Dias said. “If you’re breaking the law and conducting hate speech, then that’s a problem ... It should be prosecuted, period. No questions asked.”

“It appears I am facing an indictable charge for ‘Public Incitement of Hatred,’” a post on Freenorthamerica.ca reads. “The ‘crime?’ My ministry bringing the Gospel and the truth about homosexuality to Toronto’s ... pride parade in 2016.”

Police looked for Whatcott in multiple provinces. A department update provided by New Westminster Police in B.C. said they received a call for assistance from Toronto police in April. Whatcott was then believed to be living in New Westminster, in the eastern part of Metro Vancouver.

At the time, police confirmed Whatcott’s residence in New Westminster and were working on “co-ordinating an arrest” with Toronto police. However, it is unclear whether Whatcott was actually in New Westminster at that point. Reached by phone, Whatcott’s wife Jadranka Whatcott said the pair used to live in New Westminster but moved to Alberta earlier this year.

In a separate matter, Whatcott is also the subject of an ongoing human-rights discrimination complaint filed by a transgender woman in B.C.

It was filed by transgender-rights advocate Morgane Oger. According to human-rights tribunal documents, Whatcott allegedly distributed flyers disparaging Oger during the spring 2017 B.C. election, when Oger was running as the NDP candidate for Vancouver-False Creek. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal said Whatcott argued in his response that his “conduct was protected by the guarantees of freedom of religion and speech” granted by the Charter.

Whatcott allegedly wrote that because Oger is a transgender woman, she is unfit to work as a politician, expressing concerns about the “growth of homosexuality and transvestitism.”

Within days of the flyers being distributed, Oger’s campaign team contacted the Vancouver Police Department. Oger said an officer came to her house and took a statement but that Vancouver police did not charge Whatcott.

“(They) would not actually even engage … until it was discovered that I was a political candidate for a party,” she said. “I would assume that I can count on the police in B.C. here, but experience tells me maybe we have a ways to go,” Oger said.

Asked about Oger’s case, Vancouver police said they cannot provide information on specific cases unless charges have been approved by the Crown.

Since the flyers about Oger were first published, a Facebook account with the name of “Bill Whatcott” posted further material attacking Oger’s transgender identity. One example occurred on Feb. 17, 2018, when the user posted a photo of Oger with the caption “you are still a guy,” referring to her by the first name she used before transitioning.

Oger said she’s looking forward to the conclusion of this case.

“As someone who faces constant harassment ... I welcome some precedent being set, explaining clearly where the law draws the line between acceptable behaviour and unacceptable behaviour,” she said.