Islam - Current Day > Malay Man gets beat up and then arrested; Al Qaeda moving into Togo; Violence against Gaza Women

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Malaysia: Muslim mob bloodies delivery rider

accused of insulting Islam, then he is arrested

“Delivery rider to be remanded for allegedly insulting Islam,” 

by Austin Camoens, 

The Star, July 17, 2022:

Sepang OCPD Asst Comm Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof said the 39-year-old suspect, a widower, would be taken to the Sepang Court Complex on Monday (July 18) morning to obtain a remand order.

“Based on our investigations the suspect does not have a prior record. A urine test also conducted on the suspect also came back negative,” he said in a statement on Sunday (July 17)….

The case was classified as causing disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will, or prejudicing the maintenance of harmony or unity, on grounds of religion and misuse of network facilities.

The first is an offence under Section 298A of the Penal Code while the second is a crime under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Videos and pictures of a man with a bloodied mouth and nose have been circulated on social media and WhatsApp….

Togo: Muslims murder at least 12 civilians

in overnight jihad raids on villages

JUL 18, 2022 9:00 AM 

BY ROBERT SPENCER

On Jihad Watch, which has been operating daily since 2003, Togo was mentioned once in 2017. That was it until last Wednesday and today. The jihadis who have been operating in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria for years are now expanding their operations. They see that the West is weak and suicidal. There is nothing to stop them.

“At Least 12 Killed in Raids on Northern Togo Villages,” 

Reuters, 

July 15, 2022:

LOME, TOGO — Armed men killed at least 12 civilians in overnight raids on villages in northern Togo, where Islamist militants have staged several attacks, two local activists and a medical source said Friday.

Spared until recently by the jihadi violence that has ravaged its northern neighbors for the better part of the past decade, Togo has over the past two months experienced a spate of attacks.

They are part of a broader spillover of militant violence into coastal West African countries from the landlocked Sahel region. Benin and Ivory Coast have also been targeted in the past year by militants believed to belong to an al-Qaida affiliate.

The overnight raids were the deadliest to hit Togo to date, topping an ambush in May that killed eight soldiers. The al-Qaida-linked Jamaa Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which is based in Mali, claimed responsibility for that attack.

A local rights activist, who asked to not be named for security reasons, said suspected jihadis killed 10 civilians in the village of Sougtangou and 10 in Blamonga, both of which are near the border with Burkina Faso.

Another local activist said suspected jihadis had killed at least 12 civilians and a medical source said the death toll was at least 14. They also spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons….

The army said Thursday that it had killed a group of civilians, all teenagers, last Saturday night in an airstrike after mistaking them for jihadis.

Gaza's women and girls see no escape from violence

Issued on: 24/07/2022 - 04:04

rfi

Palestinians Suleiman and Nazmiya Baraka display a picture of their daughter Istabraq, who was killed by her husband last year in the Gaza Strip SAID KHATIB AFP

Abassan (Territoires palestiniens) (AFP) – Seventeen-year-old Istabraq Baraka fell pregnant soon after her wedding in the Gaza Strip. Three months later her husband killed her.

"She died from a severe beating, which caused bleeding on the brain and lungs and broken ribs," said her mother Nazmiya.

Sitting with her husband Suleiman in a garden in Abassan, near the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Palestinian territory, the 53-year-old talks at lightning speed about last year's killing of one of her two daughters, as well as the loss of an unborn grandchild.

Istabraq's father wipes tears away with the corner of a red-and-white keffiyeh wrapped around his head.

He laments the slow pace of legal proceedings since his daughter's husband handed himself in to the police shortly after the killing.

"The perpetrator admitted his crime, a year and a month until now and nothing's happened," said the 70-year-old.

Femicide is on the rise in Gaza, according to figures from the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, a Palestinian civil society group.

The organisation registered six killings and suspicious deaths related to domestic violence in 2019, a figure which rose to 19 the following year.

UN Women said the situation worsened at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which resulted in the "lockdown of survivors of violence with their abusers".

Ayah Alwakil, a lawyer from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said women can consider violence from their husbands normal behaviour in Gaza's patriarchal society, which has been controlled by the Hamas Islamist group since 2007.

Suleiman and Nazmiya Baraka walk in their garden SAID KHATIB AFP

Beautiful garden!

"Some women don't know their rights and some others are afraid of going to court, for lack of family support," she added.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said 38 percent of women in Gaza faced physical or psychological violence from their husbands in 2019, but Alwakil estimated the true figure to be far higher.

Tied up, left to die

Men convicted of killing their wives can be jailed or face the death penalty. But the sentence is reduced if they commit a so-called "honour killing", in which a relative is murdered because they are deemed to have brought shame to the family.

UN Women says such "outdated and discriminatory laws" impede justice.

Additionally, those seeking to escape domestic violence risk losing their children. If a wife obtains a divorce, custody passes to the ex-husband once a daughter turns 11 or a son reaches nine.

Noha Khaziq, 31, stayed with her abusive husband because they had four children.

He killed her in February.

"Her husband tied her up and left her at home so that she couldn't escape and get out. When he returned she was dead," said her brother Abdelaziz, who shares his sister's green eyes.

"We feel satisfied with the death sentence ruling against the husband, five months after the heinous crime, but we demand the sentence be enforced quickly," said the 28-year-old.

The Khaziq family has not seen Noha's children since she was killed, because custody was granted to their father's relatives.

'Not on women's side'

Fifteen years since the Israeli-led blockade of Gaza began, it is almost impossible for women fleeing violence to leave the Palestinian enclave.

In a territory home to 2.3 million residents, around 40 women are staying in only two specialised refuges.

When AFP visited one of them, a woman with bruises covering one side of her face sat in a corner. She was about to return to her husband, rather than risk losing access to her children.

"The law is not on women's side all the time in the Gaza Strip," said Aziza Elkahlout, a spokeswoman for the social development ministry which runs one of the refuges.

More than a year since his daughter was murdered, Suleiman Baraka demands that the wheels of justice be speeded up for cases of femicide SAID KHATIB AFP

"We thought of opening the safe house because of the injustice women are exposed to," she added, blaming the Israeli blockade for Gaza's dire living conditions.

But such reasoning is inadequate for Suleiman Baraka, who says the authorities are partly responsible for his daughter's killing.

"The government helps the offender because it doesn't take any immediate decisions," said Istabraq's father.

He is reminded of his daughter every time he reaches for his phone, whose screen shows a photo of him with his two girls.

More than a year since Istabraq was killed, he warned that delays in reaching justice only "encourage criminals".

© 2022 AFP

The Media is the Message > NYTs Chills; TikTok Fined in Russia - Restricted in Italy After Child Death; Zelensky Shuts Down Opposition News Channels

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‘Please, don’t cancel New York Times subscription,’ says former editor sacked after her ‘chills’ for Biden infuriated some readers

24 Jan 2021 11:26

FILE PHOTO. The New York Times office in the Manhattan. ©REUTERS / Carlo Allegri

The Gray Lady has sacked its editor, who was criticized for expressing excitement with the landing of Joe Biden’s plane before inauguration. The journalist asked supporters not to cancel their subscriptions.

Lauren Wolfe stirred online anger on Tuesday by sharing her feelings about Joe Biden’s arrival at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for his upcoming inauguration ceremony. She called the Trump administration “petty” and “childish” over a widely reported (and later revealed to be false) claim that it denied Biden a military plane to arrive in DC. Wolfe said she had “chills” seeing Biden’s private jet land.

The awkwardly-worded tweet apparently not only caused Wolfe humiliation due to online mockery, but also cost her her job as an editor at the New York Times. The Gray Lady has canceled her contract, she confirmed on Twitter. HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali was the first to report the news.

Wolfe is hardly the only journalist in the US, whose public statements about Biden taking over from Trump would be more suitable for a celebrity fan club. But her sacking seemed a gross and unfair overreaction by the Times even for some of her critics, especially since her remark was made on a private account.

People angry with the decision recalled how many times people in the profession got to keep their jobs after far worse transgressions. This was the case, for example, with the infamous podcast ‘Caliphate’ (3rd story on link), which won the newspaper praise and awards, but turned out to be based on the words of a fabulist posing as a source.

Some of Wolfe’s supporters said they will be canceling their Times subscription in retaliation. She asked them not to do that, saying her former place of employment was an “incredible paper filled with talented journalists.”

Wolfe apparently blames conservatives mad about her tweet for her termination. But one doesn’t have to go far back in time to see that the Times is not exactly known for standing up to left-wing outrage to protect its people either.

Just last June James Bennet had to resign from the newspaper over the publication of an opinion piece penned by Senator Tom Cotton, in which he advocated deployment of military troops to rein in mass protests in Washington, DC. Bennet was in charge of the opinion section at the time. One can only wonder how Cotton’s line of argument would fly today, in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot and unprecedented deployment to Washington, DC of over 25,000 National Guardsmen for Biden’s inauguration.

NY Times Gay Article Attacks Christianity

Why You Can't Expect the Truth from Main Stream Media

Russia to fine TikTok & other social networks for failing to remove posts allegedly promoting unauthorized protests to kids

28 Jan 2021 13:03

©  AFP / LOIC VENANCE

The Russian state regulator, Roskomnadzor, has announced that seven social networks will be fined for failing to comply with demands to delete calls to protest, after supporters of Alexey Navalny advertised demonstrations online.

American tech giants Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, along with Chinese video-sharing app TikTok and Russian sites VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, will each be forced to pay between 800,000 and four million rubles ($10,500 and $52,000).

Last week, prior to Saturday’s demonstrations in support of the jailed opposition figure, Roskomnadzor revealed its concern that social media was being used to encourage minors to participate in unsanctioned protests. In particular, the regulator pointed the finger at the video-sharing app TikTok. In a press release, Roskomnadzor announced that a total of 170 illegal calls for protest were not removed from the internet “in a timely manner.”

“Social networks Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, and video-host YouTube will be fined for failure to comply with the requirements to prevent the spread of calls to minors to participate in unsanctioned rallies on January 23,” the statement said.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that around 300 children were arrested at protests throughout the country, the youngest being just nine years old.

“In Moscow, about 70 [were arrested and], in St. Petersburg, about 30,” Children’s Ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova wrote on Facebook on Saturday evening. “The children were detained until their parents arrived. The police tried to get the little ones out of the crowd as quickly as possible to save them from tragedy, which fortunately did not happen.”

On Tuesday, the Speaker of Russia’s parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, told Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda that “children cannot be used [by politicians] in a civilized society.”

“Why attract children to such events by agitating them on social media, showing them videos?” he asked. “[We] are against that. Leave the children alone. Let children have their childhood.”

On January 23, more than 100 cities in Russia saw supporters of jailed opposition figure Navalny take to the streets, with thousands protesting against his detainment. Navalny was remanded in custody on January 18 after arriving back in Russia from Germany. He is accused of violating the terms of a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence he received in 2014, when he was found guilty of embezzling 30 million rubles ($400,000) from two companies, including the French cosmetics brand Yves Rocher.

Washington joins crusade against free speech, backs Ukrainian crackdown on opposition media as EU & Zelensky’s dad voice concerns

3 Feb, 2021 17:46

US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden holds a megaphone during an event on Election Day in Scranton, Pennsylvania, US November 3, 2020. © REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque; (inset) Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky © REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

The US has waded into a row over media censorship in Ukraine, backing a ban on opposition TV channels as both the EU and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s own father expressed grave concerns over the impact on free speech.

In a statement issued on Twitter Wednesday, the American embassy in Kiev wrote that it “supports efforts yesterday to counter Russia’s malign influence.” It described the shuttering of broadcasters as “in line with [Ukrainian law], in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“We must all work together to prevent disinformation from being deployed as a weapon in an info war against sovereign states,” the missive concluded.

Earlier that day, Zelensky signed into law a decree that took a total of eight news outlets off the airwaves in a move backed by the country’s National Security and Defense Council. However, the claim of nefarious Russian influence was met with skepticism, given that the outlets are based in Ukraine, where they are operated by and watched by Ukrainians.

In addition, the group is owned by one of the country’s elected MPs, Taras Kozak. Authorities also say they have ties to political leader Viktor Medvedchuk, who heads up the country’s largest opposition party, which is called “Opposition Platform – for Life.”

In a furious statement published on Wednesday morning, Medvedchuk wrote that the move to suppress opposition-leaning media was “absolutely illegal” and amounted to the use of “violence, bullying and coercion against dissent.” He noted that the decision came amid tumbling approval ratings for Zelensky and fierce criticism from the opposition over a lack of access to Covid-19 vaccines. 

Later on Wednesday, one of the bloc’s MPs announced it would begin the process of trying to impeach the President following the crackdown.

Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, explained the move, saying that “it’s clear that sanctions on Mr. Medvedchuk’s TV channels are not about the media and not about freedom of speech… it’s just about effectively counterfeiting fakes and foreign propaganda.” Without action, he argued, the opposition media would “kill our values.”

However, the EU broke ranks with Washington on Wednesday, sounding the alarm over the potential consequences for basic human rights in the country. Foreign Diplomatic Service spokesman Peter Stano told Interfax-Ukraine that attempts to regulate against disinformation “should not happen at the expense of freedom of the media and should be carried out with full respect for fundamental rights and freedoms and in accordance with international standards.”

More commentary around the decision came from an unexpected quarter. Aleksandr Zelensky, the president’s father, told the Strana news outlet that he had tuned into the channels that his son had just banned, adding that he was “worried” about his son. Asked whether he was concerned about constraints on free speech though, he said that “there are limits to everything.”

One Twitter user sought to contextualize the row for an international audience, saying that “for US folks, this would be more or less the equivalent of Biden sanctioning Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax.”

There had been hopes among Washington’s traditional allies that Biden would play a more active role in the promotion of human rights overseas than his predecessor, Donald Trump.

In November, American media reported that an official in Biden’s transition team, Richard Stengel, backed new restrictions on free speech. “All speech is not equal. And where truth cannot drive out lies, we must add new guardrails,” he wrote in a cryptic Washington Post op-ed, giving Russia as an example. As team leader of the US Agency for Global Media, Stengel was responsible for developing policy for Washington’s state-run media machine overseas, including outlets like Voice of America and RFE/RL.

TikTok agrees to Italy’s request to block underage users,

after 10yo girl dies in social media challenge

3 Feb, 2021 16:43

FILE PHOTO: A person holds a smartphone with Tik Tok logo displayed in this picture illustration taken November 7, 2019. Picture taken November 7, 2019. ©  REUTERS / Dado Ruvic

TikTok has reached an agreement with Italian data protection regulators to block underage users there from using its app, after a 10-year-old girl died in Palermo in a failed attempt at a dangerous social media challenge.

In January, the Italian authorities launched an investigation into children using social media platforms, after a young girl who had attempted the so-called ‘choking’ challenge died. The trend, which had been circulating on TikTok, saw participants restrict their oxygen in an attempt to secure a high.

The people who promote this madness should be tracked down and charged with murder!

The state filed a legal notice against TikTok back in December, prior to the young girl’s death, accusing the company of a “lack of attention to the protection of minors.” Similar criticism has been leveled by Italy’s data watchdog at Facebook and Instagram.

As part of its response to the tragic event, Italy temporarily blocked access to the app for users who couldn’t categorically prove they were above 13, as required by TikTok’s terms and conditions. The data protection watchdog then ordered the social media company to take the same step. 

“Starting from February 9 ... Tik Tok will block all Italian users and will ask to indicate the date of birth again before continuing to use the app,” Italy’s data protection regulator said in a statement on Wednesday. “Once a user under 13 is identified, their account will be removed.”

The agency said the tech firm had also “undertaken to further evaluate the use of artificial intelligence systems” in order to “identify users under 13 with reasonable certainty”.

TikTok’s head of child safety in Europe, Alexandra Evans, also announced a slew of updates that the app would be making in an effort to expand its safety measures. As well as requiring users to prove their date of birth, a button will be added to the app to allow other users to report underage accounts. 

Under the EU’s rules, as TikTok is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland is responsible for enforcing existing data protection and privacy laws with the company. However, Italy bypassed this step and took direct action by using a 2018 data protection rule to allow it to seek a swifter change in TikTok’s approach to underage users there.

Pakistan Blasphemy Case: Asia Bibi Freed From Jail

Will this young Christian woman be able to escape

the Islamic Insanity that is Pakistan?

A Pakistani Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row has been freed from prison, her lawyer says.

Some reports say Asia Bibi has boarded a plane but its destination was not known.

The Supreme Court ruling sparked protests from Islamists and the government had said it would bar her from leaving Pakistan.

Her husband had said they were in danger and pleaded for asylum.

Asia Bibi, a mother-of-five, was released from prison in the city of Multan, her lawyer Saif Mulook said.

Also known as Asia Noreen, she was convicted in 2010 of insulting the Prophet Muhammad during a row with neighbours.

Several countries have offered her asylum.

The Pakistani government has said it will start legal proceedings to prevent her going abroad after agreeing the measure to end the violent protests.

Many of the protesters were hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws and called for Asia Bibi to be hanged.

One Islamist leader said all three Supreme Court judges also "deserved to be killed".

Yes, because you would not want Pakistan to enter the 2nd millennium, let alone the 3rd. I have hopes for the new Prime Minister, but he has an extraordinary problem in dealing with Islamic Insanity.

A spokesman for the hardline Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party said Asia Bibi's release was in breach of their deal with the government.

"The rulers have showed their dishonesty," TLP spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi told Reuters.

The deal also saw officials agree not to block a petition for the Supreme Court to evaluate Asia Bibi's acquittal in the light of Islamic Sharia law.

What was Asia Bibi accused of?

The trial stems from an argument Asia Bibi had with a group of women in June 2009.

They were harvesting fruit when a row broke out about a bucket of water. The women said that because she had used a cup, they could no longer touch it, as her faith had made it unclean.

Prosecutors alleged that in the row which followed, the women said Asia Bibi should convert to Islam and that she made offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in response.

She was later beaten up at her home, during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. She was arrested after a police investigation.

Acquitting her, the Supreme Court said that the case was based on unreliable evidence and her confession was delivered in front of a crowd "threatening to kill her".

Why is this case so divisive?

Islam is Pakistan's national religion and underpins its legal system. Public support for the strict blasphemy laws is strong.

Hard-line politicians have often backed severe punishments, partly as a way of shoring up their support base.

But critics say the laws have often been used to exact revenge after personal disputes, and that convictions are based on thin evidence.

How many do not ever make it to trial as mass hysteria sometimes results in the immediate murder of the accused, often in the most horrific manner?

The vast majority of those convicted are Muslims or members of the Ahmadi community, but since the 1990s scores of Christians have been convicted. They make up just 1.6% of the population.

The Christian community has been targeted by numerous attacks in recent years, leaving many feeling vulnerable to a climate of intolerance.

Since 1990, at least 65 people have reportedly been killed in Pakistan over claims of blasphemy.

Please pray for Asia and her family, that they will indeed escape Pakistan and find refuge in a safe country, if one exists. 

France in Shock as Video of Student Threatening Teacher With ‘Gun’ in Class Goes Viral

Violence, insults, and threats in French Schools - The New Normal

© youtube.com/user/lafouine

An appalling video showing a student in a French school threatening a teacher with a dummy ‘gun’ in class has shocked France. Questions are being raised about the regularity of such incidents and the authorities’ response.

The viral footage, initially distributed on Snapchat, shows a class in a school in Creteil commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris. A male student stands in the middle of the classroom and threatens the teacher with an object that looks like a gun, and demands that she write ‘present’, not ‘absent’ in the attendance list. In the background, there is another student making obscene gestures at the camera.

And, the idiot recording the whole thing thinks it's hilarious.

Marine Le Pen✔
@MLP_officiel
 Le calme de cette enseignante braquée en plein cours par un élève et l’absence de signalement et de plainte immédiate par l’établissement scolaire à la suite de ce comportement suggère que ce type d’incidents est régulier.  Qui cela étonne-t-il encore ? MLP #Créteil

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1053936594288345089

French media report that the gun was “an airsoft type” ball gun or a toy gun – which wouldn’t be capable of hurting the teacher. In spite of the shocking situation, the teacher seems unperturbed, as though it’s not the first time this has happened.

Following the incident, the teacher filed a complaint and two 16-year-old students were taken into custody, according to French media. The student who made the obscene gestures was soon released, while the main perpetrator is in custody and will stand before a juvenile court on Sunday. 

The story caused shock and outrage on social media, with people raising questions regarding the punishment for the students, whether the teacher’s reaction was appropriate, and how the authorities should respond. “I hope they will be severely punished,” one person wrote.

The mayor of the city of Nancy, Laurent Henart, expressed “condemnation and indignation.” The educational community should take exceptional measures “to ensure security” in schools, he tweeted.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the incident “unacceptable” and urged the ministries of interior and education to handle the case. 

“Every day, teachers are insulted,” one person commented under Macron’s post. Another person said teachers have to deal with violence, insults, and threats almost every day.  “Should we get used to this free daily violence? The New World of Macron!” one person asked. 

Marine Le Pen, the president of France’s National Rally (formerly Front National), tweeted that the teacher looked relatively calm. The absence of an immediate report and complaint by the school “suggests that this type of incident is regular,” she wrote. 

Hear Someone Insult Erdogan? Report It To Us, Says Turkish Consulate in the Netherlands

By Adam Taylor Washington Post

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, listens to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during a joint news conference in Ankara on April 16. Rouhani is in Turkish capital for a one-day official visit. (Burhan Ozbilici/AP)

What should someone in the Netherlands do if someone says something "derogatory" or "defamatory" about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan? According to an email sent out by Ankara's consulate in Rotterdam, Turkish organizations in the country should write in to report the insult.

This email, uncovered by Dutch news organizations Thursday, has sparked anger in the Netherlands, with the Dutch prime minister demanding an explanation from Turkish authorities. To Turkey's critics, the message seems to show that Erdogan, long accused of cracking down on dissent domestically, was now abusing antiquated European laws in a bid to silence his international critics.

"I am surprised," Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters in Germany during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "It's not clear what the Turkish government aims to achieve with this action."

The news of the email comes less than a week after Merkel herself announced that she would allow Jan Boehmermann, a German comedian and writer known for his acerbic style, to be prosecuted for a poem he had read on television about Erdogan. Boehmermann's poem was designed to crudely mock the Turkish president, accusing him of sex with goats and saying that Erdogan loved to "repress minorities, kick Kurds and beat Christians while watching child porn."

According to German prosecutors, at least 20 "private individuals" had filed complaints against Boehmermann after his poem aired on state broadcaster ZDF. At the request of the Turkish government, Boehmermann will now be prosecuted under section 103 of the German penal code, a section that decrees "whosoever insults a foreign head of state ... shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine."

Merkel has suggested that while her government will now work to change the law to remove this section, she had to respect the law as it stood. The Netherlands has similar "lèse-majesté" laws against insulting foreign heads of states, which is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison, though Dutch lawmakers are now working to remove them. Within Turkey, critics of the government have complained that since becoming president in 2014, Erdogan has abused a law that bars insults to the president, with almost 2,000 cases opened in less than two years.

While these cases have caused controversy, they also enjoy support from many in Turkey: One Turkish man facing charges for allegedly assaulting his fiancee recently suggested that the assault was sparked by his partner's insult to the Turkish president. According to Hurriyet Daily News, the man's fiancee was called by police to testify about the alleged insult to Erdogan, which she denied making.

The Turkish Embassy in the Netherlands has attempted to downplay the controversy about the recent email, suggesting that the message was being misunderstood and that they only wanted organizations to email the consulate to report racism or hate speech. According to a translation from the BBC, the letter had read: "We ask urgently for the names and written comments of people who have given derogatory, disparaging, hateful and defamatory statements against the Turkish president, Turkey and Turkish society in general."

There are about 400,000 people with Turkish origin in the Netherlands, and representatives of Turkish opposition parties say that critics of Erdogan have expressed concern that they could be targeted. On Twitter, Sadet Karabulut, a Dutch politician of Kurdish descent, dubbed the controversy a sign of "Erdogan's long arm in the Netherlands."

I hope Canada doesn't have such a law; I could be in big trouble. Erdogan is a very ambitious egomaniac; and that's the nicest thing I can say about him.