Muslims in Europe believe hateful posts online targeting Muslims are as dangerous as public attacks, according to a study by the Council of Europe on Tuesday.
Daniel Holtgen, special Representative on anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and other forms of religious intolerance and hate crimes, said it is a dangerous development.
He shared outcomes at a news conference of the latest study conducted with Muslim associations in eight different European countries including France, the UK and Germany and said, death threats, calls for violence against Muslims, and abusive language do not fall into the category of “freedom of speech/thought.”
‘Everything that is prohibited in public life should also be banned’ online
“Everything that is prohibited in public life should also be banned on the internet. This also applies to other forms of discrimination and racism,” he said.
Holtgen said posts are mostly shared anonymously but the number of users who share openly has recently increased.
Victims of online abuse do not report it to authorities because they do not know where to do it and they believe nothing will happen to abusers if they do, he said.
Muslim associations complain about the lack of protection from state institutions and think that it is because of their insufficient recording of events, he said.
Holtgen also said it is necessary to be more sensitive about anti-Muslim hatred and the Council of Europe's Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) will prepare a report on the issue at the beginning of 2022./aa
Turkish president wishes speedy recovery to Pope Francis
July 07, 2021Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a "get well soon" message to Pope Francis on Tuesday after his surgery for symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.
"On behalf of my nation and myself, I wish you a speedy recovery during your convalescence, so that you can regain your health as soon as possible on the occasion of your surgery, which I learned was successful," Erdogan said in his message, according to a statement by Turkish Communications Directorate.
Francis, 84, was admitted to the A. Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic teaching hospital in Rome, and underwent the scheduled operation, which went "well," according to a Vatican spokesman on Sunday.
The Vatican did not provide information about the operation or how long the pope would stay at the hospital.
It was Francis' first known hospitalization since his rise to the papacy in 2013./aa
Death toll rises to 32 in US building collapse
July 07, 2021CHICAGO, United States
The death toll rose by four to 32 on Tuesday in the collapse of a Miami-area condominium building in the state of Florida, while the number missing stands at 118, according to authorities.
The updated numbers were announced along with a bleak assessment from the head of search efforts.
"Unfortunately, we're not seeing anything positive," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Director Alan Cominsky. "The key things you're looking for throughout -- void space, livable spaces -- we're not coming across that."
Cominsky was vague on when work on a massive pile would shift from a search to a recovery effort.
"We're actively looking into and having different dialogues in regards to our strategies moving forward," he said.
The scene on Monday was dramatic -- with Tropical Storm Elsa's high winds and rain lashing palm trees in the distance and dust and debris flying, workers continued to dig into the rubble.
The Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava, said the pile of debris was estimated at nearly 5 million tons.
But searchers at least have a safer path in which to dig. The partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building on June 24 left an unstable half still standing, which preventing searchers from reaching part of the rubble.
With the other half torn down in a controlled demolition late Sunday, searchers can now get to more parts of the rubble.
Levine Cava confirmed that at least three bodies retrieved from the rubble on Monday came from the area that was previously inaccessible.
But the look of things remained grim. A nearby makeshift memorial with countless flowers, cards and teddy bears, was drenched by rain.
As searchers filed into the scene, one told reporters: "It's more of the same. There's just less of a building."/agencies
Canada names first Indigenous governor general
July 07, 2021Canada on Tuesday appointed the first Indigenous governor general in its 154-year history.
At a press conference at the Canadian Museum of History, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced Mary Simon, who as governor general will serve as the queen's representative in Canada.
"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has approved the appointment of Mary Simon as the 30th Governor General of Canada," Trudeau said, calling this a “historic step."
Simon, an Inuit from northern Quebec and a former diplomat who has served as an ambassador for the Arctic, has been a champion for her people's rights.
The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (formerly known as the Eskimo Brotherhood of Canada) is the organization that promotes the Inuit across the Canadian north from the Northwest Territories east to Northern Labrador. It immediately tweeted out its approval of Simon.
"ITK (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami) extends its deepest congratulations to Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General! Mary has served Inuit and Canada in many distinguished roles, including as President of ITK. We wish her extraordinary success in her role at this critical time in our history."
Simon said her appointment is a "historic opportunity" and she is "honored, humbled and ready" for the job.
She said the appointment is an "important step in the long path towards reconciliation" between Indigenous peoples and the general population of Canada.
Unmarked graves at Indian schools
Her appointment comes in the wake of the discovery of unmarked graves at Indian residential schools in Canada. Many of the graves contain the remains of children who were in many cases taken from their Indigenous parents and forced to attend the schools – the first of which opened in the 1820s, with the last one closing in 1996.
The governor general's role is mainly ceremonial, but she is the queen's representative to Canada and she does have power, but in reality she follows the direction of the prime minister.
The governor general has important parliamentary responsibilities, including summoning and dissolving parliament, setting out the government's program by reading the Speech from the Throne and giving assent, which brings parliamentary bills into law./aa
At least 150 people were killed in the three-day Fourth of July holiday weekend, known as Independence Day in the US, according to a tracker.
The casualties took place in more than 400 shootings nationwide, data from Gun Violence Archive revealed. The data is compiled from more than 7,500 sources.
In Chicago, Illinois alone, gunfire left 14 dead and 67 wounded.
The US has been hit by a surge in shootings since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
President Joe Biden unveiled a strategy to combat gun violence on June 24 that urged a united effort to reduce gun violence.
"We have an opportunity to come together now — as Democrats and Republicans, as fellow Americans — to fulfill the first responsibility of government and our democracy: to keep each other safe. Enough," Biden said at the White House./aa
By: Abu Huda Al-Hendy*
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) constantly lurks to get any opportunity and create an opportunity to persecute Muslims to further its anti-Muslim agenda every time. One of the significant ways of persecuting Muslims by the BJP is to target prominent faces of the minority community. The Hindutva party has been doing this in their states as well as at the Centre. Soon after coming to power at the Centre, Narendra Modi government went after internationally known Islamic preacher Zakir Naik in the name of terrorism in 2016. The witch-hunt has forced Naik to live self-exiled in Malaysia. The Indian government appealed to Interpol to extradite Naik from Malaysia but the international body rejected India’s extradition request by citing a lack of evidence against Naik.
Now, the BJP government of Uttar Pradesh, which is being led by anti-Muslim bigot Yogi Adityanath, is going after another Islamic preacher Umar Gautam. On 21 June, the Anti-terror squad (ATS) arrested Gautam along with his aide Mufti Jahagir for converting 1000 people to Islam. It is yet to see that how accurate is the number of the converted people provided by the ATS in relation to Gautama’s case. Even though it is an accurate number of people who were converted by Gautam, the question arises what crimes he has committed by converting people? Conversion or facilitating conversion is not a crime in India at all.
Article 25 of the Indian constitution grants every citizen the right to convert to any religion. “Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion (1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion,” says the Article 25.
So, why the state is treating the case of conversion as a crime? Why is it being made a big issue? Why is the mainstream media spewing venom against the conversion? It’s just to witch-hunt an Islamic preacher to spread hatred against Muslims.
Other allegations which have been levelled against Gautam is forced conversion and his ISI links. However, the ATS did not put out any evidence with regard to both allegations. If Gautam has forced anyone to convert to Islam, he/she must come forward and tell the people that he has been converted forcibly. There is not a single person who made these allegations. Forced conversion is disapproved by Islam itself. Even though anyone is forced to convert to Islam, his conversion will not be valid. Another thing is that Gautam used to maintain an agreement form in which the converted people declared his/her consent to convert to Islam. These agreement forms used to be rectified by the government officials. Then, how is it possible that Gautam would force anyone to convert people? If he forced anyone to convert anyone, why would he maintain agreement forms? Why would converted people sign the form? The allegations of forced conversion are completely baseless. On the other hand, the police also did not provide any evidence about his links to ISI.
The fact of the matter is that these allegations have been made up to witch-hunt Gautam. He is himself a reverted Muslim, who converted after getting impressed with the behavior of a Muslim man in Nainital. After converting to Islam, he made the ambition of his life to propagating the message of Islam and clear misconceptions about it among non-Muslims. He has been doing it for years. He founded Islamic Dawah Center for this purpose.
But the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is so desperate and vicious in its anti-Muslim agenda that it can target any innocent Muslim for anti-Muslim politics. This time, it directed its gun towards an innocent, apolitical and gentleman Gautam, who hardly spoke up on any political issue or against the BJP. This is why the witch-hunt of Gautam is so problematic?
*An Indian writer
**Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of al-Mujtama
Passengers and crew onboard a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain were evacuated at Kuwait International Airport on Monday after what the airline described as a "minor incident" during landing.
All 62 passengers and 7 crew onboard flight GF215 from Bahrain to Kuwait were safely evacuated from the aircraft and escorted to the airport terminal, the airline said on Twitter.
"We are currently working with the authorities to identify the cause of the incident."/ Reuters
Turkish family attacked in German city of Lubeck
July 06, 2021A Turkish family was attacked in the northern German city of Lubeck, German police sources said Monday.
According to a statement from the Lubeck Police Department, on July 3, an argument erupted between a Turkish family of four and a German couple.
The 45-year-old Turkish father and his four- and eight-year-old children were affected by tear gas used by the 51-year-old man during the argument.
They were later taken to the hospital by ambulance.
It was determined that the attacker and his wife were carrying some prohibited weapons as well as the tear gas.
The couple was taken to the police station but eventually released on the grounds that there was no reason to arrest them.
Police said there were indications that the incident was xenophobic./aa
“Israeli” authorities on Monday released a Jordanian citizen who had spent more than two years in “Israeli” jail on charges of spying for the Palestinian resistance.
Thaer Shafout, 34, who was detained in April 2019 during a visit to the occupied West Bank, had been sentenced to 28 months in jail.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Thaer's father said that on Monday morning, Thaer told them he would be released, “and that's what happened based on what we saw of photos and videos, and he’s now in the West Bank."
“Israeli” authorities have yet to comment on Thaer's release and if there were any conditions for it.
On June 8, “Israeli” authorities released Jordanian prisoner Abdullah Abu Jaber after 21 years in prison on charges of resisting Israeli forces.
According to groups concerned with prisoners' affairs, 21 Jordanians remain detained in Israel.
In 1994, Jordan and “Israel” signed the Wadi Araba peace treaty, which brought an end to the state of war between the two countries since the first Arab-“Israeli” war in 1948./aa
Turkey plans to reopen schools on Sept. 6 amid good progress with the country’s vaccination drive, the national education minister said Monday.
Ziya Selcuk made the announcement while speaking with the Turkish private news channel Haberturk.
Referring to the National Education Ministry’s efforts for allowing students to access online learning during the time schools were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Selcuk noted that around 750,000 tablets were distributed to needy students to follow the online classes.
He also noted that around 90% of the teachers in the country have been vaccinated.
Underscoring the importance of interaction between children and animals, Selcuk said that around 20,000 schools now regularly feed dogs.
The country has so far administered over 52.62 million doses since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to the Health Ministry.
More than 35.88 million people have received their first doses, while over 15.66 million have been fully vaccinated.
The number of people who have received their third COVID-19 vaccine dose crossed 1 million as of Sunday.
Amid a nationwide fall in virus cases and an expedited inoculation drive, Turkey has entered a new normalization phase, lifting almost all virus-related restrictions./aa
