PI Magazine August 2018 issue

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By Gracie Bradley

Policy Officer @ Liberty UK

Our proud tradition of resistance will bring down the hostile environment

Liberty’s Advocacy and Policy Officer, Gracie Bradley, addressed protesters in Trafalgar Square during President Donald Trump’s UK visit. Here is an abridged version of her speech.

One of the reasons we are here today is the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants – the “Muslim ban”, the wall, children in cages.

But the UK has its own long history of state racism and xenophobia that cuts well across party lines – and its latest incarnation is the ‘hostile environment’.

Our Government separates families. If you love someone who isn’t British and you earn less than £18,600 a year, you won’t be able to sponsor them to live here with you – sometimes even if you have a child together.

If you’re a destitute migrant and you seek support for your family from social services, the state may offer support only to your children – and threaten to take them into care to do so.

Your family could be ripped apart by immigration detention too. Every

year the UK locks up around 30,000 people in detention centres every year– with no time limit on how long they can be held.

Most people imprisoned are adults – but children are detained too. The Coalition Government announced the end of this practice in 2010, but 1,649 children have been locked up since – 48 of them in 2017 alone.

We heard a lot about the hostile environment during the Windrush scandal. But it is crucial we recognise it is still wrong when it affects its intended targets – undocumented migrants – forcing them into destitution and making them vulnerable to exploitation.

The hostile environment aims to turn us all into border guards. It forces doctors, teachers, landlords and employers to check people’s immigration status, facilitating discrimination against anyone who seems foreign or just isn’t clearly white and British.

But if the UK has a long tradition of state racism and xenophobia, we as a society – migrants and citizens – have

our own proud tradition of resistance.

And there are some small, unfunded grassroots groups who are part of that proud tradition that it’s worth knowing about, because protest is important, but we can do more.

Get involved with North East London Migrant Action – you could accompany destitute migrants to their local authority, so they are not intimidated out of the support they’re entitled to.

Visit someone locked up in immigration detention – get in touch with SOAS Detainee Support or one of the many other visiting groups around the UK. Lend your creative skills to Against Borders for Children and Docs Not Cops, who are campaigning to keep border controls out of our schools and health services.

Or you could support your friends, neighbours and local community to know their rights during an immigration raid by starting a local Anti-Raids group.

Every single one of us has a stake in the kind of society we live in. It’s not just down to Government and politicians, it’s also down to us.

Together, we will dismantle the hostile environment. We will stop people being locked up without a time limit, and we will end immigration detention. And we will build a society in which every child has an education, every sick person can see a doctor, and every victim of crime feels safe to report it – whatever their immigration status.

In the struggle to defend migrants’ rights we have an immense fight on our hands. But up and down the country, small acts of resistance show every day that we will win.

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A New Dawn For Pakistan

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Continued from front page

Shockwaves have reverberated around the world as a result of the earthquake that has hit the Pakistani political establishment in recent days. Decades of rule by the PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) and PML-N (Pakistan Muslim LeagueN) were brought to an abrupt and brutal end when polls ended, as news started filtering through that the PTI (Tehreek-e-Insaaf) party would become the largest party in the Pakistani parliament.

Prior to the election, Imran Khan cricketer-turned politician and leader of the PTI withstood a ferocious onslaught by his political opponents and a large degree of hostility and criticism from abroad. This was hardly surprising as the PTI did not even exist as a political party thirty years ago and had been struggling until recently to even establish itself as the main opposition to the ruling party of the day. The party was largely seen as a ‘’populist movement’ that lacked experience, but as polling day approached the opponents’ criticisms grew louder as the impossible dream threatened to become reality.

The PTI has undoubtedly enjoyed a spectacular and meteoric rise in recent times and this is hardly surprising as he people of Pakistan were fed up by the chronic corruption plaguing every sector of society.

The Sharif family being mired in the controversy over how they had acquired their property portfolio in the UK was exploited by Khan and the PTI to profound effect and further reinforced the idea in the eyes of the masses that the top two parties were only interested in furthering their own personal interests at the expense of millions of Pakistanis.

It should be said that the masses literally voted with their feet and in the process banished the status-quo parties that had ruled Pakistan for the 20 years into the history books.

Khan has achieved the impossible in a very short period of time much to the chagrin of Pakistan’s old foe India. Prime Minister Modi has had a relatively smooth ride as far as foreign policy is concerned since 2014 and will be unnerved at the

prospect of meeting Prime Minister designate Imran Khan in the coming years. Modi’s diplomacy and resolve will be tested especially over the thorny issue of the future of Kashmir, as Khan will be looking to apply the pressure by demanding that Kashmiris be given the plebiscite to determine their political future.

There is no doubt that Khan will attempt to send a message to India that it will continue to heavily invest in its military capability allowing it to defend its own security. It is with this in mind that the military will provide its fullest support to the new government. The PML-N overtures to the Modi government in recent years was to the chagrin of the Pakistani military establishment and Khan will have to ensure that any deals with Modi’s India are not to the detriment of the nation’s economic and military interests.

The nation’s long standing and close relationship with China will now become more and more important if the country is to address its economic performance. China is on course to become the world’s biggest economy in the next 20 years and closer economic co-operation and deeper trade ties will also be in top of Khan’s agenda as external investment will be vital to creating high quality jobs that will reduce poverty and unemployment in the longer term.

From a military perspective, Pakistan can certainly count on China’s full support in the region in the face of potential Indian aggression going forward.

As far as Pakistan’s internal domestic and economic policies are concerned, PTI certainly has its work cut out in addressing the country’s woes.

For decades, Pakistan has not fulfilled its economic potential and has been left behind by a resurgent India whose economy has been growing at 8-12% year on

year. The insurgency in recent times and political instability has certainly inhibited the country’s progress and Khan’s biggest test will be to create an economic powerhouse that will rival India in the coming years.

First and foremost, the country will have to address its large financial deficit to stave off an IMF bailout which may mean short term economic pain for the electorate in order to put the nation on a more stable footing. It should be said that 67% of Pakistan’s population lives under the poverty line and has a fast-growing youth population that demands excellent quality education and meaningful employment prospects. The early election results show that millions of Pakistanis home and abroad are thirsty for change and seek a better and more prosperous future.

Imran Khan and the PTI have certainly revolutionised Pakistani politics forever and the political establishment will no doubt take heed of that in the coming days, months and years. The challenge for the new government is to bring real change that improves the plight of millions of Pakistanis and takes them out of dire poverty.

The next time the electorate comes to the polls, Khan and the PTI’s electoral fortunes will be determined by whether millions of Pakistanis have seen an improvement in their lives and not by whether they have placated the wishes of the military or whether meaningful progress has been made with its arch-rival and foe India on the foreign policy front.

Street attacks on Muslims rocket in UK 4

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Islamophobic street attacks are on the rise in the UK as perpetrators feel “emboldened” by terror attacks and political discourse, a report has found.

Tell Mama, which measures antiMuslim incidents in Britain, recorded a 30 per cent rise in street incidents and a 16 per cent rise in 2017, taking the number of verified reports to a record of 1,201.

The group warned of a “marked shift” towards more serious offline incidents like physical attacks, vandalism and abuse, as hatred continues to spread on social media.

Tell Mama recorded a 475 per cent rise in anti-Muslim street attacks in the wake of the 2016 EU referendum, but that was dwarfed by a 700 per cent increase in the week following the Manchester Arena attack and spikes were also seen after each Isis-inspired atrocity last year.

In the wake of the Daesh-inspired Westminster attack last March, a woman wearing a headscarf on a bus was told by a fellow passenger that “people like you” were responsible and spat on her.

In another case, after the Manchester Arena bombing, a trauma surgeon was racially abused and called a “terrorist” while on his way to work to treat victims at Salford Royal Hospital.

A Muslim man travelling on a

bus to donate blood following the attack was also called a terrorist by a passenger who said he would “happily kill” him.

Other victims were accused of direct responsibility in the Manchester attack, and abused while laying flowers in memory of the victims.

A day after the London Bridge attack last June, a man left a fake bomb outside of Paisley Central Mosque with a handwritten message which read: “Youse are next, defo.”

Little over a fortnight after the atrocity, Darren Osborne ploughed a van into Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, killing one man and injuring several others.

He left a note filled with racial slurs in the vehicle citing terror attacks and grooming gangs as inspiration, after becoming radicalized by far-right posts online.

Tell Mama said the attack made it “clear that acts of racial or religious hatred can contribute towards acts of terrorism”, amid calls online for Muslims to be “gassed” and for people to petrol bomb mosques.

Almost threequarters of verified incidents were

street-level and the most widely reported type was abusive behavior, followed by physical attacks, vandalism and discrimination.

Public spaces like parks and shopping areas were the most common locations for street attacks, followed by public transport, people’s homes and private property.

London saw the highest number of reported incidents in 2017, followed by northwest England, Yorkshire and Humber and the West Midlands.

Victims were predominantly women of Asian ethnicity, while 72 per cent of perpetrators where their identity was known were white men and boys.

Children under 12 were among those attacked and in Rotherham a 14-year-old Muslim boy was beaten and stamped on by a gang of at least 15 white boys who called him “Paki” in an unprovoked attack at a bus stop.

A report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found that despite “concerted efforts” some police forces were still responding poorly to hate crime by failing to properly identify incidents, or inform and support victims.

Tell Mama also called for improved public education, stronger sentencing and a “zero tolerance” approach to hatred in schools and public authorities. www.pi-media.co.uk

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Foreign Office issue Hajj advice for pilgrims

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Thousands of British Muslims will be going on this year’s pilgrimage to Makkah, an event known as the Hajj.

This is the largest gathering of people in the world - and a journey all followers of Islam must undertake at least once in their lives.

With such a huge event - and especially in light of tragedies that have occurred in the past - the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office

has issued official guidance for those travelling out to Saudi Arabia.

It comes on top of advice issued by the Birmingham-based Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims) UK, which warned of the deadly threat of heatstroke as temperatures at Mecca can reach 45C in August far hotter than we are experiencing at home even in the current heatwave.

Barrie Peach, HM Consul-General

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in Jeddah, said: “We welcome all British nationals performing Hajj.

“Many thousands of British Muslims complete this annual pilgrimage every year.

“Whilst the vast majority of pilgrims do not experience any difficulties, we recommend that all pilgrims plan ahead before departing to ensure a safe and trouble free Hajj.”

He added: “We advise all British pilgrims to check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s travel advice and the requirements set out by the Saudi government.

“We will be providing consular assistance and advice as necessary to British pilgrims. Consular staff can be contacted on a 24-hour helpline in the case of emergencies on 00 966 501 00 4268. We wish you a fulfilling and peaceful Hajj. Hajj Mabrour!”

The FCO have produced a digital Hajj travel leaflet (https:// assets.publishing.service.gov. uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/ file/727907/new_Hajj_2018.jpg) for anyone travelling out on the pilgrimage. It details safety steps and explains how the FCO can help if you or your family get into difficulty.

Britain to send extra 440 troops to Afghanistan The British government is planning to almost double the number of its troops in Afghanistan after a request from US President Donald Trump for reinforcements to help tackle the fragile security situation.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced the government will send an extra 440 troops, which would bring Britain’s total to about 1,100, to help Afghan troops fighting

Taliban and ISIS. The extra troops will be taking part in a Nato-led training mission, called Resolute Support, to train and assist Afghan forces. They will be based in Kabul and will not be in a combat role. British troops ended combat operations in 2014.

The announcement came the day before a Nato summit in Belgium that could turn contentious

over US President Donald Trump’s insistence that allies pay more for their defence.

Mr Trump, who announced the United States would send thousands more troops to Afghanistan last year, has asked Britain and other Nato countries to send more reinforcements to the country. www.pi-media.co.uk

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ISIS Beatles: UK ‘suspends co-operation’ with US amid death penalty outrage

The UK’s Home Office has confirmed that it has temporarily suspended its co-operation with US authorities in the case of two former British citizens alleged to be ISIS fighters over the possibility that they might face the death penalty.

“We received a request from the legal representative of the family of one of the suspects to pause the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) response,” statement released read. “We have agreed to a short-term pause. The government remains committed to bringing these people to justice and we are confident we have acted in full accordance of the law and within the government’s longstanding MLA

policy.”

Last month it was revealed that home secretary Sajid Javid had written to the US agreeing share information on “Beatles” pair El Shafee El Sheikh and Alexanda Kotey without seeking assurances that the two would not be executed, contrary to a long-standing British policy not to co-operate with death penalty cases.

The decision, which came to the light after leaked documents were seen by the Daily Telegraph, has sparked outrage from cross-party parliamentarians.

The Guardian reported that the government had opted to suspend its intelligence-sharing plans for the time

being following an emergency legal challenge, launched by El Sheikh’s mother.

Writing in the publication UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights Ben Emmerson said: “At about midday today, the government beat a tactical retreat – and caved in under the legal and political pressure.”

Nicknamed the Beatles because of their British accents, El Sheikh and Kotey are accused members of the notorious group of ISIS assassins who have been blamed for the beheadings of five westerners and the torture of others held in Syria in 2014 and 2015.

The pair, who have reportedly had their British citizenship revoked, are being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, having been captured attempting to flee the war-torn country in January 2018.

Lawyers Gareth Peirce and Anne McMurdie representing El Sheikh’s mother said a letter had been sent to Mr Javid asking for immediate assurance that such cooperation should stop, threatening an injunction to prevent any further assistance being provided.

While Mr Javid “gave an undertaking that no further provision of assistance would take place”, the lawyers said this was only a “short term promise”.

Ms Peirce and Ms McMurdie said the minister’s decision was unlawful and they had made an application for the case to be heard before a court.

Female Muslim bus driver praised after being blocked by far-right protesters A female Muslim bus driver who faced down far-right protesters who blocked her in Trafalgar Square has been praised.

Demonstrators were demanding the release of jailed EDL founder Tommy

Robinson and stopped the vehicle from moving in central London.

The group can be seen pushing “Britain Loves Trump” posters onto the vehicle’s windscreen.

But the calm bus driver doesn’t

seem fazed and simply smiles at their abuse.

She was allowed to drive on after approximately 30 minutes after police finally cleared the road. www.pi-media.co.uk

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Lancashire bans non-stunned halal meat from council-supplied school meals

Lancashire council in the UK has voted to stop supplying schools with halal meat from animals killed without being stunned, in a move described as “discriminatory and Islamophobic” by Muslim leaders.

It is believed to be the first local authority in the UK to rule that meat supplied to pupils in its schools must be from animals that have been stunned before slaughter.

The Lancashire Council of Mosques strongly objected when the council proposed the step last year.

Under UK law, farm animals must be stunned before slaughter - although there are religious exemptions for Jews and Muslims.

But councilors in Lancashire argued that slaughtering animals

without stunning them beforehand caused “unnecessary stress and suffering” to cattle, sheep and goats.

The council held a public consultation in which two-thirds of 8,500 respondents (65 per cent) strongly disagreed with the proposal and a third (33 per cent) strongly agreed.

But councilors decided to press ahead with avoiding unstunned meat when the contract with its halal supplier is renewed.

Abdul Hamid Qureshi, chief executive of the Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM), condemned the decision as “undemocratic and hugely discriminatory”.

He said the group was angry and upset, and members would consider

a judicial review and exploring independent catering services.

“This is dictatorial – two-thirds of the people surveyed said they did not want a ban. It doesn’t matter what people say – the council leader had made up his mind,” he said. He claimed the decision was based not on animal welfare grounds but was being used as “a political whip to kick people, especially Muslims and Jews”.

The Lancashire Council of Mosques says halal means animal slaughter processes “must avoid all forms of stunning and the animal must be alive prior to slaughter”. The rules add: The slaughterman must personally invoke the name of Almighty prior to every slaughter The slaughterman must conduct the slaughter manually and swiftly with a sharp knife The slaughterman must sever at least three of the four arteries Mr Qureshi said they had offered to sit with council leaders to debate stunning processes - but said his group was not prepared to compromise on its no-stun position.

He added that stunning animals was “unhygienic” as blood is believed to carry disease so should be drained from a carcass.

The policy begins at the start of the new school term in September.

- Independent

Government considering judge-led inquiry into torture and rendition The Government has announced it’s considering a judge-led inquiry into UK involvement in torture and rendition following the publication of two reports into the subject by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) .

Minister Sir Alan Duncan promised, in response to an urgent question by Ken Clarke in the House of Commons, that a decision would

be made within 60 days of the date of the ISC reports.

Responding, Dan Dolan, Head of Policy at Reprieve, said: “It’s right that the Government is now considering a judge-led inquiry into UK involvement in torture and rendition.

The Prime Minister should listen to the growing cross-party support, including from two former

Conservative cabinet ministers in the House of Commons. This is not a party-political issue or about blaming individual officers, it’s an opportunity to fix the institutional failures that led to this appalling mistreatment and ensure the guidance to our intelligence personnel is strengthened and clarified so that this cannot happen again.”

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US expanding biggest Mideast military base in Qatar

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Qatar and the United States have launched a project to expand Washington’s already largest military base in the Middle East region, with both sides discussing “permanent” American presence in the emirate.

The two sides “laid the foundation stone for expanding” the al-Udeid air base, located 35 kilometers southwest of the capital Doha, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

The project includes “the construction of barracks and service buildings to support joint security efforts, as well as improving the quality of life of the troops stationed at the airbase,” it said.

The QNA said the expansion project “underscores Qatar’s commitment to deepening its strategic military relations with the

United States.”

“The State of Qatar, along with its strategic US ally, is working on drawing up a roadmap for the future of bilateral relations, including the addition of al-Udeid Air Base to the list of US permanent military bases,” it said.

Addressing a press conference that followed the launch of the project, American Chargé d’Affaires Ryan Gliha called Qatar an “indispensable partner for the United States.”

“We saw the opening of a new construction project… what we hope to see in the coming years and months is [the] strengthening” of the bilateral ties, he said. “Billions of dollars have been spent already at al-Udeid over the last 15 years to support our operations… These are

essential to the fight against Daesh and our ability to lead the coalition.”

He was referring to the aerial military campaign against what is claimed to be Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria by a US-led coalition comprising scores of Washington’s allies.

The facility houses some 10,000 US forces, as well as warplanes, equipment, and ammunition. It also provides services to other coalition members.

The expansion project went underway amid a bitter diplomatic crisis between Qatar and a Saudi Arabia-led quartet of countries.

The foursome cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar and placed it under a trade embargo last June, accusing it of “supporting terrorism.” Doha roundly rejects the accusation.

US President Donald Trump initially backed the Saudi-led bloc, but later advised that the crisis be resolved.

According to various reports, the about-face came after Trump’s aides, who were wary about the future of the US military involvement in Qatar, convinced him to approach the issue more moderately.

The diplomatic dispute has triggered an arms rivalry between Qatar and the boycotters -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt -- with the US taking advantage of the situation to sell more military equipment under lucrative deals with the feuding parties.

New Makkah mega project said to add $2.1bn to Saudi economy A new mega project planned to accommodate more pilgrims in the Saudi holy city of Makkah is expexted to contribute more than $2 billion to the national economy, according to real estate consultants JLL. Rou’a Al Haram Al Makki, announced late last year by the

Public Investment Fund, will play a significant role in boosting Makkah’s economic growth and enhancing the overall sentiment in the Makkah real estate market, said JLL’s H1 2018 Makkah marketplace report.

It said the new project in Makkah is expected to contribute SR8 billion ($2.1 billion) to the national

economy, adding that construction is expected to commence later this year, paving the way to increase the city’s ability to host 30 million pilgrims annually in line with the government policy of lifting the quota on Hajj pilgrims.

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UN decries Israeli plans to demolish Bedouin community

The UN voiced concerns over a Palestinian Bedouin community at risk of being demolished by Israel within days.

“We are deeply concerned at reports that the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar-Abu al Helu is set to be demolished by the Israeli authorities in the coming days,” Liz Throssell, UN human

rights office spokeswoman, told a press conference at the UN in Geneva.

Noting that the community is home to 181 people -- more than half of them children -- Throssell said: “We call on the Israeli authorities not to proceed with the demolition of Khan al Ahmar-Abu al Helu, to respect the rights of residents to

remain on their land and have their status regularized.”

For more than a decade, residents of Khan al Ahmar, located near where large Israeli settlements have been established, have resisted efforts to move them to make way for settlement expansion.

“Legal avenues to resist ended on 24 May 2018 when the Israeli High Court ruled there was no reason to delay implementation of demolition orders over the structures in the community, including a school,” Throssell said.

According to the UN, the planning regime adopted by Israel in this area is “discriminatory” and violates international law.

“Any demolitions undertaken in this context would likely amount to forced evictions and a violation of the right to housing of individuals living in the community,” she said.

International humanitarian law prohibits the forced transfer of the population of an occupied territory and the destruction or confiscation of private property by the occupying power, she added.

India vows justice as many Muslims In Case You fear being left off citizen list Missed It India said people whose names are missing from a list of citizens to be issued by a border state this month will not be detained, amid concerns that Muslims will be targeted under the guise of detecting illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

All residents of Assam state in the northeast have had to show documents proving they or their families lived in the country before March 24, 1971, to be recognized as Indian citizens.

The exercise has created panic among many Muslims in Assam because Prime Minister Narendra

Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, which came to power in the state for the first time in 2016, vowed during the election campaign to act against illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh.

Rights activists say the drive is also targeting Muslims who are Indian citizens, a charge the government denies.

Citizenship and illegal migration are volatile issues in tea-growing and oil-rich Assam, home to more than 32 million people, about a third of whom are Muslims.

Hundreds of people were killed

in the 1980s in a violent protest by a native Assamese group.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled to India from Muslim-majority Bangladesh after it declared independence from Pakistan in 1971, setting off a nine-month civil war. Most of them settled in Assam and the neighboring state of West Bengal, where there are similar demands to send back illegal Muslim immigrants.

The migrants include many Hindus, but Modi’s government has said they can apply for Indian citizenship.

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Australia deports self-styled baptist Pastor after harassing Muslims

A self-styled Christian Baptist pastor from New Zealand accused of harassing worshippers at two Brisbane mosques last month has had his visa cancelled and is facing deportation from Australia.

New Zealand national Logan Robertson, 31, and two others were charged after allegedly abusing community members at the Kuraby and Darra mosques.

Robertson is the self-proclaimed pastor of the Pillar Baptist Church which originated in New Zealand.

A group of up to six men including Robertson were accused of entering

the Kuraby mosque and harassing worshippers, including teenage boys, in the lead-up to 1:00pm prayers.

A teenage boy was verbally abused and called a terrorist.

The following day, there were heated scenes outside the Darra mosque, when activists from the Pillar Baptist Church confronted Islamic leaders.

When the activists were denied access into the mosque, a heated argument broke out between Robertson and Ali Kadri from the Islamic Council of Queensland.

Kadri asked: “I’m trying to talk to

you in a nice manner, why are you responding in such an aggressive manner?”

Robertson replied: “Because I hate the religion of Islam. I don’t hate Muslims, I hate the religion.”

Police intervened and forced the group to leave the property.

The Immigration Department reviewed Robertson’s case and the Australian Border Force cancelled his visa overnight and placed him into detention.

Australian Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Peter Dutton said he was “disturbed” by the allegations.

“I want to make it very clear to people who come to our country, that our country obviously embraces free speech but we don’t tolerate hate speech and we don’t tolerate people who are going to harass those people going about their business at a place of worship.”

Dutton said Robertson had been counselled about his behavior prior to entering Australia.

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Disputed Mosque opens in Laingsburg, South Africa A mosque has opened its doors in Laingsburg, a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa, following a battle with the Friends of Christ Community Church, who objected to the construction of the mosque.

They argued that the mosque was too close to their church.

The Touws River Islamic Society bought the land in 2015 for the small Muslim community and passers-by who needed a place to pray.

Last year they applied for rezoning

of the land, which was approved by the Laingsburg Municipality, provided certain conditions were met.

The church appealed the decision, and it was reviewed by the municipality’s town planner.

The church charged that a mosque right next to it “did not benefit the community”.

The church’s pastor Jerome Willemse said the mosque should rather be situated in the town.

Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) president Sheikh Irafaan Abrahams

this week witnessed the signing of the go-ahead for the Laingsburg Mosque.

Ismail Bhyat, of the Islamic society, said at the time of the objection, in Ceres and Worcester there were churches and mosques opposite one another.

The mosque was essential for Muslim travelers from the N1, so much so that every town from Joburg to Cape Town has a place where Muslims could stop to pray. www.pi-media.co.uk

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Indonesian researchers to study Muslim life in Germany

Fourteen Indonesians consisting of academics, researchers and journalists left Jakarta for Germany to study Muslim life in the European country in a two-week program sponsored by Goethe Institut, a German state-sponsored cultural institution.

The group will explore different places, including universities, and

talk with experts and activists, such as those at Bahira Institute, which works to “deradicalize” certain refugees from the Middle East.

They will also analyze the diversity of Muslim communities in secular Germany and how these communities interact with the wider German people.

“The aim of the program was to

provide insight into the daily life of Muslims in Germany and to shed light on their long history and influence in German society,” Goethe said in a statement.

Germany, alongside France, holds one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe. Muslim populations have grown exponentially in Germany, from several thousands when the first batch of Turkish migrant workers came in 1945 to more than 4 million people in 2015.

As a secular state, Islamophobia existed in Germany, said Heinrich Bloemeke, Goethe’s regional director for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

“However, in my perception, part of Islamophobia has nothing to do with Islam, but rather more of a response to religion [as German is a secular state],” Bloemeke said.

“All of Western societies have gone through fights about what the role of the state is and what the role of the church is,” he added. www.pi-media.co.uk

No Hajj if ram temple not built: India’s BJP A leader of Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party has warned Indian Muslims that they would not be allowed to go on Hajj pilgrimage, if they create obstacles in the construction of Ram Temple on the site of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP MLA Brijbhushan Rajput from Charkhari, Uttar Pradesh, in a video message said: “The Muslim community should respect the feelings on the issue of Ram Temple of one billion Hindus in the country.

If they don’t do so, we will not respect their feelings too.”

“If Muslims create hindrance or

stop construction of Ram Temple, their Hajj pilgrimage will also be stopped,” Rajput said.

Rajput demanded that the minority status of Muslims should be repealed and the subsidy given on Haj pilgrimage should be scrapped.

After putting up the video on his Facebook page, Rajput was quoted

by Hindustan Times as stating it was not his statement but that of millions of Hindus.

Justifying his stand, he said that if Muslims were taking it as a threat then let it be. “I completely stand by what I have said in the video,” he added.

Meanwhile, a litigant in the Ayodhya temple-mosque land dispute case told the Supreme Court in New Delhi that the Babri Masjid was destroyed by the Hindu Taliban just like the demolition of the Buddha statue at Bamiyan in Afghanistan.

“No law or the Constitution allows destruction of religious structures of any faith,” senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the legal heirs of M Siddiq, the original litigant who died, told a Bench of Chief Justice Deepak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer.

I WORLD NEWS

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Muslims cycling from Macedonia to Makkah for Hajj

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Two Muslim Albanian men from Tetova city, the capital of the Albanian province in Slavic Macedonia (FYROM), are now filming their lifetime journey of Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca by bicycles.

A prayer leader, Amir Aslani, and his professional cyclist friend, Senad Idrisi, are fully aware of the difficulties they might face throughout their long trip.

However, “we want to experience the difficulties that faced the early Muslims who traveled for months

to perform this pillar of Islam,” the Muslim youth said.

The six-week route will take the two guys across a sum of five countries; the Albanian provinces in FYROM and Albania, then Greece.

Afterwards, they will pass the Aegean Sea towards Turkey.

Moreover, they will cross the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt, and from the Aqaba Gulf they will take a ship towards the Hijaz to bike all the way south to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

“We already faced heavy rain in Albania. We are aware that we’ll bike through hot summery conditions during the rest of the route. We are prepared for any challenges,” Aslani said determinedly.

Speaking about their goals, “Beside Hajj, we also seek visiting other historic sites in Turkey and Egypt. We want to motivate other people and future generations to perform Hajj regardless of any hardships.”

Albanian Muslims are the largest ethnic minority in FYROM. During London’s Great Powers Conference in 1912, some Albanian regions in the south of Kosova were granted to FYROM. The plan of London Conference came into effect in 1946. As a result, about one million Albanian Muslims found themselves currently representing 25.2% of FYROM’s population, according the 2002 national census.

Nevertheless, this Muslim population is still concentrated in the north and west of FYROM near the borders with mainland Albania.

Swiss Muslim umbrella group warns against stigmatization of Islam

The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland warned against associating crimes with a certain religion.

In an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, federation spokesperson Pascal Gemperli said that someone’s religious affiliation was not a determining factor in crime.

Muslim teenagers are not disproportionately represented in juvenile crime proceedings, according to Gemperli.

“We often observe that Muslims are quantified as a block, while Christians are split into their different churches,” Gemperli said in the

interview.

If it were proven that people with a weaker sense of faith received heavier punishments than stronger believers, religion would probably even be classified as a violenceinhibiting factor, he said.

Religion, like culture, was a very abstract concept, he added, so that drawing a direct conclusion from this factor to someone’s risk of violence was questionable.

Many phenomena, such as honor killings, could not be explained by a single reason but must be understood within the multi-faceted context of religious, historical and

social influences, Gemperli said.

“Islam in its diversity is increasingly being reduced to problematic elements such as terror and radicalization,” Gemperli said.

He pointed out that since 2013 the number of cases of discrimination against Muslims had more than doubled.

Since 9/11, Muslims in Switzerland have had a reputation problem and it was sometimes even suggested that they cannot be “real Swiss”, he said. “It is therefore important to realize that Islam belongs to Switzerland.” www.pi-media.co.uk

Contact: Editorial Team on 07506 466385, email: info@pi-media.co.uk

I August 2018

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Israel stops vessel from Gazan humanitarian flotilla

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Israeli warships stopped a boat from a humanitarian flotilla set off from the Gaza strip to Cyprus to break the regime’s 11-year siege on the coastal enclave.

Israel’s military said in a statement one boat with eight people on board was prevented from breaching the naval blockade, adding that Israel will continue to enforce the blockade.

“After the boat and the Palestinians on board are searched, the boat will be towed to the Israeli navy base in Ashdod,” the statement said.

“The (military) assigned medical personnel to treat Palestinians on board requiring medical assistance,”

it added.

Earlier, organizers of the flotilla, which set off, said contact with one boat was lost after 10 nautical miles.

Israel’s blockade restricts Gazan vessels to up to six nautical miles off the coastal sliver.

The status of the remaining boats is still unclear.

On May 29, another flotilla, composed of a main boat accompanied by smaller boats, set sail from waters off Gaza, carrying Palestinian patients -- mostly those injured during the Tel Aviv regime’s military crackdown on weeks-long rallies against Israel’s occupation.

The flotilla was swiftly intercepted and seized by Israeli navy forces.

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The 17 Palestinian activists aboard the vessels were also taken into custody, Press TV reported.

Separately, a “Freedom Flotilla Coalition” has dispatched a ship to Gaza, which similarly seeks to break the Israeli siege. It has traveled thousands of miles from Scandinavian ports and was reported to be near Corsica on July 8.

Gaza has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a sharp decline in living standards as well as unprecedented unemployment and poverty.

According to the UN, the stringent conditions threaten to render the territory uninhabitable by 2020.

Israel blocked its only goods crossing with the Gaza Strip.

Egypt closely cooperates with Israel in maintaining the siege by keeping Rafah, Gaza’s only land terminal that bypasses Israel, closed most of the time. The situation has seriously affected the Palestinian patients’ chances of seeking treatment abroad.

The Palestinian National Organizing Committee of the Great Return March has also confirmed the trip.

The committee has been organizing the Return rallies on the Gaza Strip’s border since March 30.

Rare Quran manuscripts on display in Italy In Case You Missed It

A collection of rare historical manuscripts has been put on display in a library in the Italian city of Florence.

The collection includes some 11,000 handwritten works dating

back to different eras.

Among them are 100 manuscript copies of the Holy Quran, according to Al-Jazeera.

Muhammad al-Issa, the secretary general of Muslim World League

recently toured the library.

He visited its Quranic collection and other historical books and documents during a trip to Florence. www.pi-media.co.uk

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EU, Palestinians rap Israeli apartheid law 20I WORLD NEWS

Israel’s adoption of yet another apartheid law -- which officially recognizes Jewish supremacy over Arabs in the occupied territories – has drawn sharp criticisms from the European Union as well as senior Palestinians officials, who have blasted the measure as “dangerous” and “racist.”

Following a stormy debate in the parliament (Knesset), Israeli lawmakers approved the so-called “nation-state” bill with 62 votes in favour, 55 against and two abstentions.

Turning a blind eye to occupied Palestine’s 1.8 million Arab population, the law asserts that “the realization of the right to national self-determination in Israel is unique to the Jewish people,” which number around 9 million.

The contentious law also includes clauses stating that “united” Jerusalem al-Quds is the “capital” of Israel and strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a “special status.”

Reacting to the law at a news briefing, a spokeswoman for the EU’s foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, said, “We are concerned, we have expressed this concern and we will continue to engage with Israeli authorities in this context.”

“We’ve been very clear when it comes to the two-state solution, we believe it is the only way forward and any step that would further complicate or prevent this solution of becoming a reality should be avoided,” she said, Press TV reported.

‘Racist law par excellence’ Palestinian officials with both the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah also joined voices to denounce the law, describing it as a “racist” and “dangerous” measure.

In Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said that the law formally legalizes “Israeli racism” and constitutes “a dangerous attack on the Palestinian [nation] and its historic right to its land.”

The Hamas official further said “regional and international silence on the occupation’s crimes” has emboldened the regime in Tel Aviv to pass one “extremist” law after another.

“All these laws and resolutions are baseless and they will not come to pass or change anything on the ground. The Palestinian people will remain the sovereign of this land,” he added.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation

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Organization’s Executive Committee, also said the law breaches international regulations.

The measure “gives license to apartheid, discrimination, ethnic cleansing, and sectarianism at the expense of the Palestinian people. Such racist and prejudicial legislation is illegal by all standards of international law, democracy, humanity, justice, tolerance, and inclusion,” she emphasized.

The newly-adopted measure is categorized as among Israel’s socalled “Basic Laws,” which underpin the regime’s legal system and are more difficult to repeal than regular laws under its constitution.

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WORLD NEWS I 21

Myanmar accused of indiscriminate In Case You killing of Rohingya children Missed It

Myanmar violated its obligations to the United Nations child rights convention in its crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims that led to an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from the minority community, legal experts have found.

Children make up around half of the more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled Buddhistmajority Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh since the start of a military crackdown last August.

The UN has called the Myanmar military operations a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Myanmar denies the allegation and has said it waged a legitimate

counter-insurgency operation after Muslim militants attacked security posts.

Legal experts commissioned

by Save the Children Norway analyzed research by UN bodies and international human rights groups who have alleged that mass killings, arson, and torture were conducted

by Myanmar security forces on the Rohingya.

“The research finds that the response by the Myanmar government to the August 2017 attacks on police posts, together with the ongoing discrimination against Rohingya, constitute violations of at least seven key articles of the

(UN Convention on the Rights of the Child),” their report said, according to Reuters.

The analysis found both the government and the security forces at fault. The Myanmar government “took positive steps” to assist the military operations and there was no evidence to suggest it did anything to curtail or condemn the security forces’ actions, the report said.

Myanmar acceded to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991 and is bound to it by law.

The violations highlighted in the report include failure to protect children from violence, abuse, neglect, sexual and other exploitation, inhumane treatment and detention.

It refers to “indiscriminate and extrajudicial killing of Rohingya children, and the torture, ill-treatment and gender-based violence” committed against them.

The government’s failure to conduct an independent investigation into the events following the August 2017 attacks, and ongoing discrimination against Rohingya children by denying them citizenship also are in violation of Myanmar’s obligations to the child rights convention, the report said.

Islamic prayer centre in Swords, Ireland, gets go-ahead Planning permission for an Islamic prayer and cultural center in Swords, north Co Dublin, has been approved

by Fingal County Council.

Members of the Muslim community in Swords had sought to renew planning permission to convert a former Post sorting office into a center for prayer and cultural events.

An initial application for the single-story building located off the Rathbeale Road was approved in late December 2015, on the basis it would need to be renewed in two years’ time and despite more than a dozen residents objecting to the plans over fears it would increase

traffic flows into a small area.

An appeal against the center to An Bord Pleanála was unsuccessful the following April.

A report in March 2016 by An Bord Pleanála’s planning inspector had advised that permission should not be granted for the center.

The inspector said the prayer center would increase traffic congestion in the secluded area where it was to be located. The report said the amount of people using the center was likely to grow with the increasing Muslim population in Ireland, and concluded that the proposal would have a “potential negative impact” on the

existing residential area.

However, the board voted by a two-thirds majority against their inspector’s recommendation, and approved the plans.

Tariq Salahuddin, a prominent Muslim in the Swords community, was behind the original application to convert the old An Post building into an Islamic center.

A recent application in May to renew the permission was granted last month by Fingal County Council.

Two residents submitted objections to the application to renew permission, reiterating concerns over the potential increase in traffic.

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France told to end Islamophobia after World Cup win

France clinched its second-ever World Cup win over Croatia thanks to goals by migrants and a Muslim, fans and onlookers quickly pointed out the need for the country to apply its victories on the field to life off the field.

Often in the spotlight for its xenophobic and Islamophobic social policies, France didn’t seem to mind when it came to good footballers, stocking 78.3 percent of its team with immigrants, a third of whom are Muslim. That was the highest percentage among any qualifying team in this year’s World Cup. Immigrants make up 6.8 of France’s overall population.

Of the four goals France scored against Croatia, two were scored by the sons of African immigrants – Paul Pogba, whose parents immigrated from Guinea, and Kylian Mbappe whose mother is Algerian and father is Cameroonian.

Pogba is a practicing Muslim, along with six of his teammates including starting midfielder N’Golo Kante.

Only a third of the World Cup champion team has white-European ancestry, and less than a quarter have French ancestry.

Football fans quickly took to Twitter to call on France to put an end to its “hypocrisy” and

Argentinian football star Diego Maradona reiterated his solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“I am a Palestinian”, Maradona said in a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Abbas in Moscow.

he two met in the Russian capital ahead of the World Cup final.

“You are the best,” Abbas told Maradona in English and the Argentinian star replied in Spanish “My heart is Palestinian.”

Maradona later wrote in a post

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acknowledge the foundational, positive role immigrants and Muslims play in developing its society.

“With France passing all these laws against Islamic practices, let’s not forget it’s these same Muslims players who helped win #WorldCup2018,” one Twitter user wrote.

Other Twitter users called France’s hypocritical policies against migrants and Muslims “shameful” in the light of their celebrated win.

Some called on France to recognize the victory as a muchneeded wake-up call for the country to adopt policies upholding the rights and dignity of migrants and Muslims.

“Africans and Muslims delivered you a second World Cup, now deliver them justice,” one user wrote.

Others tweeted phrases including “Immigration makes France stronger,” and “Immigrants get the job done.”

France’s win was its first in 20 years, after winning on its home turf in 1998. It was the highest-scoring final since England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra-time in 1966 and the highest in normal time since Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 60 years ago. www.pi-media.co.uk

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Maradona reiterates solidarity with Palestine

on his Instagram account, “This man wants peace in Palestine.”

In 2012, he said he was “the number one fan of the Palestinian people” and in 2014 was said to be considering coaching the Palestinian football team.

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I August 2018

SPORT I 23

German FA boss admits mistakes in Ozil affair but rejects racism accusations

German Football Association (DFB) head Reinhard Grindel on said he should have made clearer that racism is unacceptable after midfielder Mesut Ozil quit the national team citing “racism and disrespect” over his Turkish roots.

Ozil, who plays for English Premier League club Arsenal, was criticised for having his photograph taken with Turkey’s authoritarian President Tayyip Erdogan in May. Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan, a team mate of Turkish descent who also posed with Erdogan, were jeered

by German fans in warm-up games before the World Cup in Russia.

Grindel rejected Ozil’saccusations that the DFB had been racist but

said he regretted the photograph had been misused to justify “racist words”.

“In retrospect, as president I should have clearly said what is obvious for me personally and for us as an association, namely that any form of racism is unbearable, unacceptable and intolerable,” he said in a statement.

The 29-year-old’s decision to quit triggered a public debate in Germany about its relations with its largest immigrant community. Ozil was a key member of the team that won the 2014 World Cup and was voted German Player of the Year a record five times in public ballots.

Some politicians and Turkish

community leaders called for Grindel to resign but others said Ozil’s racism claims were out of place. Erdogan has said the treatment of Ozil was racist and unacceptable.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, speaker of parliament and one of Germany’s most senior politicians, added his voice to criticism of the DFB, telling the RND newspaper group it was a “shame” it had let the Erdogan photo affair blow up as it had.

“A clever person could and should have stopped all of that happening,” he said, adding that footballers, being so young, often needed guidance.

“As a football fan I’m sad that Ozil’s era in the national jersey ended like this,” he said. “As a politician, I regret that a pile of mistakes and misunderstanding has harmed integration so. But that’ll be overcome with time.”

Ozil said Grindel had blamed him for Germany’s group stage elimination from this year’s World Cup, their earliest exit from the tournament in 80 years, and considered him a German when the national team won but an immigrant when the side lost.

Grindel said the personal criticism had affected him.“I feel even more sorry for my colleagues, the many volunteers and staff at the DFB caught up (in accusations of) racism,” he said. www.pi-media.co.uk

Egyptian billionaire acquires stake in English football club Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris is behind a bid to invest in English football club Aston Villa, the club announced.

Sawiris is ranked at No.251 in the world’s rich list and is estimated to be worth $4 billion by Forbes.

He has joined forces with Wes Edens, the co-owner of NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, to make a “significant investment” in Villa, the Midlands club who play in the second tier of English football.

They have won the league title seven times and the European Cup in 1982, but have fallen on hard times in recent years, ending a sequence of 105 seasons in the top

tier of English football with relegation in 2016.

Villa owner Tony Xia spent the close-season searching for fresh investment to plug a reported £40 million ($52.45 million) deficit after Villa were beaten by Fulham in the Championship playoff final last season.

He had entered talks to hand over some of his control of Villa to Sawiris and Edens’ company NSWE in exchange for a cash injection.

“I am extremely pleased to have formed a strategic partnership with Nassef and Wes,” Villa owner Dr. Xia said in a club statement.

“We have a common goal of

delivering future success for Aston Villa and I look forward to working together to achieve this aim.

“To have come so close to achieving promotion last season was a humbling experience.

In finding such strong partners as Nassef and Wes we’re gearing up to fight again and bring back the success that this Club deserves and we all so want to provide it with.”

One of three brothers, Nassef’s family’s net worth is put at $36 billion

by Forbes and he is said to be the richest Egyptian in the world.

He built his fortune in telecom and has a stake in Adidas.w www.pi-media.co.uk

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Libya Crisis: Rejects EU plans for migrant centres on its territory

The European council EU is considering the idea of building migrant processing centres in North Africa especially in Libya to attempt to deter people from making life-threatening journeys to Europe across the Mediterranean.

EU leaders are said to “support the development of the concept of regional disembarkation platforms”, according to the draft conclusions of an EU report.

The plan is winning influential support, on the other hand it faces political and practical hurdles because of thousands of refugees and migrants arriving each month.

But there are many concerns as the influx of refugees threatens to unravel the European project.

Recently, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron met to agree on a common approach about the vexed issue of immigration, as well as economic and financial issues.

Both leaders remarked that “to

consolidate Europe in a world where you have the United States on one side, China on the other and we are trapped in the middle In order that we should provide for rapid processing to distinguish between economic migrants and those in need of international protection, and reduce the incentive to embark on perilous journeys.”

Judith Sutherland, associate director at Human Rights Watch Europe said a host of questions arose from the plan: “Who will do the processing, what safeguards are in place, will NGOs and lawyers have access, what are reception conditions, how are vulnerable groups protected, will people have genuine prospect of resettlement to EU?” In addition, the EU thought Libya was the ideal location as it is the main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe often on flimsy inflatable boats provided by

smugglers that often spring leaks or break down.But Libya rejected the EU plan and the Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, said,” this is a blow to Italy, which is regarded as being close to his Tripoli administration”, and “We are absolutely opposed to Europe officially wanting us to accommodate illegal immigrants the EU does not want to take in’’. He dismissed accusations that Libya’s coastguard had shot at aid workers trying to rescue migrants and went onto claim that “we save every day hundreds of people off the coast of Libya”.

On the 29thof September, 2015, the Libyan coastguard said it had rescued 346 migrants,almost 34 women and four children were among 230 migrants in two of the boats, whilst the third was carrying 116 migrants, among them 54 women and two children. crammed onto three rubber boats and stranded off the country’s coast. The migrants,

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I August 2018

who had been trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, were shuttled in a three-hour operation to a naval base in Tripoli before being transferred to reception centres.

The UN Migration Agency said 51,782 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea through 18 July. That total compares to 110,189 at this time last year and 244,722 at this time in 2016. The death toll to date this year is 1,490 it said. “until 2016, 90% of irregular migrants travelled through the Niger to Libya and Europe.

In the first six months of 2017, 2,171 refugees and migrants died or went missing in the central Mediterranean, and many others are believed to have died trying to cross into Libya. From 2016 to 2017, Niger reduced migration flows by 95%, from over 300,000 to about 10,000 in 2018.”Furthermore, Italy proposed reception and identification centres for migrant processing in Africa as a means of resolve divisions among European governments over how to handle an influx of more than 1 million migrants since 2015.

European foreign ministers agreed to do more to train the Libyan coastguard by setting up the EU’s

own training team inside Libya to resolve the migrant crisis.

The refugee issue has become a ticking time bomb for the European Union Italy is gripped by deep political and civil divisions on the issue, with more than 90,000 migrants reaching Italy from Libya this year. A reduction to 20,000 from Africa would represent amajor transformation and make the crisis more manageable to resolve in the long term.

Moreover, there are more than 300,000 Africans from outside Libya trying to get across to Europe or to get some work in Libya. At present they are living in detention centres or in warehouses and are at the mercy of human traffickers. The refugees need to be taken out of Libya and these detention centres, so they can be processed elsewhere. But this takes time and effort because the chaotic political situation in Libya.

The EU has gone on record and said “We need to regularise the system and stop these dangerous journeys into Libya. Any remedy that focuses on trying to stop the flow

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of migrants at sea, such as a code of conduct for a NGOs, cannot be the solution. This issue has to be addressed earlier in the countries of origin and transit.Italy also needs to be able to process claimants, so the economic migrants are returned much more quickly, or else there will be no deterrent to travel to Italy. Only a third of the migrants reaching Italy are found to require international protection.

The European parliament president, Antonio Tajani, said the EU needed to plough more money into the Sahel region to reduce the need to leave the area. He said the number of people reaching Libya from Niger was collapsing.

He has agreed to hold a European conference in Brussels in October 2018 to support democratic elections in Libya scheduled for December.

Assisting Libya in its transition to democracy may go a long way to resolving the migrant crisis that has affected Europe and North Africa in recent times.

By Miral Alashry Assistant Professor Canadian international college ( CIC) Department of Journalism

The Islamic Caliphate in a Historical Context

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I FEATURED

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I August 2018

Part 28

From the outset, Ali Ibn Abi Talib was forced to deal with several crises none more pressing than finding the killers of the third caliph Uthman Ibn Affan.

It should be said that Mu’awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan contrary to several opinions never aspired to be the caliph and neither did he demand the mantle as his right.

He was rightly aggrieved and upset that his kinsmen had been brutally murdered in tragic fashion and demanded that the culprits face justice.

It was not long before Aishah, Talha and Zubayr joined the ranks demanding the Ali Ibn Abi Talib immediately apprehend the murderers and put them on trial for sedition, treason and murder.

This explosive situation left Ali Ibn Abi Talib in a very difficult position

from a political perspective. The situation across the Islamic empire was already volatile due to the political turmoil that existed during the reign of the previous caliph.

Ali Ibn Abi Talib accepted that the supporters of the slain caliph had every right to demand justice, but the former could not countenance the idea of apprehending people who could later be found to be innocent.

It is for this very reason that the new caliph decided that due process had to take place when bringing the culprits to justice.

However, the supporters and kinsmen of the previous caliph Uthman Ibn Affan were not impressed by the stance taken by the new caliph and faced a great deal of criticism due to the slow progress of the murder investigation.

By this time the people of

Madinah had given allegiance to Ali Ibn Abi Talib apart fromMu’awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan who refused to do so until the former delivered on bring the murders of Uthman Ibn Affan to justice. It should be said that neither Ali Ibn Abi Talib or Mu’awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan wanted to fight one another as there was no personal quarrel between them. However, the former was of the view that the latter should have given him allegiance despite his strong feelings.

It is said that Aisha, Talha and Zubair who were on their way to Iraq to meet the new caliph passed a group of Umayyads leaving Medina.

Marwan Ibn Hakam who led the delegation of the Ummayads claimed that a group whom he believed were harbouring the murderers of Uthman Ibn Affanwere creating mischief against his entourage.

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I August 2018

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