South Asia
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Year 1
Issue 20
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Europe’s Islamophobia
It gives me great pleasure to send you this message of greetings. The Government wants Britain to become a more integrated society, where we celebrate the things we have in common. These include a soceity where every one can achieve their aspirations and realise their potentials, irrespective of their back ground where everyone plays their part in social, civic and economic life toghether and where behaviors run counter to our shared values can be chalenged: Prime Minster David Cameron (Message for the Conference)
“I hope that all the delegates at the SOAS and Social Cohesion Conference have an enjoyable day tackling what is clearly one of the most significant political and social issues of our generation. I am sure this conference will provide an excellent forum for an exchange of ideas and thought provoking debate.” Nick Clegg MP, Deputy Prime Minister (Message for the Conference)
The audience attended and invited from the diplomatic/ambassadorial, commercial/industrial, political/social & media/ press high profile circles, to share their own insight in the changing social environment based upon an evolution. South Asia Tribune weekly newspaper conceptualized and sponsored the conference; it was managed by associate EMMA. Full coverage of the Conference with pictures inside pages 16-17.
UK shuts Iran’s embassy Expels diplomats Foreign Secretary William Hague has ordered the immediate closure of Iran’s embassy in London and all diplomatic staff must leave the UK within 48 hours.
It comes a day after protesters stormed the British mission in the capital Tehran. Mr Hague told the House of Commons the British embassy has been closed and all staff have safely left the country.
Workers were forced to flee to safety after dozens of hardline students smashed windows, torched cars and burnt Union flags as they attacked the British Embassy and another British Continued on page 5 >>
100,000-pound fine PressTV: Ofcom Despite threats to close down Press TV, the British government’s broadcasting regulator has imposed a 100,000-pound fine reports Press TV. Ofcom announced last month that it has decided to remove the Iranian English-language news network from the Sky platform under the pretext that Press TV made administrative errors
in its application for a license in 2007. However, in its latest move, the regulator has decided to impose the 100,000pound fine for what it calls Press TV’s infringement of a journalist’s privacy.
Ofcom claims Press TV violated the regulator’s broadcasting codes by airing a 10-second soundbite belonging to the journalist, Maziar Bahari, in 2009. Recent documents released by WikiLeaks revealed that US and UK diplomats had explored ways to limit the operations of Press TV in Britain.
German court: Ruled against Muslim prayer in Berlin high school.
A federal court in Leipzig ruled on appeal Wednesday that a Muslim student’s religious freedom to pray should be restricted during school hours in order to preserve “peace” at his Berlin high school where many different religions are represented. In 2007, the student Yunus M. sued his high school in the Berlin neighborhood of Wedding after the principal forbade him from praying on his knees in the school hallway. The highest court in the region Berlin-Brandenburg had ruled in 2009 that the now 18-year-old Yunus had the right to pray on school grounds during his break from class. His high school subsequently granted him a special room for midday prayer, one of the five required daily prayers in Islam.
But the state of Berlin appealed the ruling out of concern that daily prayer would disturb the high school’s routine and jeopardize its religious neutrality. Although the federal court in Leipzig overturned the original confirmation of M.’s religious rights, it said the ruling was based on an individual case and that the state normally has to allow religious freedom in schools. Because the case concerns fundamental civil rights, the court permitted Yunus M. to lodge an appeal in the Constitutional Court. M.’s lawyer said they would wait until they had seen the written judgment.