Germany: Iranian death threat sends rapper underground

Germany: Iranian death threat sends rapper underground

France: Hollande's Algerian advisers

France: Hollande's Algerian advisers

Via The North Africa Journal:

In Rabat, the Moroccan government showed no significant worries as François Hollande was declared the winner of the Presidential race. However, we picked up some signs of concerns as usually Morocco finds a more open-door policy among France’s right wing leaders and lot less accommodating Socialists.

(...)

Also a point of concern for the Moroccans is the people who surround François Hollande, in particular his high-powered political adviser Faouzi Lamdaoui, a native of the eastern Algerian city of Constantine. Read this associated analysis on the “Rise of North Africans in French Politics.” 

Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response

Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response

Via HLN:

Moroccan PM Abdelilah Benkirane recently met in Rabat with two Belgian ministers: Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders (MR) and Justice Minister Annemie Turtelboom (Open Vld).  However, during the meeting he barely paid attention to Turtleboom, and instead focused on her male colleague, Reynders.  Benkirane praised Reynders' French, and told him he 'didn't have to come with an interpreter'.  Turtleboom made it clear who she was, but Benkirane continued to ignore her.
 

Wales: Islamic teacher under fire for calling on Muslims to support fight for sharia law abroad

Wales: Islamic teacher under fire for calling on Muslims to support fight for sharia law abroad

Via Wales Onlines (h/t EuropeNews):

An Islamic teacher whose group was at the centre of an anti-terror raid on a Cardiff community hall has come under fire for calling on Welsh muslims to “physically” support the fight for sharia law abroad.

Abu Hajar, of Grangetown, Cardiff, is one of the leaders of the Islamic group Supporters of Tawheed, which on its website says its core belief is the “domination of the world by Islam”.

Iranian VP: European Leaders Fear Spread of Islam

Iranian VP: European Leaders Fear Spread of Islam


Via FNA:

The eye-catching growth in the number of mosques being built in Europe has made leaders of the European states deeply fearful of the rapid

spread of Islam and increasing conversion of their nations from Christianity, Iranian Vice-President Seyed Mohammad Reza Mir-Tajeddini said. 

"Leaders of the European countries feel deeply endangered by the growing desire and conversion of their people from Christianity to the religion of Islam and the increasing number of mosques in their countries," Mir-Tajeddini said on Sunday. 

(source)

Morocco: Italian fashion company upsets Muslims with madrassa pictures

Morocco: Italian fashion company upsets Muslims with madrassa pictures

Italian fashion designer Fornarina got Muslims upset by their latest advertising shoot in Marrakesh.  Fornarina used an abandoned madrassa to advertise their new collection, with their scantily-clad model posing in front of various Koran quotes on the walls.  Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya devoted considerable time to the incident, interviewing Moroccans at home and in Italy, who condemned the company.  Fornarina, who say they got all the necessary permits for the shoot from the Moroccan government, say they will remove the offending images. 

Belgium: Terror suspect doesn't show up for trial, is in Syria fighting Assad

Belgium: Terror suspect doesn't show up for trial, is in Syria fighting Assad
Via VRT:

In Brussels, a trial has started against 7 radical Muslims. The defendants are facing terrorism charges. They are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Brussels, and of recruiting new members for Al Qaeda on Belgian soil for the "holy war" in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to their lawyers, there is no proof that they actually had plans to carry out a terrorist attack.

(...)

One of the suspects is the son of sheik Bassam, a radical imam who was recently convicted in Italy, receiving 8 years' imprisonment. The suspect did not show up in Brussels today, he is said to be fighting the Assad regime in Syria.

(source)

Sheik Bassam is Bassam Ayachi.  Abdelrahman Ayachi's lawyer told the court: "My client is originally from Syria.  He's currently there and is committing terrorist acts against the regime of president Assad. (...) He's doing in Syria, with support of the UN, the same things for which he is being charged here in Brussels today.  In Iraq he fought against the Americans.  That's not allowed.  In Syria he's fighting against Assad and that's OK.  Whether someone is a terrorist or a hero now depends mainly on the geo-strategic interests of our country."

Updated: Abdelrahim was previously convicted for inciting hatred against Jews, but some of the charges were dropped on appeal.

Italy: Deportees on Alitalia flight with taped mouths

Italy: Deportees on Alitalia flight with taped mouths

A photo of two Tunisian men being deported from Italy on an Alitalia flight, their mouths sealed with duct tape and their hands cuffed with plastic bands, was posted by Italian film director Francesco Sperandeo on Facebook Wednesday. (ANSA)

Cyprus: OIC welcomes Turkish Cypriot request to join

Cyprus: OIC welcomes Turkish Cypriot request to join

Via AFP (h/t DW)

The head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference welcomed Saturday a request by the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to open a permanent mission to the pan-Muslim body.

"The organisation welcomes this and is in contact with the host state (Saudi Arabia) to study and implement it," OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who is a Turkish national, told reporters after meeting Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

(source)

Morocco: Preacher calls Muslims to leave France

Morocco: Preacher calls Muslims to leave France

Via Telegraaf:

Omar al-Haddouchi, ideological leader of the Jihadist movement in Morocco, published a fatwa saying all Muslims should leave France for North Africa.

Al-Haddouchi says Muslims have no reason to stay in France, listing as reasons the burqa ban, the limits on the call to Friday prayers, and the stricter controls on Muslim radicals following the terror attack in Toulouse. He said non-Muslim countries where like a toilet, where you do your thing and then leave.

His 14-minute long video fatwa is currently circulating on Jihadi websites. Al-Haddouchi was sentenced to 30 years for his links to the attack in Casablanca, May 2003, but was pardoned last year by King Mohammed VI.

Spain: Real Madrid removes cross from UAE partnership logo

Spain: Real Madrid removes cross from UAE partnership logo

left: Real Madrid logo, right: new logo of the Real Madrid
resort island in the United Arab Emirates

Morocco: Danish Hizb ut-Tahrir member suspected of terrorism

Morocco: Danish Hizb ut-Tahrir member suspected of terrorism

Via Politiken:

Danish newspaper Politiken reports that Thami Najim (37), a Danish Moroccan, was arrested February 3rd in Morocco and suspected of terror activities. According to Moroccan papers, he served as head of an active cell fighting the state. He's also suspected of receiving foreign funds for terrorist activities.

Thami Najim is one of the top members of the Moroccan branch of the extremist Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, and served as its webmaster and IT chief. Najim was born and raised in Denmark, and was very influential in the inner circle of the party's Danish branch. In 2007 he moved to Morocco with his family.

Najim and his family say he is not a terrorist. Najim says the 'foreign funds' are money transfers from his former Danish employers.

Switzerland: Government concerned with potential backlash in Muslim markets

Switzerland: Government concerned with potential backlash in Muslim markets

Via Sunday's Zaman:

Switzerland’s economy minister said on Wednesday that the Swiss government is concerned with a possible boycott of Swiss products overseas because xenophobic tendencies have found more ground in the wealthy European country.

Answering Today’s Zaman’s question in a written interview before boarding a plane to Ankara for an official visit on Thursday, Johann Schneider-Ammann,

the Swiss head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, said: “This is a big concern for my government. The key to solving this issue is dialogue; dialogue with Muslim communities in Switzerland and, on the international level, dialogue with Muslim countries.”

(source)

Chechnya: First lady unveils Islamic fashion in Dubai

Chechnya: First lady unveils Islamic fashion in Dubai

London: Young Syrians travel to country to support protest

London: Young Syrians travel to country to support protest

Pakistan: 85 Frenchmen training for Jihad

Pakistan: 85 Frenchmen training for Jihad

Via AP (h/t DW):

Approximately 85 Frenchmen have been training with the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan tribal area for the past three years, according to the intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Most of the men have dual nationality with France and North African countries.

The Frenchmen operate under the name Jihad-e-Islami and are being trained to use explosives and other weapons at camps near the town of Miran Shah and in the Datta Khel area, the officials said. They are led by a French commander who goes by the name Abu Tarek. Five of the men returned to France in January 2011 to find new recruits, according to the officials. It's unclear whether Merah was among that group.

(source)

Berlin: Syrian Channels Aid to Embattled Countrymen

Berlin: Syrian Channels Aid to Embattled Countrymen

Via Spiegel:

A Syrian expat in Berlin has teamed up with Germans to launch a donation drive similar to long-distance "adoption" programs for children in poor countries. Though they fear the wrath of Syrian intelligence agents and for the safety of aid recipients in the country, they are determined to foster peaceful revolution on the home front.

Aktham Abazid and two German friends lead the way into an office that looks more like a storage room off a courtyard in Berlin. The men would like to keep this location secret because they are fighting against Syrian leader Bashir Assad from here. Even in Berlin, they believe that one can't feel completely safe.

Darkness falls as the men flip open their laptops. The seats are plastic, but they have Internet access -- and that's all they need. Abazid, 38, writes three names on a scrap of paper: Hama, Aleppo and Derik. In these three Syrian cities, people are sitting in clandestine offices waiting for their help. The men in Berlin plan to add these locations to the aid program they have devised for Syrian opposition activists.

(source)

France: EU should build wall at Greek-Turkish border

France: EU should build wall at Greek-Turkish border

Via EurActiv (h/t Turkish Digest):

The top French official responsible for immigration said the EU should build a wall along the 130-kilometre Greek-Turkish border, comparing it to the one between the USA and Mexico.

Arno Klarsfeld, recently appointed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to head the Office for Immigration and Integration, said in a televised interview that the proposed wall was a matter of "common sense".

The official appears to bring other ideas recently developed by Sarkozy, who has repeatedly called the Greek-Turkish border "a sieve". According to analysts, Sarkozy has turned to anti-immigration rhetoric in his campaign against Socialist challenger François Hollande in the 22 April first-round election that is likely to propel the two men to a run-off on 6 May.

(source)

Bosnia: Muslim undertaking 3600-mile walking pilgrimage to Mecca

Bosnia: Muslim undertaking 3600-mile walking pilgrimage to Mecca

Prague: Syrian community protests against Assad's regime

Prague: Syrian community protests against Assad's regime

About 30 people gathered in Prague's centre Friday to protest against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad and present an improvised exhibition of photos of victims of the people's revolution in Syria.