On 18 February 2014, the Kizlar district court in Dagestan Republic passed a sentence for Kartashov Magomed and Abdulmuminov Murad. The Muslims were sentenced under Article 318 Part 1 CC RF (violence against government authorities) to 3 years of imprisonment in a correctional labour settlement.
Presidential spokesman, Adnan Manser, announced on Wednesday 19th February 2014 in Shams FM radio, the presidential pardon for Jaber Mejri accused in the case of publishing defaming cartoons of the Messenger of Allah (saw). Manser said that the Interim President Moncef Marzouki signed the amnesty decision a few days ago.
Hizb ut Tahrir/ East Africa organized a stand before the court in Mombasa, demanding to know the whereabouts of Brother Hamad Salem, who was arrested by the police in Masjid Musa who has since disappeared. The Shabab delivered a strong message and read a moving duaa for the rest of the brothers who are still detained by the police. They plot and Allah plots, and Allah is the best of planners.
Friday, 21 Rabii' II 1435 AH, corresponding to February 21, 2014 CE
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On Wednesday, 19th of February 2014 CE, at 12 noon, the students of Omdurman Islamic University gathered to watch and follow the event that shook the pillars of the University. The Rayat (banners) of Al- Okab were raised creating a majestic scene, with the loud calls of students for help and support, and posters depicting dripping blood were lifted to represent Muslim blood in Burma, Ash-Sham, and Central Africa.
An article in the Daily Mail [18.2.2014], written by Richard Littlejohn [Jolly Jihadi Boy's Outing to Legoland], has smeared as ‘extremists' and ‘terrorists' those participating (organisers, helpers and paying visitors) in a forthcoming ‘Family Fun Day' at the theme park LEGOLAND, by reinforcing the false narrative that argues ‘the more practicing a Muslim is, the closer he or she is to acts of violence and murder'. In relation to this article, Taji Mustafa, media representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain made the following points:
What comes to mind when Africa is mentioned?
Do you think of the widespread poverty, poor production, lack of resources, or the fragile economy based on aid coming from abroad?
Do you think about the rampant corruption in all walks of life... health care linked with financial ability?
February 2014
Headlines:
• Expelled Muslims Should Get Citizenship Too
• More Americans Feel Afghanistan War is a Mistake: Poll
• US Realises Loss of 40,000 Pakistanis in War on Terror
• Xinjiang's Islamic Militants Posed Realistic Threat: China
Details:
Expelled Muslims Should Get Citizenship Too
Descendants of the Muslims who were expelled from Spain in the 17th century have criticized the Spanish government for only granting citizenship to the country's former Jewish population, saying the move could be "racist." Moriscos, meaning Moors in English, was the name given to the Spanish Muslims who decided to convert to Christianity to avoid expulsion under Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand in the early 1500s. Although they were allowed to remain in Spain for over a century longer than their Jewish counterparts, King Philip III decreed the Expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609, forcing them all to flee to neighbouring Muslim North Africa. Now that Spain's Justice Ministry has decided to grant citizenship to the descendants of the Sephardi Jews who were expelled 522 years ago, associations fighting to keep the memory of Muslim Spain alive are calling for the same civil code changes for the Moriscos. "The Spanish State should grant the same rights to all those who were expelled, otherwise their decision is selective, if not racist," Bayi Loubaris, President of the Association for Historical Legacy of Al-Andalus told Spanish news agency EFE. Loubaris still believes the ruling granting citizenship to Spain's Sephardi Jews is "very positive", arguing it acts as acknowledgment of the "guilt of the Spanish State in expelling its own citizens." Even though the descendants of Spain's Moriscos have less chance of obtaining dual nationality than Sephardi Jews, Loubaris's association is primarily focussed on obtaining recognition for what happened to Spain's Muslim population and how they left their mark on Spanish culture. Although the approximately 300,000 Morisco descendants in Northern Africa no longer speak Castilian Spain, they took with them the architecture, gastronomy and music which typifies Andalusia to this day. [Source: The Local]
More Americans Feel Afghanistan War is a Mistake: Poll
For the first time since the US military got involved in Afghanistan in 2001, US public opinion about the war is now more negative than positive, showed a poll. Americans' views are now split down the middle, with 49 percent saying the involvement there was a mistake and 48 percent saying it was not, Xinhua cited from Gallup's Feb 6-9 World Affairs survey. Gallup first asked Americans about US intervention in Afghanistan in November 2001, just after the US sent its military into the country after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington DC that killed nearly 3,000 people. The US invaded Afghanistan to punish the Taliban for harbouring al-Qaida terrorists responsible for the attacks. At that point, fewer than one in 10 Americans said US involvement there was a mistake - the most of any war since Gallup first asked the question during the Korean War in 1950. "Clearly, in the turbulent atmosphere and general 'rally effect' environment that followed 9/11, Americans were overwhelmingly supportive of the decision to send the US military to Afghanistan," Gallup said in a report that accompanied the survey. Americans' perceptions that US involvement in Afghanistan was a mistake rose as the war continued, although there were some ups and downs over the years. Those believing the war was a mistake reached 25 percent in 2004, and surpassed 30 percent for the first time in 2008, and 40 percent in 2010, according to Gallup. Still, the more than 12-year span during which less than half of Americans thought the US made a mistake in entering Afghanistan has been remarkably long, relative to past US interventions, Gallup found.
Afghanistan has become America's longest war, stretching over 12 years since US military forces were first sent in 2001, with well over 35,000 troops still there. The Obama administration plans to draw down the number of troops in Afghanistan significantly by the end of this year. Once that happens, Americans' assessment of whether the intervention was a mistake will largely depend on the political course Afghanistan takes, including whether terrorist cells are able to regroup there, Gallup said. [Source: Times of India]
Indeed for America the war in Afghanistan will become a deep source of regret and remorse, as its actions have only accelerated the efforts of Muslims worldwide to re-establish the Caliphate. History bears witness that whenever the enemies of Islam attacked Muslims in the past, they reawakened a giant. The Mongols and European Crusaders discovered this in the past, and it overwhelmed them. Soon America will come to witness the return of the glorious state of Islam.
US Realises Loss of 40,000 Pakistanis in War on Terror
United States Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General Lloyd Austin on Wednesday said that the US realises the colossal loss of over 40,000 Pakistanis, including soldiers and officers of the armed forces, in the war against terror. General Lloyd Austin made the admission during his meeting with Defence Secretary Lt Gen (r) Asif Yasin Malik. He commended Pakistan's role in facilitating the drawdown process of the US and ISAF Forces from Afghanistan. While terming Pakistan as a vital partner for regional security, the CENTCOM commander said that both Pakistan and US are important to each others national interests. During the meeting, he said that Pakistan has always been a useful partner and relations between the two countries are progressing on an upward trajectory. The defence secretary reiterated that being a pivotal partner to the international community, Pakistan has sacrificed greatly in the war against terror. He reiterated that Pakistan wants peace in the region and is ready to play its role for achieving the goal of lasting stability. He said that the armed forces and people of Pakistan have courageously fought and withstood the menace of terrorism over the last decade. Malik added that Pakistan earnestly wishes for a stable and peaceful Afghanistan and pursues a policy of non-interference in Afghan affairs. [Source: News International].
Despite the loss of 40,000 Pakistanis to please America in her war against Islam, the Pakistani leadership is committed as ever to fulfil America's unending demands to spill more Muslim blood. Allah (swt) says:
وَلَن تَرْضَى عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلاَ النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَى وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلاَ نَصِيرٍ
"And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say, "Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance." If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper." [TMQ: Al-Baqara: 120]
Xinjiang's Islamic Militants Posed Realistic Threat: China
This week China said that Islamic militants active in its restive Xinjiang Province posed "realistic threat" and vowed to step up anti-terror cooperation with "relevant" countries. "ETIM posed realistic threat to some regions in China including Xinjiang. They have caused great casualties and property losses of civilians by committing terrorist activities inside China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told media briefing.
She was responding to questions on latest assault in Xinjiang two days ago in which militants armed with gas cylinders and machetes attacked a police convoy, killing 15 people, including three suicide bombers. Hua said ETIM was ganging up with "international terrorist forces" using internet. "The threat posed by them on the international security is on the rise. China's is firmly opposed to all forms of terrorism. We believe that to crackdown on the terrorist forces of ETIM is also important part of international campaign against terrorism. "We would like to enhance cooperation with relevant countries to crackdown terrorist forces including ETIM to jointly maintain international and regional stability," she said. Media reports have said that ETIM cadres are being trained in camps in Pakistan's tribal Waziristan region along with Taliban and al-Qaeda groups. Xinjiang has for years witnessed tensions between the ethnic Muslim Uygurs and Han Chinese over alleged repression and increasing Han settlement in the province. [Source: Business Standard]
The arrival in Egypt on the 19th February, 2014, of General Viktor Bondarev, the head of Russia's Air Force, so soon after Egypt's military dictator, the self-promoted Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, visited Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 13th February, and the warm welcomes and talk of military cooperation and arms negotiations worth $3 billion is no surprise. Russia has never made a serious pretence at democracy.
America, on the other hand, claims that the furtherance of democracy in the world and enactment of the will of the people is its goal, and yet America also legitimises dictators and subverts the will of the people when it benefits it. As for America's stance on Egypt, neither the arrest and detention of a U.S. embassy employee, Ahmed Aleiba, nor the arrests and detention of American and European journalists, nor the arrest and detention of thousands of Egyptian children, nor even the brutal killings of unarmed protesters caused America serious concern. Despite the superficial commentaries of some people about a competition between Russia and America for influence in Egypt, Russia and America could hardly be so closely allied in support of the brutal military oppression of opposition to its rule, especially the Islamic opposition! Allah (swt) has warned us that the hatred revealed by our enemies is only a fraction of what they try to conceal:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا بِطَانَةً مِنْ دُونِكُمْ لَا يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالًا وَدُّوا مَا عَنِتُّمْ قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاءُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ ۚ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ ۖ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
"O you who believe! do not take for intimate friends from among others than your own people; they do not fall short of inflicting loss upon you; they love what distresses you; vehement hatred has already appeared from out of their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater still; indeed, We have made the communications clear to you, if you will understand." [Ali-Imran: 118]
Amazingly, Egypt's military was "restoring democracy" seven months ago, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the time, and hence, America's massive financial assistance to the Field Marshal continues despite the technicality that "restoring democracy" occurred through an undemocratic, and very bloody, military coup against a democratically elected government. While America has criticised some actions of the military dictatorship, its legitimacy has not been criticised. This is despite the fact that many of America's political commentators have highlighted the contradiction inherent in American support for the Egyptian army's coup. On January 13th, the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) complained about the arrest of those opposing the army's will for a ‘yes' vote in the next day's constitutional referendum: "Egyptian citizens should be free to vote for or against the new constitution, not fear arrest for simply campaigning for a ‘no' vote". The next day, the Washington Post ran an opinion piece entitled: "Egypt's bogus democracy doesn't deserve U.S. aid."
The Brookings Institute and The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace have each posted numerous opinion pieces from their ‘fellows' and ‘associates' highlighting the anti-democratic reality of Egypt's military government, but they also pointed out that the main concern is not human rights or democracy itself, but rather that if the Egyptian Army does not succeed in controlling the country, "Islamist extremism" will be fuelled, and by noting that "what is going on in Egypt now is very popular among Egyptians" some kind of democratic legitimacy is offered to a military institution that is not democratic in any sense of the word.
There is a severe confusion that has never been resolved by Western political philosophers regarding the fundamental nature of democracy. Today's political writers in America have been left to bounce between a trinity of incompatible views about what the core of democracy is. Some say it is about free and fair elections that represent the will of the people, but others note that this frequently contradicts with democratic values and it is personal freedom and human rights that are most fundamental, and more recently the issue of ‘civil society' and strong institutions as the key to democracy has become popular. This latter view is the view of the Gatestone Institute.
On 28th January the Gatestone Institute published an article entitled: "Egypt: Are Elections "Democracy"?", which criticised other views about democracy as follows: "From reading the American press, you would believe that if Middle Eastern Muslims were allowed to govern themselves by having free elections, this would be the route to democracy. This is a fallacy." They argued that opinion polls showed that Muslims in Egypt and throughout the Middle East overwhelming preferred Islam to Democracy. Their conclusion was: "If there is ever to be anything approximating democratic transformation in Egypt the only way it is going it happen is if Egypt has a respected institution, such as the military, that governs the country."
The Gatestone view places Egypt's vicious military dictatorship at the head of democratic institutions even though it stands against the will of the people, because the will of the people is for Islam. In this also, both Russia and America are in complete agreement. While Russia is forming historic new military ties with Egypt's anti-Islamic military leadership, it is the money of America's allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, that will be funding Egypt's purchase of Russian weapons, and this same money has flooded into Egypt since the start of military coup. America made token gestures by cutting back on the delivery of some of its weapons to the army and Russia has now come to assist America in its dirty conspiracy against Egypt and its people.
It is clear that America and Egypt are still hand in hand, and that Russia and America are in partnership over Egypt, as they are over Syria, which for them is a single issue: maintaining control of a region where the will of the people for Islam terrifies them both. Fear and hatred of Islam unites them, while the American media and political think tanks endlessly argue what the democracy they want to impose by force upon the world actually stands for. They do not know what democracy is, but they do know that they want to give democracy to us; whether we like it or not, by any means possible and without regard for the civil liberties of Muslims. In the light of such ideological ambiguity, it is not surprising that the Gatestone Institute was not optimistic about a speedy success for democracy in Egypt: "This is the work of a generation or more". The billions of American backed dollars being negotiated to support the Egyptian military with Russian technology is not the beginning nor the end of the spending against Islam, but in the end it will fail and Islam will prevail.
((إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ لِيَصُدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ فَسَيُنْفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ ۗ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ))
"Surely those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (people) from the way of Allah; so they shall spend it, then it shall be to them an intense regret, then they shall be overcome; and those who disbelieve shall be driven together to hell." [Al- Anfal: 36]
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr. Abdullah Robin
