British National Party
Anti-Jihad News Bulletin w/c June 4, 2007
Subscribe to this and other BNP News Bulletins here http://www.bnp.org.uk/mailing_list.htm
No sign up required, just give your email address, that's all.

1. 1,000 MEN LIVING LEGALLY WITH MULTIPLE WIVES DESPITE FEARS OVER EXPLOITATION

Apart the burden for taxpayers, whose taxes are needed to pay benefits to these wives, this custom is completely unacceptable. Polygamy is illegal in the UK and the law must be respected by Muslims.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article1848488.ece

Polygamous marriage is flourishing as the Government admits for the first time that nearly a thousand men are living legally with multiple wives in Britain. Although the families are entitled to claim social security for each wife, no one has counted how many of them are on benefits. Ministers appear to be ignoring the separate practice of unauthorised polygamy, which is said to have become commonplace in some Muslim communities. The Ministry of Justice admits that it has no estimates of numbers for these unions, which are often presided over by an Islamic cleric. A senior Conservative MP and immigration expert called for action last night to end the scandal of women being pressured into entering unrecognised marriages with no rights. “The Government has no grip on the situation,” said Humphrey Malins, the former Shadow Home Affairs Minister and founder of the Immigration Advisory Service. “This is quite clearly exploitation of women.” MPs and peers have struggled for years to extract figures from ministers about the extent of polygamy. The first official estimate was made in response to a freedom of information request by The Times asking for statistics on benefits that are paid to wives who share a husband.

“It is estimated that there are fewer than 1,000 valid polygamous marriages in the UK, few of whom are claiming a state benefit,” the Department for Work and Pensions said. “Because of the small numbers concerned, our IT systems do not specifically record such information.” The Government has long reassured Parliament that its policy is to prevent the formation of multiple marriages by refusing to allow second wives entry into the country. Under British law, husbands and wives can have only one spouse at a time. Multiple simultaneous marriages constitute bigamy, a criminal offence. Britain does recognise polygamous marriages that have taken place in countries where the custom is legal, such as Pakistan, Nigeria and India. The Home Office said that multiple wives in polygamous marriages may be allowed into the country as students or tourists. Officials are advised to let extra wives into Britain even if they suspect that a husband is trying to cheat the system by getting bogus divorces. “Entry clearance may not be withheld from a second wife where the husband has divorced his previous wife and the divorce is thought to be one of convenience,” an immigration rulebook advises.

“This is so, even if the husband is still living with the previous wife and to issue the entry clearance would lead to the formation of a polygamous household.” Opposition politicians are concerned about the burden being placed by polygamy on the social security and tax systems. A husband may claim housing benefit for each wife even if she is abroad, for up to 52 weeks, as long as the absence is temporary and for pressing reasons. In a draft Commons reply released under the Freedom of Information Act, officials explained another way in which the system made it easy to receive handouts. “A polygamous marriage is the only circumstance in which an adult dependency increase is payable in income-related benefits,” it stated. “In any other circumstances an adult ‘dependent’ would have to make a separate claim.” To calculate the amount of income support that is payable to an extra wife, officials subtract the rate paid to an individual from that paid to a couple. This produces the amount that a cohabiting spouse is deemed to need in social security benefits. If a man lives with two valid wives, his household is paid the rate for a couple, plus an amount for the extra spouse, the documents show. Women who enter unrecog-nised multiple marriages in Britain are far more vulnerable.

They can end up being dumped by their “husbands” with no safeguards. Mr Malins asked the Government three years ago to reveal how many unregistered polygamous weddings took place in Britain, but he did not receive an answer. Now officials admit that they do not know. “I’ve not been able to find out from the Government what the extent of the problem is,” Mr Malins said. “It’s a very serious issue.” The practice is said to have become commonplace, at least among Kashmiris, a group that accounts for most of the 747,000 Pakistanis in Britain. Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad practised polygamy. One of his motiva-tions was thought to have been charity, taking on widows in time of war. In contemporary Muslim countries, patriarchal attitudes may leave a woman and children defenceless if they do not have a man to protect them. Asian republics that were part of the former Soviet Union have debated the legalisation of polygamy to save war widows from being forced into prostitution and human trafficking. Tajikistan has an estimated 25,000 widows. Kyrgyzstan rejected an attempt to legalise polygamy this March.

2. SETBACK FOR MUSLIM SECT'S 'MEGA-MOSQUE' IN LONDON

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1853589.ece

An ultra-orthodox Islamic sect has delayed plans to build a "mega-mosque" in East London after the Government warned it could "raise tensions" in the community. Tablighi Jamaat had intended to submit plans to build Britain's largest place of worship next to the Olympic site, this September. But the group told Times Online that no plans would now be submitted until next year at the earliest. More than 48,000 people have petitioned the Government to “abolish plans for the £100m mega-mosque” with a capacity for 12,000 worshippers beside the London 2012 Olympic park in Newham, East London. The Government said that the issue could "raise tensions" and did not expect any planning application to be made in the “near future”. A statement in response to the petition, published on the Downing Street website, said: “We understand from Newham Council that there is no current planning permission or application for a mosque and Newham Council do not expect a planning application in the near future.”

A spokesperson for Tablighi Jamaat said that plans for the 18-acre site in Newham were being drawn up, but he added: “There's no expectation of any planning application before the end of the year, because of the size of the application." The Government called the proposed mosque, which would hold four times as many worshippers as Britain’s largest Anglican cathedral “controversial” and said it had to take into account the views of local communities. “All involved should ensure that discussions are conducted in a manner that respects the views of all sections of our communities and in a way that does not raise tensions in local areas,” the statement said. Tablighi Jamaat's spokesperson said the group did not think the plans were controversial but admitted there would be a lot of public interest in the application, "It should not be looked at any differently from any other faith building" he said. Plans for the mosque have been blighted over the last few months. The group, which intelligence agencies fear is a gateway to extremism, recently claimed they had dismissed award-winning architect Ali Mangera from the project, and has yet to announce his replacement. Alongside the proposal for the mosque the group also envisage a religious boarding school for up to 500 pupils on the site, a former chemical works that they bought for £1.6m in 1996. Strong local opposition has generated bad publicity for the mosque.

A Newham councillor, Alan Craig, who is leading the campaign against the development, described the mosque as an unwanted “landmark” in the East End of London and Tablighi Jamaat as a “ambitious, separatist and isolationist group”. The beleaguered group have recruited a Westminster lobbying company to undertake their public relations. The public affairs company, Indigo Public Affairs set up a website for the mosque and put Tablighi Jamaat on YouTube with a short statement from an unnamed representative who tries to dispel fears and says the mosque will only reach its maximum capacity of 12,000 at two festivals a year. Tablighi Jamaat, which translates as “Proselytising Group”, claims on its website to stand for “democracy and freedom” and says it is “a role model to promote social and religious integration”. But the site also adds that “complete success in this world and the hereafter is only achieved in following the way of life shown by Muhammad and every other way leads to failure in this world and the hereafter”. Strict followers of the sect’s doctrine sleep on the ground and brush their teeth with a twig following the practices of Muhammad. French intelligence agencies and the FBI have raised concerns that jihadi groups could use Tablighi Jamaat as a recruiting ground. The movement, founded in India in 1927, has 80 million followers worldwide and refutes all accusations of links to terrorism or terrorists. Its website states: “We do not teach an extremist line, but we clearly can’t speak for every single one of those who have ever attended our mosques.”

3. CANADIAN ISLAMISTS TRYING TO BRING IN SHARIA

We are opposed to Islamic banking on the ground it's not part of our culture. What is happening in Canada validates our concern.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\25\story_25-5-2007_pg7_10

Canadian Islamists who have been trying to bring in Sharia into Canada, so far without success, have now chosen another route - Islamic banking.

According to Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, “In 2003, we saw Islamists trying to sneak Sharia into Canada through the backdoor of Family Law and under the cover of Multiculturalism. Now, they seem to be taking a different route. They claim they are introducing the seemingly innocuous ‘Islamic banking’ by claiming such banking to be ‘interest-free’ and ‘Sharia-compliant’. This is one more ploy to prey on the fears and insecurities of Muslim Canadians. Invoking Islam to make a fortune is only one part of the agenda.

The other is to try one more time to make ‘Sharia’ part of the Canadian lexicon. Only this time, it has the backing of corporate lawyers and senior bankers who see big money at the end of the line. The whole concept is a fraud that will further marginalise an already marginalised community.” Because they don’t charge interest, financial services, like mortgages, offered by Islamic institutions tend to be higher priced than those from secular. Fatah said ideally, Islamic financial institutions should operate in places with a Muslim majority. “If it hasn’t picked up, this is because the Muslim community is not foolish,” he said. Islamic financial services in Canada are being pushed by banking executives from the Muslim community who feel that by creating a niche they will be able to tap into an area non-Muslims can’t access. “It’s a complete fraud because what you are doing is you are adding interest upfront and building it into your investments and dishonestly calling it interest-free,” he added.

A Muslim Canadian business executive who manages a shipping business in Pakistan, said, “In essence, ‘Islamic’ banking is manipulative, deceitful and fraudulent at several levels. Any finance student will tell you that interest-based banking as we know it today is a component of inflation, risk and the opportunity cost of money. It is centrally regulated and transparent. Furthermore, by having a more efficient Aggregate Demand-Aggregate Supply dynamic, one can minimise the inflation component but the other two components are the basis of a regulated banking system that is a key aspect of economic and technological growth. The Islamists have their own arguments which probably culminate in: ‘why do something with honesty and transparency when religion can be misused to obfuscate the issue and concentrate power in the hands of a few’!” A report by Brian Adeba in the Ottawa publication The Embassy, says rules on interest, real estate and overcoming apprehension from both within a nd without the Muslim community make it tricky for Sharia-inspired banks to be set up in Canada.

4. HATE-CRIME CHARGES IN HAIRCUT ATTACK

Muslim attacks on Sikhs are common in the Indian sub-continent. Now these attacks are spreading, here is a report from New York.

http://www.newsday.com/search/ny-nybias265231004may26,0,5017275.story

A Queens high school student was charged with hate crimes Friday for violating a Sikh student's religious beliefs by forcing him to remove his turban and cutting his hair, the Queens district attorney said. "The defendant is not accused of some schoolhouse prank, but an attack on the fundamental beliefs of his victim's religion and his freedom to worship freely," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a prepared statement. Umair Ahmed, 17, of 42-49 77th St., was arrested in the Thursday attack in a bathroom at Newtown High School in Elmhurst. Ahmed and another student allegedly forced the 15-year-old victim into the bathroom, and after threatening him forced the boy to remove his dastar, a traditional Sikh turban. The other boy, also 15, is being treated as a juvenile.

Ahmed used scissors to cut off his victim's waist-long hair, then threw it in a toilet and on the floor, according to a spokesman for the district attorney. Cutting a Sikh's hair is contrary to the Sikh faith, which considers hair a gift from God that should never be cut. Ahmed was charged with second-degree unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, second-degree menacing as a hate crime, second-degree aggravated harassment, second-degree harassment and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He faces up to seven years in prison. The victim told officials that he only went into the bathroom and took off his dastar because he feared that Ahmed would stab him. Police initially described the three youths as friends, but said they had an argument before the attack. Brown's office said that Ahmed and the other boy approached the victim - whose identity is being withheld by Newsday - and that Ahmed said, "I have to cut your hair." The boy said it was against his religion, but Ahmed showed him a ring and said, "This ring is Allah. If you don't let me cut your hair, I will punch you with this ring."

5. WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL TO STAGE NEW MUSICAL WORK BASED ON QUR'AN

http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/2007/05/cathedral-in-eye.html

Westminster Cathedral has attracted the notice of Private Eye. In the current edition, there is a piece on page 12 "Music and Musicians" reporting on a new work by John Tavener, commissioned by the Prince of Wales that is to be performed in the Cathedral. According to the article: It is based on the Koran and sets the 99 names of Allah to music, to be intoned over an hour and a half with choir, full orchestra and Tibetan gongs. Lunchtime O'Boulez comments To a liberal minded Christian this may all seem unexceptionable, even worthy. But it's treading dangerous ground, not least because no one seems to have done much research into what Muslims will think about giving the names of Allah full choral treatment in a Catholic cathedral. "It will be a respectful, reverent event and we're not anticipating problems," said a spokesman. So that's alright then. He has a point. It is not so long ago that the Cathedral piazza (a public highway) saw another form of Islamic expression: It may be that singing the names of Allah in the Cathedral is intended as a conciliatory gesture but I do hope that Lunchtime O'Boulez is wrong and that somebody has checked how this will go down with the Muslims. Webislam seem happy enough at any rate. Of course, from a Catholic point of view, there are questions to be raised about the appropriateness of the initiative. I wonder what the Bishop of Cordoba would say. He has resisted requests from the Junta Islámica de España to use the Cathedral (a former mosque) for prayer, saying that it would generate confusion and lead to religious indifference.

6. SEARCH CONTINUES FOR ABSCONDERS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6686353.stm

The search is continuing for three terror suspects, believed to want to kill UK troops abroad, who went missing while subject to control orders. Home Secretary John Reid said they were not a "direct threat" to people in the UK but added they were dangerous. Earlier, security watchdog Lord Carlile said there was "solid evidence" the men had wanted to join insurgents abroad. Lamine Adam, 26, his brother Ibrahim, 20, and Cerie Bullivant, 24, failed to report to police earlier this week. The Adams' brother, Anthony Garcia, is serving life for plotting explosions.

'Overseas terror'

Garcia was one of five men jailed last month over a plot to target the UK with a giant fertiliser bomb. During the trial, the Old Bailey heard that the plot's ringleader asked Lamine Adam and Garcia to buy the key bomb ingredient because their fairer skin would arouse less suspicion. Mr Adam knew many of the key conspirators in that case, but was not prosecuted as part of the investigation. Bullivant had previously appeared at the Old Bailey for breaching his control order. Listed as "AG", he appeared at the Old Bailey on 2 and 16 April this year on charges of breaching 13 conditions of his control order. He was next due to appear on 29 May. Mr Reid told the House of Commons the security services did not assess the three individuals as presenting a direct threat to people in the UK. But he added: "They are dangerous and we can take nothing for granted." In a written statement released earlier Mr Reid said the orders had been designed to stop the men travelling overseas because it was believed they wanted to leave the country for "terrorism-related purposes". He said they had been required to surrender travel documents and report to a police station every day, but had failed to turn up on Tuesday. Two of the men were due to telephone a monitoring company on Monday evening, when it is believed they absconded, but failed to do so. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair appeared to contradict Mr Reid when he said in a statement there was no guarantee the men did not pose a threat to the UK.

'Solid intelligence'

Six people have absconded from control orders since the system began in 2005. The Home Office said 17 people were currently subject to the restrictions. Legislation under the Prevention of Terrorism Act enables control orders - a type of house arrest - to be placed on those suspected of links to international terrorism. Lord Carlile, a Liberal Democrat peer, told the BBC: "These three men were the subject of solid intelligence that they intended, not to cause damage in the UK, but that they intended to damage our national security by going as insurgents to kill British and other allied troops abroad, in Iraq for example. "So it was decided in accordance with human rights laws to have the lightest controls that seemed compatible with the necessity of the occasion." He questioned whether the men should have been subject to tighter restrictions, but said: "The courts are very strict in controlling the controls placed upon people subject to the orders." The Adams' brother, Anthony Garcia, was one of five men jailed for life last month for his role in a plot to target the UK with a giant fertiliser bomb. The alert went up when the brothers did not contact a monitoring company on Monday evening.

'Hammer blow'

Cerie Bullivant is understood to have been missing since Tuesday morning when he failed to report to his local police station. The Conservatives have accused the government of failing to protect the public. Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "John Reid's primary responsibility is the protection of the public. This consistent yet gravely dangerous failure to carry out that duty continues to threaten the safety of the public." Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said a hammer blow had been delivered to the idea of control orders. He called for a review of the "increasingly discredited" system. Police described Lamine Adam as of north African origin, 6ft, slim, with a light complexion, short dark brown hair and last seen with a short beard. Ibrahim Adam is also of north African origin, 6ft 2in, slim with a light complexion and short dark brown hair. They said Cerie Bullivant was white, 5ft 7in, slim with receding brown hair and brown eyes. It is understood he recently cut his hair very short.