Amnesty's Human Rights Report 2009

Amnesty International has released its individual country reports which reveal the 'state of the world's human rights'. The reports for several Western countries are ridiculously critical, particularly concerning the area of migration, admission and treatment of refugees and the right of a sovereign nation to decide whom may settle and whom may not.

I thought I would use this opportunity to highlight the outrageous approach this organisation has to border control, a nation's primary line of defence against those who wish to harm it in any way, either physically or by absorbing resources they are simply not entitled to.

A few examples are used to condemn Western countries, when the simple fact is if other countries had better human rights records, we would not be obliged to take any refugees at all. If Germany, Denmark and Holland et al are so brutal and terrible, why do the immigrants keep coming, by any means?

The reports highlight examples, but they make no suggestions as to rectifying the situation. For example, if the Belgian government wishes to deport someone and they won't come quietly, what is wrong with restraining them?

Why should the Belgian government, elected by the Belgian people, not be able to decide who it hosts within its own borders, on its own territory?

Why should Germany harbour the Third World's military deserters? Why should the Netherlands not detain people who enter illegally and make it deliberately difficult to ascertain their identity?

The following examples show everything that is wrong with the thought processes of the average Westerner; however, if you go to Amnesty's site, the reports on China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are worth a look.

Germany

In an accelerated asylum procedure at Frankfurt Airport on 14 May, immigration authorities forcibly returned Eritrean nationals Yonas Haile Mehari and Petros Aforki Mulugeta after their asylum claims were rejected as manifestly unfounded. Both men were arrested upon arrival in Eritrea. On 20 July they were transferred to Adi Abeto prison. On 30 July, Petros Aforki Mulugeta was transferred to Wia prison. Yonas Haile Mehari, classified as a military deserter by the authorities, was transferred to his military unit where he was at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International criticized the government’s discriminatory approach on the admission of Iraqi refugees. The Minister of Interior had provoked controversy in April when he announced that only Iraqi Christians would be admitted. After a public debate the policy was modified to apply to religious minorities in general and other vulnerable Iraqi refugees.

All public institutions, including those that provide social services, are required by law to report the identity of any irregular migrant to the authorities. This provision restricts migrants’ access to health care and access to judicial remedies in case of violation of their labour rights, and children’s access to education.

To conclude:

Germany again referred to diplomatic assurances as appropriate means in deportation cases where individuals may be at risk of serious human rights abuses, in violation of its obligations under international law. Irregular migrants continued to be deprived of their economic, social and cultural rights.

France

The UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern at reports of overcrowding and inadequate hygiene, food and medical care for irregular migrants and asylum-seekers – including unaccompanied minors – held in detention. It called on France to review its detention policy and improve living conditions in detention centres, especially those in the Overseas Departments and Territories.

In April, the government agency that determines the status of refugees (OFPRA) reported that the rate of recognition of asylum claims reached almost 30 per cent in 2007, one of the highest rates in recent years.

On 3 July, a bill was presented by several members of parliament to amend the right of appeal before the National Court on Asylum for asylum-seekers whose claims were being examined under the accelerated procedure. Under the new proposal asylum-seekers who were appealing against an accelerated decision could not be forcibly returned to their country of origin while their appeal was still in progress. The bill was not supported by the government.

There was also concern over a death in police custody:

On 9 May Abdelhakim Ajimi died during arrest in Grasse. Police officers arrested and restrained Abdelhakim Ajimi after an altercation in a bank where he was trying to withdraw money. A judicial investigation into the incident was opened and was still in progress at the end of the year. According to the autopsy report, Abdelhakim Ajimi died as a result of asphyxiation caused by the restraint techniques used against him. Several witnesses to the event reported an excessive use of force by the police. The officers involved remained on active duty at the end of the year.

To conclude:

Individuals having their asylum claim examined under the accelerated procedure remained at risk of forcible deportation while waiting for a decision. Despite the risk of serious human rights violations, France forcibly returned one man to Algeria and attempted to return another. New legislation authorizing indefinitely renewable “preventive detention” and a decree authorizing police to collect broad personal information on individuals believed to be a possible threat to public order, undermined the principle of the presumption of innocence.

Finland

The strict application of the “Dublin II” EU regulations saw asylum-seekers returned to the EU member state in which they first arrived for determination of their asylum claim, even when those states were less likely to provide some form of protection than Finland. The total number of “Dublin returns” from Finland increased from 320 in 2007 to at least 430 in 2008.

At least 22 asylum-seeking children were detained, including seven who were unaccompanied.

To conclude:

Asylum-seekers were sent back to EU countries where they were less likely to be offered some form of protection than if their claim had been considered in Finland.

Belgium

On 26 April, Ebenizer Sontsa, a rejected asylum-seeker from Cameroon, was forcibly restrained by several law enforcement officials during an attempted deportation from Brussels Airport. Following protests by other passengers at his treatment, the deportation was abandoned and he was returned to the immigration detention centre of Merksplas where he made a complaint of ill-treatment. A new deportation was scheduled for 9 May, but on 1 May Ebenizer Sontsa committed suicide. In December, the Public Prosecutor closed the investigation into Ebenizer Sontsa’s death.

On 24 January the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the conditions of detention of two rejected Palestinian asylum-seekers who were held in the transit zone of Brussels Airport in February 2003 for 11 days amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. The Court also ruled that the repeated detention of the two men, in spite of judicial decisions ordering their release, constituted a violation of their right to liberty. The CERD expressed concern at the detention of asylum-seekers and the conditions of their detention.

Sweden

Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed El Zari were awarded around 3,160,000 Swedish kronor (€307,000) in compensation for the grave violations they suffered during and as a result of their unlawful deportation from Sweden to Egypt in December 2001. Both men were tortured while held incommunicado in Egypt. They had been denied access to a full and fair asylum determination process in Sweden, and were deported on the strength of worthless “diplomatic assurances” given by the Egyptian authorities.

Mohammed El Zari was released from prison in Egypt in October 2003, without ever having been charged. Ahmed Agiza remained in prison in Egypt, following an unfair trial before a military court. The Swedish government did not make a final decision on the appeals brought by both men against the rejection of their applications for residence permits in Sweden.

In June the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) called on Sweden to investigate in depth the reasons for the deportation of Mohammed El Zari and Ahmed Agiza and, if appropriate, prosecute those responsible.

In June the CAT expressed concern that the detention of asylum-seekers before deportation was common, and regretted that Swedish law provides “no absolute limit on the length of time that an asylum-seeker can be detained”.

Most new applications from Iraqi asylum-seekers were rejected after the Migration Board and the Migration Court of Appeal decided that there was no internal armed conflict in Iraq. Previously, the majority of asylum-seekers from Iraq had received some form of protection.

In February, the authorities in Sweden and Iraq reached an agreement on the forcible return to Iraq of rejected asylum-seekers. Prior to this, only Iraqi nationals who agreed to be returned were accepted by the Iraqi authorities.

The Swedish authorities continued to reject applications from Eritrean asylum-seekers. This exposed them to the risk of being returned to Eritrea, despite the UNHCR’s recommendation that all states should halt forcible returns to Eritrea. At least one Eritrean national was forcibly returned from Sweden to Eritrea, in April.

Denmark

In November, new legislation imposed further restrictions on the “tolerated residency” status given to foreign nationals against whom an expulsion order has been made but cannot be carried out. This includes people whose return to their country of origin has been ruled to be unsafe by the Refugee Appeals Board. In November there were believed to be 18 people with a “tolerated residency” status, including the Tunisian national referred to as S.C. The new legislation required these people to live in designated centres for asylum-seekers and to report daily to the police, in all but exceptional cases. The legislation increased to one year the maximum period of imprisonment which can be imposed for failure to comply with these requirements.

At least 11 Iraqis were forcibly returned to Iraq, contrary to the recommendations of the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

Some asylum-seekers who had been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment did not receive adequate medical treatment in Denmark.

United Kingdom

In March, 60 rejected asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Erbil in northern Iraq; in October, it was reported that a further 50 Iraqis had been returned to northern Iraq.

In March, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) gave its decision on an important test-case concerning humanitarian protection for asylum-seekers who have fled armed conflicts. The AIT ruled that, although there was an internal armed conflict in Iraq, the appellants in the case would not, just by virtue of being civilians, face a “serious and individual threat” if returned, and therefore were not entitled to protection under EU legislation known as the Qualification Directive. This decision would, if followed, result in even more Iraqi asylum-seekers being denied protection in the UK. By the end of the year an appeal against this decision was pending.

Australia

In August, the government finalized the abolition of Temporary Protection Visas for asylum-seekers.

In January, the government closed its offshore detention facility on the island nation of Nauru. In May, the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern that the detention facility on Christmas Island was still in use. Despite this, Australia began use of a new high security facility on the Island in December.

In July, the government announced that asylum-seekers would be temporarily detained for identity, health and security checks, but only those who posed a risk to society would remain in detention. At the end of the year, this commitment had not been implemented.

New Zealand

In July, the government tabled an Immigration Bill which had provisions for passenger screening at the point of departure to New Zealand. The Bill would allow withholding of reasons for denial of entry, and would deny the applicant access to judicial review.

Concern was expressed that the passenger screening process outlined in the Bill could expose asylum-seekers to harm if they were denied permission to board an aircraft when they were facing persecution, including possibly torture or death, in their own countries. The Bill also contained provisions that raised concerns about the possibility of prolonged and arbitrary detention.

Netherlands

The State Secretary of Justice announced in September that asylum-seekers from central and southern Iraq would no longer be automatically entitled to protection in the Netherlands. Residence permits previously issued to Iraqis from central and southern Iraq would be withdrawn and each case would be made subject to individual review, to determine whether the individual was a refugee or otherwise in need of international protection.

At least five people were forcibly returned to northern Iraq, at least five to central Iraq and at least one to southern Iraq. Rejected asylum-seekers from Iraq were told that they were expected to return to Iraq, that they had no right to remain in the Netherlands and that they were not entitled to any support from the state, beyond the most basic emergency health care. Many, therefore, were faced with a choice between returning “voluntarily” to Iraq, despite real risks of human rights violations there, or being made forcibly destitute in the Netherlands.

According to government figures, around 4,500 irregular migrants and asylum-seekers were subject to administrative detention in the first half of 2008. They were held in detention centres under a regime designed for remand prisoners. Some were detained for excessive periods, in some cases more than a year. Alternatives to detention were used infrequently, even for people belonging to vulnerable groups, such as unaccompanied minors and victims of trafficking or torture.

Not all allegations of ill-treatment in immigration detention were followed by prompt, impartial and thorough investigations.

Although the regimes for immigration detention were under review, few concrete proposals for improvement were made. The supervision and complaints mechanisms were under review, but few measures for improvement were announced, apart from the creation of a mechanism to investigate complaints of ill-treatment by officers of the Transport and Support Service, which is responsible for the transport of detained individuals.

In January the government announced reforms to the policy governing the detention of asylum-seeking families with children, including the introduction of a maximum detention period for families of two weeks prior to expulsion, and the improvement of detention conditions. However, the government indicated it would continue to detain unaccompanied minors in juvenile justice institutions.

Political Correctness & Probleemjongeren in the Netherlands

A few more stories about 'problem youths' in the Netherlands which frankly verge on the fantastical.

Some major Dutch cities have been running courses which help members of the public deal with surly gangs of youths. They teach people to treat the youths as human beings, not to show fear when one approaches them, and also that the way in which they are spoken to is very important.

The youths have there own street slang. Therefore, course organisers say, it is important to realise that they don't always mean what they say (or presumably say what they mean).

One of the examples given is the almost ubiquitous use of the word 'whore', shouted by youths of immigrant descent at passing Dutch girls and women.

The women should not be offended or put off, however; as one of the people on the course explains:

"If they are, for example, calling to you," Whore! Whore! " it is important to understand that they are not against you, they just have a sense of alienation, they are diverting their anger."

However, it seems that the courses in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Amersfoort are not working; they haven't stopped aggression towards passersby and windows and bus shelters being smashed on an almost daily basis.

Here is a video of one of the courses (all in Dutch):


In other news from the Netherlands, a group of notorious Moroccan criminals in Amsterdam's Diamantbuurt district have complained to the Mayor that the police are harassing them.

The group, which consists of 36 youths, 8 of whom are under age, has been given the code name Van Wou Group by the police.

All of these people have extensive criminal records; however the lenient sentencing policies in the Netherlands mean that they are not in prison, so the police use a tactic known as 'obstructive tailing' to keep an eye on them and intercept them before a crime is committed.

From NIS:

The Van Wou group has now protested against this approach in a letter to Mayor Cohen. "The police are harassing us instead of the other way round," one of the gang members said to local TV broadcaster AT5.

The problems in Diamantbuurt will be discussed on Monday by the Amsterdam 'triangle' (Mayor Cohen, Chief Police Commissioner Welten and Chief Public Prosecutor Bolhaar). The crimes committed by the group vary from theft to burglary, mugging, kidnapping, assault, possession of weapons and drug dealing.

I'm sure whatever strategy they come up with will be very effective. Actually, I'm not, because more than likely it will involve throwing money at the problem - and this simply does not work.

Millions of Euros were recently invested in a campaign designed to lower incidents of aggression on public transport - and the situation has not changed at all.

From Expatica:

Despite millions of euros invested by the government, aggression on public transport has not dropped, a report ordered by the transport ministry shows. Over the past two years, crime levels against passengers have hardly changed, with violent assaults, intimidation and theft rising by one percent in 2008.

Travellers also report virtually identical safety levels. Public safety was rated 7.9, up one tenth of a percent from 2007. Passengers felt safest in suburban and rural areas, where ratings averaged 8.

Least satisfied about safety are public transit workers, who rate it 6.3, unchanged from 2007, even though aggression against them has increased. Satisfaction among workers in the four main cities rose from 6.2 to 6.5 but dropped from 6.4 to 6.2 in the rest of the country.

Safety levels are the lowest among underground inspectors and guards, who are the most frequent target of physical violence and verbal abuse.

Following a number of incidents, including a much-publicised one in the town of Gouda, public transport operators, police and justice have been working to improve their cooperation.

A new public transport safety task force is currently preparing proposals to improve security. One of the measures being considered is to make those guilty of aggression and violence pay for the damage caused.

I'd hate to be guilty of cyberhate, but is it time to try much tougher sentences and deporting foreign criminals, perhaps?

One thing seems certain - the current approaches of blaming society and discrimination are simply not working.

Slippery Australian Lawyers

Some things are universal. It is a comfort to know that in some ways, but in other ways it can make one despair.

This is true of a recent story from Australia, which proves the universal constant that lawyers will always be gits.

A Sydney cab driver called Hassan Nagi (above) raped three women - one in 2003, one in 2006 and one in 2007.

His lawyer, Clive Steirn, mitigated by arguing three things; firstly, that his client suffered from something called 'Don Juanism', the male version of nymphomania. Secondly, that the fact that he didn't 'bash' the women or otherwise harm them after the rape should be taken into account to prove the man's good character; and thirdly that because the the rapes were spread out over a period of five years, Nagi could not be classified as a serial offender.

Fortunately, the judge saw sense, and snapped that Nagi does not get rewarded for not belting his victims after raping them. He also said he found the Don Juanism argument 'challenging'.

Here is the full story:

TAXI driver Hassan Nagi should not receive a harsh sentence for raping three women as he suffered a condition called "Don Juanism" which made him addicted to sex, his barrister said yesterday.
Clive Steirn SC also urged a District Court judge to spare the sex predator a "crushing" sentence because he never bashed his victims while he was raping them.

"There was no gratuitous violence. None of the women was physically harmed. It's an important consideration," he said.

The submissions drew gasps from the public gallery, including from two of Nagi's victims. It also earned a rebuke from Judge James Bennett who said: "He doesn't get rewarded for not belting them."

Mr Steirn said Nagi, 37, from Bexley, had been diagnosed with Don Juanism after visiting brothels from the age of 20. The disorder was "a man's equivalent of nymphomania".

he's loving and gentle, says rapist's brother

"The pattern of frequent sexual contact in an environment in which there is no commitment is characteristic of Don Juanism," he said.

Judge Bennett said of the diagnosis: "I find those views challenging."

But Mr Steirn said Nagi - who has pleaded guilty to raping female passengers in 2003, 2006 and 2007 - was merely being "opportunistic" and should be punished "at the lower end of the spectrum".

"He's taken advantage of their extreme states of intoxication to carry out the offences," he said.

"In terms of driving a cab over many years, he had ample opportunity to commit other types of offences.

"It cannot be said he is a serial offender. These are three separate episodes over five years."

Crown prosecutor Brad Hughes rejected suggestions Nagi's crimes were made less serious by the fact his victims were drunk.

"He's preying on passengers who would probably have no other way of getting home," he said.

"They place themselves at the mercy of a taxi driver. This taxi driver has abused that position."

Nagi's sister-in-law Fatima Kazan told the court the offender was an "honest, caring person who would not harm a soul".

"I cannot put two and two together," she said.

"He says the right things, he does the right things."

She recalled how Nagi initially denied the charges but on the eve of his trial tearfully told his family he would plead guilty instead.

"He said, 'This is what I've got to do, if I've done something wrong I'm sorry for the victims and for the shock to the family'," she said.

"He's very, very sorry. He's always crying, he's always depressed."

In June 2007, Nagi picked up a 27-year-old woman outside a football match in Kogarah and drove her to an industrial area, where he forced her into sex, pushing her face-first to the ground.

She managed to escape from the taxi when it stopped at traffic lights.

DNA samples taken from Nagi after his arrest linked him to similar cases involving victims aged 23 and 31.

In December 2006, Nagi raped the younger woman after picking her up outside a Kings Cross nightclub. He laughed at her during the assault and afterwards offered her $20, increasing it to $50 when she refused to accept it.

The other victim, raped in the back of his cab in July 2003, was also picked up outside a Kings Cross nightclub.

Drunk and vulnerable, the woman could not fight off Nagi as he told her: "You know you want this."

Nagi's bail was revoked and he was last night in custody. He returns on June 3 for sentencing.

I'm sure he's very sorry - sorry that he got caught. God only knows how many times he struck women too drunk to remember what happened. The fact that in 2009 a lawyer can offer these sorts of excuses for a series of rapes is very disturbing indeed.

Dutch in Overijssel Object to 'Islamic' Ad Campaign

The Dutch province of Overijssel launched the following advertising campaign in order to attract the attention of tourists to its beautiful scenery and landscape.

The front page of the website and some of the posters feature a variety of people standing in front of scenic spots. One of these images is of a young Muslim woman wearing a headscarf standing in front of a panoramic view of fields.

You can see it below on the far left of the image.

Some of the residents of Kampen, a town described as 'strongly Protestant', objected to this representation of their province, however - whenever the posters were put up on bus stops, a number of mysterious Dutchmen and women would go around plastering them with stickers which stated:

'Overijssel is niet islamitisch' (Overijssel is not Islamic).

A spokeswoman for the province said that the vast majority of residents had no problem at all with the adverts, which feature many other people. She said that provincial employees had been instructed to remove the stickers on sight.

Critics who wrote to newspapers about the ad campaign called it disrespectful. One wrote:
'What does Overijssel have to do with Islam? Particularly when it comes to the landscape and culture of Overijssel?"

In response to this, some wags have launched a 'Overijssel is niet Friesland' campaign, which aims to highlight the fact that the advert features Friesian cows which are clearly foreign to Overijssel.

I say they are missing the point, however. The Muslim woman was featured in the tourist poster for the purposes of political correctness and social engineering. The brutal facts are that any place in the Netherlands where Muslims live in high concentrations, one would not wish to go.

Good on the Dutch patriots who are not afraid to point this out, no matter how eccentric their behaviour might seem to some. It is about time more people in Europe stood up to the elites and said enough is enough - we will be represented how we choose, from tourist posters to the European Parliament and beyond.

Forced Conversions and Radicalisation in Bulgaria

Bulgaria fell under the Islamic yoke in 1393, and it wasn't free of Ottoman and Muslim influence in any meaningful sense until the late 19th Century.

Here is an account from Wikipedia:

In 1393, the Ottomans captured Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, after a three-month siege. In 1396, the Vidin Tsardom fell after the defeat of a Christian crusade at the Battle of Nicopolis. With this, the Ottomans finally subjugated and occupied Bulgaria.^[29][30][31] A Polish-Hungarian crusade commanded by Władysław III of Poland set out to free the Balkans in 1444, but the Turks defeated it in the battle of Varna.

Some accounts of the five centuries of Ottoman rule highlight its violence and oppression. The Ottomans decimated the Bulgarian population, which lost most of its cultural relics. Turkish authorities destroyed most of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses in order to prevent rebellions. Large towns and the areas where Ottoman power predominated remained severely depopulated until the 19th century.^[9]

The new authorities dismantled Bulgarian institutions at anything above the village or communal level, and merged the separate Bulgarian Church into the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, although a small, autocephalous Bulgarian archbishopric of Ohrid survived until January 1767.

Bulgarians in the Ottoman empire had to endure a number of disabilities; they paid more taxes than Muslims, they lacked legal equality with Muslims, they could not carry arms, their clothes could not rival those of Muslims in color, nor could their churches tower as high as mosques.^[32] Bulgarians who converted to Islam, the Pomaks, retained Bulgarian language, dress and some customs compatible with Islam.^[30][31]

Well, it seems that despite Bulgaria's membership of the European Union, Muslim influence is again on the march - but this time the threat isn't from Turks but Saudi Wahabists.

Here is an article by a Bulgarian MP which tells of the situation in some of Bulgaria's southern villages:

Despite Bulgaria's European Union membership, some regions of the country need a second liberation from Ottoman yoke, the Bulgarian Member of the Parliament (MP), Yane Yanev, stated, cited by the Bulgarian news agency, BGNES.

Yanev, who is the leader of the opposition "Order, Law, Justice" Party (RZS) spoke Monday in Blagoevgrad as reported by the local BGNES correspondent.

The leaders of RZS visited Monday several villages in Southern Bulgaria to meet with alarmed teachers and parents, who have presented concrete evidence of the imposed conversion to fundamentalist Islam in the region.

The example of the village of Ribnovo, in the Gurmen municipality, has been presented as the most striking one. In Ribnovo, the school principal, Feim Issa, had imposed full dictatorship on the teaching staff, forcing them to wear traditional Muslim clothes, and encouraging female student to the same. Issa has been illegally appointed as principal with help of the local mosque's leaders and is actively supporting the religion teacher at the school, Murat Boshnak.

Boshnak is, reportedly, an individual with suspicious past and unclear educational background. He is not holding even a Bulgarian high school diploma, but has graduated from a religious school in Skopje, Macedonia. Ribnovo residents allege that Boshnak has specialized in Saudi Arabia and is forcefully making parents to sign requests for their children to study the Islam. He is also demanding that children address him as "aga' instead of "gospodin" (Mister), had prohibited girls from attending the last prom in civil attire and issued a ban on celebrations.

Boshnak later organized a trip to Turkey with funds from an Arab foundation. Only one girl had attended the prom. Parents, who refuse to follow the fundamentalist rules, are being cursed during services in the local mosque.

Yanev had established similar examples in the village of Satovcha, where the school principal regularly attended classes in radical Islamism in an illegal local fundamentalist school. The principal was currently on maternity leave and, in order to keep the school under control, had appointed her own husband to replace her.

The residents of the villages visited by Yanev are not Turks; they are all Bulgarian-Muslims, speaking only Bulgarian language.

The RZS leader stated he was appalled by the extreme violations of the rights and freedoms of Bulgarian citizens, embedded in the Constitution. RZS distributed to the media video postcards, showing how radical Islam is quickly taking roots in the country, under the courteous watch of the ruling tri-party Coalition.

Yanev and his colleague Dimitar Abadzhiev vowed to signal the State Agency for National Security (DANS) about the citizens' rights violations in the region, which, they say, are sabotaging European values and leading the way of Islam in Europe.

I think this situation makes a very important point; once Islamic influence is entrenched, it does not die.

If Bulgaria, with just over 12% of its population Muslim, is a bridgehead for Islam in Europe, then what of Turkey and its aspirations to join the EU?

More importantly, what about the fact that Muslim Albania has already applied to join, and this was not really covered in any great depth by the media?

The future of Europe has the potential to be bleak as things stand, without inviting these Trojan horses to join.

A Muslim Microcosm in Britain

Four stories came in quick succession yesterday, all of them with something to say about the current place of Islam and Muslims in British society.

There is a disturbing note, however - when it comes to standing up to Muslim extremists, the only people who seem to have any fire are other Muslims.

1) The BBC have agreed to pay £30,000 in damages to the Muslim Council of Britain and apologise on air after a panellist on the programme 'Question Time' said the organisation did not do enough to condemn the killing of British troops.

From the Mail:

The Corporation caved in after a panellist on the Question Time TV programme accused the country's most influential Muslim organisation of failing to condemn attacks on soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The broadcaster was threatened with legal action over comments by former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore during a debate about Islamic protests which marred a soldiers' homecoming parade in Luton.

Mr Moore blamed the MCB's leadership for its apparent reluctance to condemn the killing and kidnapping of British soldiers overseas. He went on to claim that it thought it was a 'good thing' to kill troops.

Faced with the threat of a writ, the BBC made an offer of 'amends' and an apology on the Question Time website. But this has been rejected and the MCB is demanding an apology on air.

The Corporation's decision to pay out will raise eyebrows in Whitehall, where ministers have refused to settle a similar defamation claim over a letter written by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.

Here is Mr Moore's comment compared to that of Hazel Blears, who refused to pay or apologise and has received no further correspondence:

Moore is absolutely correct, of course, and the BBC should be ashamed of this cowardly act funded by the taxpayer.

2) This story is very interesting. Yesterday in Luton, a large group of Muslims gathered to confront 12 or so extremists from the same sect which had denounced British troops returning from Iraq back in March.

The large group were described as 'moderates', and appeared to be ordinary Muslims who had just left a mosque after Friday prayers.

As the extremists set up their stall, a crowd surrounded them shouting 'out, out, out' and 'we don't want you here'.

Scuffles then broke out between the two groups as the extremists shouted 'get back to your synagogue'.

As police officers struggled to hold the two groups apart, a Muslim man was heard to say to officers: 'we came to drive them off the streets because you won't'.

Although on the surface this seems a very positive development, I'm not so sure. The only reason the moderates were angry is because they are bearing the brunt of the backlash for the message of the 'extremists'. Soon after the demo against the troops, an Islamic community centre was firebombed.

You rarely hear 'moderate' Muslims denounce the many negative actions carried out in the name of Islam. Therefore I must wonder, are the 'moderates' upset because of the message of the 'extremists', or the fact that it was causing some Britons to stir in their slumber?

3) A Muslim woman has been jailed for seven years for treating her three daughters-in-law like 'slaves' and 'dogs'.

From the Mail:

Naseebah Bibi, 63, would not let the women leave the family home in Blackburn, Lancashire, without her permission.

One of her victims told detectives she was forced to work on an industrial sewing machine day and night for 13 years.

Bibi, of Pringle Street, was convicted by a jury at Preston Crown Court last month of falsely imprisoning Nagina Akhtar between 1993 and 2006, Tazeem Akhtar from 2001 to 2003 and Nisbah Akhtar between 2005 and 2007.

All three women were brought to the UK following arranged marriages to Bibi's three sons but were subjected to beatings and abuse from her after they arrived.

Sentencing her, Judge Robert Brown said it was evident that her victims were 'traumatised by you both physically and psychologically and spent long periods living in fear'. The daughters-in-law had high expectations of a happy family life in England when they married their first cousins in Pakistan but instead they were cruelly abused and allowed no contact with the outside world.

One of the victims, Nagina, told the police that she was ordered to spend her time sewing as soon as she arrived in Blackburn in 1993 following her marriage to Bibi's son Fahim and was also told she could not have a higher education.

She carried on sewing up to a fortnight before the caesarean birth of one of her three children and was back on the machine within a month.

When the sewing work ran out she was made to do household chores, cooking and cleaning.

She said Bibi struck her with a brush handle and slapped her across the face whenever she disobeyed her.

Sisters Nisbah and Tazeem also gave evidence to the jury that their lives were 'made hell'. They too were slapped across the face, hit with a brush handle and struck with shoes when they answered back to Bibi.

4) A teacher has been sacked after allegedly giving two boys a detention because they would not kneel and pray to Allah during an RE lesson.

An investigation by the school found that there was absolutely no truth to the allegation. The teacher was suspended after outraged parents complained, and the investigation has just been concluded.

The school refuses to say why, if the allegation is untrue, the teacher was sacked:

The school suspended the teacher last July after receiving complaints and a lengthy disciplinary process was carried out.

A statement released on behalf of the school by Cheshire East Council said: 'It can be confirmed that following a long and rigorous disciplinary process, a member of staff at Alsager School has been dismissed from her post.

'The member of staff was suspended in July 2008 following parental complaints and newspaper reports relating to an RE lesson.

'In reaching this decision, the governing body wish to make very clear that they were completely satisfied that at no point did that member of staff make children pray to Allah or put boys in detention for refusing to do so.

'The RE lesson in question contains an element of role play which complies with acceptable practice.'

Geert Wilders Talks Sense on the Joanie de Rijke Case

Joanie de Rijke (above) is a Dutch journalist who was kidnapped by the Taliban in the Sorobi district of Afghanistan last year. She was there to report on the deaths of ten French commandos, hacked to pieces by Taliban fighters.

She arranged to meet a Taliban commander, in order to 'hear their side of the story'. When the fighters came to the meeting, they simply kidnapped her. Despite this, she still refuses to admit she was taking unnecessary risks.

She was held for six days before the magazine she worked for paid a ransom to free her. She was raped by the commander during her ordeal, and she has now written a book called 'Held by the Taliban'.

Some feel that she is being overly lenient to her abductors, however. Here are some passages from her on the experience:

"I can't be angry with them, because they let me live."

"I couldn't be sure whether the ransom would be paid, which meant I didn't know what was going to happen to me. To break the constant tension, you have to talk to each other. The situation was very tense. The whole atmosphere was very tense. The commander, one moment he was friendly to me and the next moment he went mad because - I don't know - of some news he got, and then he threatened to kill me. So, there was always tension. And to break that tension, you had to talk and laugh a bit. It was a matter of surviving."

On the rape ordeal:

"It's not black and white. It was the commander who raped me. I wanted to give vent to my hatred, to chop his head off and kick it off the cliff. He was schizophrenic: the following day, he said he was sorry. In that sort of situation - no matter how awful - you develop a bond with those people. You have to, if you want to survive. You could say the hatred and that bond go side by side.

"Just let me make one thing clear: I hate him for what he did to me. I hate him because he raped me. I was very, very mad and I wanted to kill him right away. But the day after it happened, he more or less asked me to forgive him. That was very confusing for me. It was a very schizophrenic situation because he had mood swings. I just had to cope with that. Normally you can show that you are angry but I couldn't of course. I had to get on with them. I just couldn't say to this commander what I was really thinking because then he would have killed me right away."

Ms de Rijke says that she was nevertheless shown respect.

"These things can exist side by side. That doesn't mean that I'm suffering from Stockholm syndrome."

I can understand that she feels grateful she got away at all. I just feel she is directing that gratitude at the wrong people.

Geert Wilders is now being condemned for a statement he made about her case during a parliamentary debate:

'She showed understanding for this horrible deed and then was given tea and biscuits,' Wilders said in parliament. That is symbolic for the 'moral decline of our elite', he was quoted as saying. Politicians, civil servants, mangers and 'subsidy swallowers' have all lost their way and are suffering from Stockholm syndrome, he said.

But doesn't he have a point? The modern way is to conceal whilst pretending to reveal. No one seems interested in why what happened did happen, the worldview and belief system which drives such behaviour - a worldview which can be seen increasingly in many Western cities. We half-heartedly condemn whilst trying to understand, to reconcile our view of one happy world with just why they hate us so much, hold us in so much contempt.

As far as I'm aware (and I don't speak Dutch, so I may well have missed something) Miss de Rijke has condemned the man who raped her, as an individual.

What she has failed to do is think about why he behaved like that, why it is apparently so dangerous for a blonde Dutch woman to travel to certain parts of the world in the first place. An act such as this deserves no understanding, only condemnation.

But the elite were too busy shouting Wilders down to take a moment for introspection, despite the fact that he clearly condemned the despicable crimes against de Rijke:

GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema accused Wilders of having no ethical boundaries. 'You should be ashamed,' she said. 'Not one millimeter,' Wilders replied.

Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende said the statement was 'painful and tasteless'. De Rijke is 'once again the victim because she cannot defend herself,' the PM said.

De Rijke promptly defended herself and denounced the statement, insisting that if Wilders read her book he would see he is wrong.

Well, I've read some of her quotes translated into English, as displayed above, and I'm not sure he is.

Muslim Sex Offender Escapes Jail Sentence

A judge let off a London Underground cleaner who posed as a ticket inspector in order to force himself on a frightened teenage girl.

From the Independent:

Muhammad Bashir, 34, accosted a 17-year-old from Edinburgh in February last year, accused her of wrongly having a child's ticket and ordered her to follow him, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He led the tearful girl through corridors at Euston station as she worried about being caught with the wrong ticket by a man she believed was an inspector.

Andrew Collings, prosecuting, said matters turned "sinister" when Bashir got her on her own and told her he would let her off if she kissed him on the lips, before pushing her up against a wall to kiss her.

The upset teenager managed to raise the alarm and Bashir was arrested.

He pleaded guilty on 31 March this year to one count of sexual assault on 7 February last year, the court heard.

In mitigation, Jason Reed said Bashir, of Grantham Road, Ilford, Essex, was a man of previous good character who felt "deep shame and regret".

"What stands out from the report is his expression of genuine remorse and bewilderment of what came over him that day," he said.

Remorse that she actually managed to raise the alarm and was believed, no doubt.

Judge Peter Fingret said: "This appalling offence is aggravated by your posing as a person of authority on the station where you were working as a cleaner. This pretence was made towards a young girl of 17 who clearly needed help and not the depravity of a person such as yourself.

"You exploited her fragility and, having taken her through various corridors which must have been a very scary situation for her, you then kissed her on the lips, forcing her into that position."

He told the court the teenager's victim impact statement revealed the "drastic" effect of his actions.

The judge said: "She finds it hard to trust any member of the London Underground staff. She has problems sleeping and distrusts men and it has had a severe impact on her studies and this is all your fault.

"If there had been any previous behaviour of this description, you would be going to prison today for a long time.

"It is only because you have no previous convictions that you are saved from that."

So despite all of that, all he received was 175 hours community service. Whatever his previous character, he clearly cannot control himself around young women. Yet still, the judge knows best.

He will have any future crimes this man commits on his conscience.

Oslo Mosque Visited by Queen Linked to Jamaat-e-Islami

On Wednesday I wrote about Norwegian Queen Sonja's visit to a mosque in Oslo.

It has now emerged that the mosque in question, attached to the Islamic Cultural Centre Norway, has links to the extreme Pakistani political party Jamaat-e-Islami - nor has it ever made a secret of this fact.

Here is some information on the party and its aims from Wikipedia:

The JI envisions an Islamic government in Pakistan governing by Islamic law. It opposes Westernization — including capitalism, socialism, secularism or such practices as bank interest, and liberalist social mores.^[2]

JI stated means to power is by peaceful methods — "We have to convince the people that a ‘Bloody Revolution’ is a path leading to destruction and the ‘Islamic Revolution’ is the path ensuring true change and deliverance."^[3] It seeks to convert members of the Pakistani elite to its cause and "exercising influence in all branches of Pakistani society".^[4]

JI advocates the use of the Pakistani army to separate the predominately-Muslim province of Kashmir from India, and its president has called for a base-camp for the jihad in Indian-administered Kashmir.^[5] Insinuations of links between JI and al-Qaeda have also been alleged. ^[6]

Islam in Europe has the full report, translated from Aftenposten:

The Islamic Cultural Center mosque has never hidden where they get their ideological inspiration: from Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan, an organization considered to be an extreme group on the extremist side of the religious and political landscape.

When the Norwegian royal family wanted to visit a Muslim community in Norway for the first time ever Monday, they chose the Islamic Cultural Center. It's unclear if Queen Sonja was aware of the links between the Islamic Cultural Center in Oslo and religious extremist groups in Pakistan.

Spokesperson at the palace Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen says that the Queen was there after having received an invitation to open an exhibition, and added that generally that Royal family doesn't comment on the reasons for their appearances.

Per Sandberg, Deputy head of the Frp (Progress Party), thinks the royal family can naturally visit whomever they want. But, he says, he would have wished the queen didn't legitimize a mosque with radical attitudes. She could have visited a mosque with moderate points of view. It's a paradox that so many Muslims in Norway follow radical movements within Islam after they come to Norway.

Laila Bokhari, researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, says that Jamaat-e-Islami is a fundamentalist and conservative movement. One of the movement's top leaders, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, is, at best, unclear about his attitude towards al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, according to Bokhari.

Ahmad was invited by the Islamic Cultural Center in Oslo in 2004 to give a speech. Fahrat Taj, originally from Pakistan, is writing a doctoral dissertation on human rights and Islam. She say that the Islamic Cultural Center, via its ideological links to Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan, puts itself on the fundamentalist wing.

Taj says that in Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami is considered to have connections with al-Qaida. It's typical that Jamaat-e-Islami is now one of three political groups who don't support the army's operations against extremism in the Swat area.

According to the Pakistani press, around 1990 Qazi Hussain Ahmad has several meetings with bin Laden. After the terror attack against the US on September 11, 2001, he said the Jews were responsible. When one of the top leaders of al-Qaeda, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, was arrested in 2003, he was found in the home of then important member of Jamaat-e-Islami. Several experts consulted by Aftenposten emphasize, however, that Jamaat-e-Islami was never a part of bin Laden's terrorist network.

Mehboob ur-Rehman, an imam at the Islamic Cultural Center, sits on the European Fatwa Council headed by Egytpian Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Earlier this year al-Qaradawi congratulated Adolf Hitler for punishing the Jews during WWII.

Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in British India in the 1940s and is based on the ideas of Sayyid Maududi. The main idea was an Islamic state which will be pure of Western influence. At the end of the 1970s, Jamaat-e-Islamic was a mainstay for Zia ul-Haq's ultra-reactionary regime, which introduced Islamic law in large parts of Pakistani society.

Jamaat-e-Islamic and the Islamic Cultural Center threaten women's rights, thinks Hege Storhaug, spokesperson for Human Rights Service.

"Queen Sonja could hardly have been aware of which ideological platform ICC supports when on Monday she, with a scarf over her head, spoke to the sex-segregated assembly," she says.

Storhaug points out that ICC's ideological leaders is Sayyid Maududi. He particularly infamous for the book "Purdah and the Status of Women" from 1939. It degrades women to second-class citizens. He writes that women's eyes are an 'erogenous zone' that can lead to adultery. The same holds for a woman's voice, which Maudud characterizes as 'agent of the devil'.

She refers to an article in Aftenposten from 2004 where the Islamic Cultural Center proposed polygamy. Even after Aftenposten's revelation the pamphlets were available in ICC's premises.

Storhaug says that it involved a careful defense of man's right to have four wives.

The Islamic Cultural Center (ICC) sees in Jamaat-e-Islami a religious and ideological starting point.

"Yes, it's correct that we see in Jamaat-e-Islamic our source of inspiration," says a spokesman.

ICC is an independent community in Norway without organizational links to Jamaat-e-Islami in Paksitan. But when ICC sends humanitarian help, the money goes through organizations related to Jamaat-e-Islami.

Q: Five years ago the ICC in Oslo invited Jamaat-e-Islami head Qazi Hussain Ahmad. What position do you take to Ahmad's points of view on Osmaa bin-Laden?

A: "The opinions on Osama bin Laden are his personally. We invite many, and they all get to promote their points of view," the mosque answers.

Q: Is it relevant to reconsider membership in the European Fatwa Council after president Yusuf al-Qaradawi's honoring of Adolf Hitler?

A: "No, it's not relevant at all. In the Fatwa Council there are members with many different opinions. What they do there, is to discuss the problems Muslims meet in their every day lives."

Hat tip: Islam in Europe.

Lax Prisons in Australia

The Sydney gang rapes occurred through the last half of the year 2000. There are four known attacks, involving up to fourteen Lebanese men raping young Australian girls and women.

The attacks were led by Bilal Skaf and his brother Mohammed. They caused widespread revulsion in Australia, particularly when the racial element was taken into account. The rapes were identified as 'hate crimes', committed against certain victims simply by virtue of their ethnicity.

Bilal Skaf is serving a 36 year jail term, whilst Mohammed is serving a 23 year term.

It was announced yesterday that not only had they been sharing a cell at Goulburn Jail, the most secure prison in New South Wales, but that mobile phones were discovered in their cell after a tip off.

Officers believe that the items may have been thrown over the prison wall. After a strip search and a spell in segregation, Mohammed Skaf has been moved to Lithgow Jail.

"The (Corrective Services) commissioner and I are going to look at whether it's appropriate for siblings, especially siblings like the Skafs, who have committed an offence like they have, in company, whether they ought to be not only in the same prison but in the same cell," Corrective Services Minister John Robertson told reporters.

Well quite.

The NSW opposition aren't happy:

The NSW opposition has called for a full investigation into the Skafs' possession of the mobile phones to ensure such items do not again make their way inside prison walls.

"When courts send serial rapists like the Skaf brothers to jail ... there is meant to be punishment. The public does not expect them to have access to mobile phones," Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said.

Exactly. Here's a reminder of just what these individuals are being punished for:

Attacks

10 August 2000, Thursday

Attackers offered a ride and a portion of marijuana to two teenage girls aged 17 and 18. The women were taken by the attackers to Northcote Park, Greenacre where more collaborators were waiting. The women were then forced to fellate eight males.^[5]

12 August 2000, Saturday

A 16-year-old girl was brought to Gosling Park, Greenacre by who she believed was her friend, 17-year-old Mohammed Skaf. At the park she was raped by Mohammed's brother Bilal Skaf, and one other man, with twelve other men present who she said were "standing around, laughing and talking in their own language".^[6] The second man held a gun to her head and kicked her in the stomach, before she was able to escape.^[7]

30 August 2000, Wednesday

Another woman was approached by attackers at the Bankstown train station, who proposed she join them in smoking some marijuana at another location. She agreed and went with them, however she was taken to three separate locations by the men, raped 25 times by a total of fourteen men, in an ordeal that lasted six hours. After the attacks the woman was hosed down with a fire hose. The woman, who was known during the trial as 'C' to protect her identity, later told her story to 60 Minutes. She told of how the attackers called her an "Aussie Pig", asked her if "Leb cock tasted better than Aussie cock" and explained to her that she would now be raped "Leb-style".^[8]

4 September 2000, Monday

Two women, both 16, were taken by the attackers from Beverly Hills train station to a house in another suburb, where three men repeatedly raped them over a period of five hours. One of the victims was told that "You deserve it because you're an Australian".^[9]

Further attempted attacks

A further series of gang rapes were said to have been attempted, but thwarted. Four of the attackers were also convicted for an attack on Friday 4 August 2000 when they approached a fourteen-year-old girl on a train where she was threatened with violence, punched twice and slapped,^[10] told that she would be forced to perform fellatio on several men and that she was going to be raped.^[11]

The prison service should give them no comfort or quarter during their stay at the taxpayers' expense.

The Wrong Kind of Diversity

As we know, the BBC are committed to diversity and reflecting the wonderful, happy and united society we live in with their output.

To demonstrate that commitment, it has been revealed that Syed Masood, a Muslim character in the soap opera Eastenders, will embark on a gay love affair with an openly gay character. Scenes sure to shock his on-screen mother, a Pakistani matriarch who provides light comic relief, include a kiss.

Marc Elliot, who plays Masood, told BBC Asian Network:

"I think EastEnders would be doing the programme a disservice if they didn't give a voice to various communities. I think that's really important because I think London is a very ethnically diverse multicultural place, and EastEnders has a job to reflect that in the storylines it gives people and the characters they have on board."

That's what we like to see, isn't it? After all, we're all open minded, tolerant, and accepting of the new status quo wrought by multiculturalism.

Aren't we? I mean, all communities deserve to be represented in the patchwork of the multi-coloured and textured quilt which is modern Britain.

Not everyone is delighted, however:

The gay storyline has been criticised by Asghar Bokhari of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.

"The Muslim community deserves a character that represents them to the wider public because Islamophobia is so great right now," he said.

"There's a lack of understanding of Muslims already and I think EastEnders really lost an opportunity to present a normal friendly Muslim character to the British public."

Ah yes.

Well, you can't please all of the people all of the time. It's nice to see the diversity mantra being used to upset people other than conservative Britons for a change, however.

After all - acceptance of those different is the only relevant measure of civility in today's society, is it not?

More on Criminality in the Netherlands

Further to my post earlier this week about Moroccan criminality and delinquency in major Dutch cities, I have found more information which is relevant to the subject.

Yesterday Dutch News reported that an Amsterdam court had rejected a request by the public prosecutors office (OM) to automatically double sentences for violence against police officers.

On Tuesday seventeen youths appeared in court for engaging in acts of violence towards civil servants. However, the judges felt that unlike youth workers, paramedics and the fire brigade, it is the job of the police to deal with violence and face aggression.

Police officers said that the ruling sends out the wrong message. They are tired of being blamed by the public for their lack of action in certain neighbourhoods and the soaring crime rate. The softly softly and ineffective approaches of the police in some areas must be blamed squarely on the politicians, said the Works Council for police in Gouda:

The growing criticism in society of the alleged soft methods of the police should be directed at politicians rather than police personnel. "We are just doing our work," said a statement published yesterday by the Works Council (OR) of the Gouda police region.

Gouda has been in the news frequently since last year as a sort of 'free state' for Moroccan criminals, some no older than 9. The OR (a sort of internal trade union within an organisation) of the Gouda police acknowledges the problem, but is fed up with being blamed.

"People suggest that we are lazy, that we take no action," OR chairman Gerrit-Willem Hoek declared on behalf of the officers. "But we are merely putting into practice what those in power have decided. We do not decide what fines are imposed, we just do our work. The fact that this is our job does not give anyone the right to use us as a boxing ball".

Hoek points the finger to politicians and the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM). They decide how to deal with troublemakers, not the police. He also suggested that violence against the police is beginning to occur on an unacceptable scale. "We will no longer put up with violence against our colleagues and we will not put up with our performance being constantly criticised."

The Christian Democrats have vowed to look into heftier prison sentences and sanctions for those who are violent towards the police.

They fail to look at root causes, however. The way that the police deal with criminals, particularly the violent groups of youths of immigrant descent who plague certain areas, has changed. Once upon a time the onus was on arrest, punishment and preventing escalation.

Now, it's about dialogue and being seen to do and say the right things. The youths, often from far stricter societies and backgrounds, feel invincible. Even things which are generally regarded as quite serious seem only to merit counselling or community punishments.

The imbues them with no respect for the Dutch state and authorities:

Chairman Gerrit van de Kamp of police union ACP wants the RHC to instruct the police to take tougher action instead of have them opt for dialogue and avoiding escalation. "In the past, the police simply tackled groups of young troublemakers with their truncheons. This is apparently no longer in line with our system," he said cynically.

What sort of sentences prolific and violent criminals receive is obviously very important.

What's more important, however, is recognising the source of these problems to begin with. The Netherlands used to be a very safe country, and in many respects it is not now - why?

Corine de Ruiter, professor of forensic psychology in Maastricht and her colleague Kim van Oorsouw think they have the answer.

They think - take a deep breath and make sure you are seated - that Islam might be a contributing factor to this delinquent behaviour, found primarily in Moroccan and Turkish males.

Here is the full report, translated by Islam in Europe's Esther:

The Dutch justice ministry is investigating which approach to youth criminality works. Using this information, the cabinet will deal with the problematics of Moroccan youth.

Islam is possibly one of the causes of delinquent behavior of Moroccan youth, suggests Corine de Ruiter, professor of forensic psychology in Maastricht who - together with others - mapped out for the justice ministry ways to deal with criminal Moroccan youth. According to De Ruiter, Moroccan (and Turkish) youth are 'backwards in their moral development'.

This backwardness is one of the factors which can cause criminal behaviour: it's been scientifically shown that delinquents often have decreased moral functions, less emphatic abilities and less aggression controls. This less well developed 'moral reasoning' of Moroccan and Turkish youth is explained, according to De Ruiter and her coworker Kim van Oorsouw, by the Islamic background of these minority groups.

"In Islam the emphasis is on obedience and respect for the parents. Individualism and independence are less important - and these are exactly the qualities which can bring moral development to a higher level,' according to the co-authors of the knowledge base for dealing with criminal Moroccan youth.

Children in Dutch families grow up with a 'democratic negotiation style' and much consultation with the parents, where they learn to decide. Islamic children often grow up in a family structure in which they 'must only follow orders'. There is yet no empiric evidence that this goes together with antisocial or criminal behavior, but the authors think it's 'plausible' that it goes like that.

-----------------

Moroccan youth deal with different background factors than Turkish youth. Morocco is less industrialized and less democratic than Turkey and in Morocco women have less political rights, which goes together with illiteracy, to enumerate some differences.

Accordingto the researchers programmes such as the Glenn Mills school for Moroccan youth are also 'not effective in increasing moral maturity, since repression is often already the dominant upbringing style". They see much more benefit in teaching a different style of thinking. Studies abroad show that this approach actually leads to less recidivism. It is also known that Moroccans suffer more than average from schizophrenia. This might well have to do with the frequent cousin marriages, according to researcher Trees Pels, who also worked on the report.

The knowledge base is the basis of the 'Moroccan policy' that the cabinet is now developing. The WODC (Research and Documentation Centre) of the Justice Ministry asked various researchers to write down what is already known and established about the approach of youth crime and antisocial behavior in general, and of immigrant/Moroccan youth in particular.

They are looking for which interventions and regulations have been shown to really work. There are only a few, conclude the researchers. What is available as far as scientific evidence is based mostly on American studies; research of the workings of (foreign) interventions in the Dutch context is highly necessary, argue the authors. Thus it is unknown whether youth in justice youth institutes who don't show problem behaviour any more also keep to it after their release. Probably not, think the researchers.

--------

An important recommendation from the report is that schools should play a bigger role in fighting nuisances and criminality of Moroccan youth. Immigrant parents turn to the (psychological) social worker slower than ethnic Dutch parents, also due to a cultural taboo. Informing the parents is therefore of great importance, say the authors of the knowledge base.

The researchers recommend that schools (school doctors, youth health care, teachers) play a more important role in observing. Teachers, for example, could be encouraged to screen for behavior problems in their class. There's a test with simple questions ('can the child sit still? Does he lie often?') which can signal problem behavior and behavior disorders very early.

When immigrant parents are referred to social workers by the school it can help overcome the hurdle, argue the researchers. It would be better if the social help would be offered at or via the school. That would be seen as a smaller hurdle and less stigmatizing by immigrant parents, but also by parents with a low social-economic status, than when they must go on their own to the youth social care, according to the writers of the knowledge base.

The expectation is that if parents find their way more easily to the volunteer social workers, immigrant over-representation in the non-volunteer, more serious help (youth care) will also decrease.

------------

The increase of 'social binding' among ethnic minorities can also work as a 'buffer against criminal behavior', the researchers, who worked for WODC, think. The social binding can be reinforced by strengthening the social cohesion within the (Moroccan) families.

"Parent training can already be done during the elementary school period. Moroccan parents appear to have problems recognizing their child shows difficult manageability behavior." Teachers do recognize this behaviour, a reason to already offer 'preventive intervention' in school.

Other findings of the researchers: the creation of places to hang out for at-risk youth often has a contrary effect; setting up a curfew is not effective in fighting crime, but improving street lighting is. More random 'blue' on the street is not beneficial, but directing extra patrols at certain times and areas works demonstrably well.

Obviously, there's a lot of flowery language and high-minded notions there. But, the scales are beginning to fall, ever so slowly, from the eyes of the multicultural faithful.

They may not be coming to the right conclusions (my response to the above is to ask why the Dutch need violent colonists from an acknowledged backward culture in the first place), but they are beginning to ask the right questions.

They are also beginning to realise that simply throwing money at the problem and accusing everyone who even thinks about highlighting these problems of racism is a failed strategy.

The full report is available in Dutch here.

Muslim Left Girlfriend to Die in Burning Car

On 2nd November 2008 at 3 am, Waqas Arshad, 24, crashed his car into a tree whilst driving drunk.

His 17 year old girlfriend Emily Brady (pictured above) was strapped into the passenger seat.

What happened next no one quite seems to have an explanation for.

Arshad climbed out of the car whilst Emily was still alive, making no attempt at all to help her get out of the wreckage. He ran towards the road screaming and waving his arms, but when witnesses arrived on the scene they said he was not speaking English so they could not understand what had happened.

The car then caught fire. Another witness dialled 999 - Arshad didn't even bother to call for help.

When the fire brigade arrived on the scene, they asked Arshad if there was anyone in the car, and he said no.

They proceeded to tackle the blaze, but by then it was too late for Emily. After discovering her carbonised remains in the wreckage, the fire officer again asked Arshad if there had been anyone else in the car.

He lied a second time, before trying to convince the emergency services that he was not the driver.

Arshad was arrested and charged. He was found to have cannabis in his system and be above the legal alcohol limit.

Whilst out on bail, he was stopped by police in the early hours and again found to be driving whilst drunk.

Emily's mother branded his behaviour 'despicable':

'I am shocked and distressed to learn at this hearing that Waqas Arshad denied she was in the car, made no attempt to rescue her, and in fact lied to the emergency services that she was in the car, trying to conceal her body.'

At Luton Crown Court yesterday Judge John Bevan QC warned Arshad that he faces a 'substantial' prison term.

The formal charges are causing death by careless driving while over the alcohol limit, and causing death by driving while uninsured.

Zimbabwe Begins Repatriating White Britons

Five hundred British passport-holders left destitute in Zimbabwe by the disastrous policies of Robert Mugabe are finally getting the help that they deserve from the British government.

The group have had their assets and savings destroyed by hyper-inflation and the man made economic crisis in Zimbabwe. They include former colonial administrators, civil servants and British settlers.

They will be flown home at the expense of the British taxpayer, resettled here, as will as given full state pensions and entitlements. For once, I think this is very good news.

From the Telegraph:

Fred Noble, a 78-year-old Scot, will return to Fife this weekend, 51 years after he and his wife departed with £100 for what was then Britain’s Crown Colony of Southern Rhodesia. He worked for Rhodesian Railways, retiring on a pension with medical aid 13 years ago.

“I helped more people than helped me and I deserve a Christian burial. I don’t want to get ill in Zimbabwe,” said Mr Noble, who lost his wife four years ago and was the second pensioner to apply for “repatriation” at the British Embassy.

Mr Mugabe’s bankrupt regime stopped paying his pension five years ago, leaving Mr Noble dependent on his investments.

When Zimbabwe’s inflation reached more than 230 million per cent, the value of his portfolio plunged to less than a penny.

“We didn’t do anything wrong, we paid taxes, invested for our old age. My wife used to say, 'All this place has is sunshine, we are wasting our lives here’. My sister, Gwen in UK, sent me £1,600 and it’s gone now,” said Mr Noble. “I was second to apply to go and we had two weeks to prepare to leave.”

To fund his new life in Britain, he will sell his 1967 car and a television for about £250. But some prized possessions will stay behind. “I have an elephant-skin waistcoat - I was a dandy you know - and two pairs of handmade shoes, the best Rhodesia produced,” said Mr Noble. “I’ll give them away. I will take photos, the Bible my wife gave me and my Robbie Burns.”

Anne Budden, 83, is leaving the land of her birth because she can no longer bear to be “a burden on my daughters in Zimbabwe”. She added: “Their husbands are nearing retirement age. They keep on saying I should change my mind, but I must go. My hip operation took my last money. Our three pensions, on which we lived well, disappeared about five years ago.”

Mrs Budden, who was widowed two years ago, lives in a rented flat in Harare, paid for by another daughter in Britain. “I have a lovely life, shielded from what is going on outside, with space, nice people, and my own garden, and I will miss that and especially my two daughters in Zimbabwe who protect me from hardship.”

Although she has spent a lifetime in Africa, Mrs Budden has always cherished her attachment to Britain. “I am leaving the country of my birth but going to the land of my ancestors,” she said. “I love the Queen and I have a daughter in the UK.”

She will move to Farnborough, near another friend from Harare who will also leave this weekend. “We need to support each other as we start new lives,” said Mrs Budden.

British diplomats in Harare have quietly identified pensioners with British citizenship and no means of support. But the Embassy declined to comment on the official repatriation scheme.

About 1,500 other Zimbabwean pensioners have no foreign citizenship, no family and no means of escape. As each penniless Briton departs, a new charity will be able to give more help to those who are left behind. The charity, Zimbabwe: A National Emergency (ZANE), will be their only lifeline.