War Criminals In Great Britain Are Protected By Law

Delwar Hussain published an eye opener in Guradian Unlimited (Comment Is Free) depicting that British Bangladeshis like Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin are among those accused of war crimes in the 1971 war of liberation. In this report he wrote on Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin:

A Channel Four documentary from 1995 made allegations of involvement by British Bangladeshis in the genocide. Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, director of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the NHS, who was until recently vice-chairman of the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre and was involved in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain, is one of the most prominent people to be accused of having carried out war crimes.

Mueen-Uddin is alleged to have been part of a group that abducted and “disappeared” people. Witnesses at the time describe seeing him kidnapping a university professor and a journalist in Dhaka during the war. Mueen-Uddin told the documentary makers “all the accusations being made against me are … utterly false and malicious, and either politically motivated or instigated otherwise”.

Having left the newly created country of Bangladesh for London, Mueen-Uddin, along with other members of JI set up Islamic Forum Europe, an avowedly Islamist organisation connected to the East London Mosque.

As Lucy Lips at Harry's place predicted the Guardian has apparently received a libel threat from solicitors representing Mr Mueen-Uddin and they have deleted the phrases above from that article. They have added this disclaimer:

• On 13 October this article was changed following a legal complaint.

Lucy notes:

Fortunately, I live in New York. This blog is also hosted in the United States. I am therefore protected by the Libel Terrorism Protection Act.

The Guardian, by contrast, struggles to report factual information while handicapped by a law which is a serious and disturbing threat, to freedom of expression, the fight against extremism, and the struggle for justice by the people of Bangladesh.

Lucy also informs how these people use law to muffle voices raised against them:

Prominent members and supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami are now well embedded within the United Kingdom. They more or less run the Muslim Council of Britain and the East London Mosque/London Muslim Centre. The Imam of the East London Mosque distinguished himself recently by signing the notorious Istanbul Declaration, which the Government regards as a threat of terrorism against the Royal Navy and ‘everyone standing with the Zionist Entity’. The London Muslim Centre, similarly, regularly hosts meeting by extremists, including the Al Qaeda cleric, Awlaki.

Thanks to the efforts of judges like Mr Justice Eady, and England’s claimant-friendly law of Defamation, activists connected to Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim Brotherhood routinely instruct their solicitors to fire off letters before action, claiming that their poor client’s reputations have been sullied, whenever blogs or newspapers report on their words, deeds, or the politics of the organisations to which they belong. Harry’s Place receives these sorts of letters all the time.

The Spittoon also carries the news and check out their comments section for some interesting trolls. The Blog urges:

Those who are in favour of freedom of expression and justice in Britain must counter this despicable underhand move by Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin.

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Bangladesh approves 10 new TV channels

Bangladesh’s information ministry has distributed no-objection letters allowing these TV stations to go on air:

1) Ekattur Television (backed by journalist Mozammel Huq Babu)
2) Channel-9 (backed by Syeda Mahbuba Akhter, the wife of retired Brig-Gen Syed Shafayetul Islam, who is younger brother of LGRD Minister and ruling Awami League General-Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam)
3) Independent Television (Salman F. Rahman, Vice-Chairman of Beximco Group and adviser of Awami League chief)
4) ATN News (Mahfuzur Rahman, owner of ATN Bangla TV)
5) Somoy Television (Ahmed Zubair)
6) My TV (Nasir Uddin)
7) Machhranga Television (owned by Anjan Chowdhury, Director of Square Grp)
8) Mohona TV (Kamal Ahmed Majumder, a ruling party MP)
9) GTV (owned by Gazi Golam Ashriar)and
10)Bijoy TV (Chittagong mayor A.B.M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury)

Bangladesh has 11 privately-backed channels already on air, plus two state-backed stations (BTV and BTV World). (Via Rapid TV News)

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Who is gassing whom?

The writing on the wall tells that the very people who were gassed during the world war II by the Nazi monsters have become monsters themselves and trying to annihilate a race in the very same manner. Soul searching is needed for the people who are advocating hatred.

The documentary Welcome to Hebron was filmed for more than three years on location in Hebron, West Bank. Directed by Terje Carlsson this documentary shows how the occupation affects everyday life in Palestine and tries to shed a light on the situation there. It recently won a prize at the Cinefest Daazo Competition in Hungary.

At the center of the story, there's 17-year old Leila Sarsour, a student at the Al-Qurtuba-school, a Palestinian girl school surrounded by Israeli military installations and Israeli settlements (which are considered illegal under international law.) This peculiar location means that the school girls and their teachers are the ideal target for stone, garbage and egg-throwing. As a former commander of the Israel army, who has served 14 months in Hebron explains "When you see a Palestinian, you throw a rock." He adds that it's part of the education as children under twelve cannot be prosecuted.

The trailer of the movie:



Via We Make Money Not Art

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International Cost of Living Trends 2009

This salary purchasing power parity rank comprises cost of living indexes for each of 276 global locations. The indexes are calculated using the prices for specific quantities of the same goods and services in each location, based on expatriate spending patterns across 13 broad categories (Basket Groups). The latest salary purchasing power parity ranking, together with the overall cost of living index, sourced from www.xpatulator.com as at January 2009 is as follows: Rank Location (Overall Cost of Living Index New York=100)

1. Japan, Tokyo (126. 03)
4. Switzerland, Geneva (119. 59)
6. United Kingdom, London (118. 23)
10. Russia, Moscow (113. 41)
11. Nigeria, Lagos (112. 69)
14. France, Paris (112. 38)
16. Italy, Milan (111. 19)
27. Italy, Rome (107. 29)
29. Australia, Sydney (106. 52)
30. USA, San Francisco Calif (104. 53)
34. United Arab Emirates, Dubai (103. 36)
41. Korea Republic of, Seoul (101. 94)
47. Spain, Madrid (100. 26)
50. USA, New York NY (100)
56. Germany, Berlin (98. 18)
59. Canada, Toronto (97. 39)
66. Singapore, Singapore (94. 6)
86. Taiwan, Taipei (90. 07)
97. Vietnam, Hanoi (88. 03)
100. United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi (87. 16)
116. United Kingdom, Birmingham (84. 76)
126. Philippines, Manila (82. 07)
130. Indonesia, Jakarta (81. 76)
137. New Zealand, Auckland (80. 71
144. Thailand, Bangkok (79. 86)
147. China, Beijing (79. 73)
154. Kenya, Nairobi (78. 4)
171. India, Mumbai (76. 04)
183. Saudi Arabia, Riyadh (75. 08)
199. Afghanistan, Kabul (72. 13)
202. Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (71. 82)
206. India, New Delhi (71. 4)
227. Syria, Damascus (67. 99)
234. Nepal, Kathmandu (65. 67)
239. South Africa, Johannesburg (64. 51)
241. Egypt, Cairo (64. 18)
248. Pakistan, Lahore (59. 48)
252. Sri Lanka, Colombo (58. 51)
258. Bangladesh, Dhaka (57. 03)
259. Bhutan, Thimphu (56. 78)
266. Libya, Tripoli (52. 74)
272. Cambodia, Phnom Penh (45. 65)
273. Yemen, Sanaa (45. 6)
276. Zimbabwe, Harare (17. 12)

The total list is here.

The above list consider the expatriate employee spending power and the standard of living maintained irrespective of global location. Bangladesh fares well as one of the cheapest locations in the world to maintain your living standard.

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Now The Chinese Comes Up With Artificial Virginity Hymen kit

Why would people care about women's hymen? "Bleeding on the wedding night is still the proof of the bride's honor in Egypt and Middle Eastern countries" - explains Egyptian journalist Marwa Rakha in Global Voices. An ad for the product runs like this:

Restore your virginity in five minutes with the new technologically advanced product. Kiss your deep dark secret goodbye for only 15$ … no surgery … no needles … no medication … no side effects … only 15$.

Souad Abdel Rasoul from Radio Netherlands spotted the core of the problems of Arab Muslims:

China is a country that has really understood us and revealed our truth, our diseases, and our obsession with image but not content. We are a contradictory nation that suffers from severe schizophrenia.

By selling us prayer beads, Ramadan lanterns, Hajj clothes, veiled Barbie dolls, Islamic swimsuits, and no hymens, China has been caressing the “Islamic” concept inside all of us by providing us with the image of what we want others to see in us, even if it is just a lie.

A commenter on the Global Voices post says:

I personally feel really disturbed with this all subject; virginity can or cannot be considered a moral value, but reducing it to a simple mechanical part that can be “repaired”, “checked” or “verified” has something deeply wrong related to it.

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Quote Of The Day

“One day we will be right up there at the top and it is a realistic prospect. Just look at the players we have. Tamim Iqbal, Ashraful, Mortaza can be match-winners and now we have Rubel [Hossain] who can bowl at 90mph. Give us a few years to grow together. Teams who face us in the coming months will be taking on a victorious unit and not the Bangladesh of old. There is a difference you will notice.”

- Shakib Al-Hasan, Vice Captain, Bangladesh cricket team and The Wisden Cricketer's Test Player Of The Year.

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Indonesia's miseries continue

Another earthquake in Sumatra Islands in Indonesia following yesterday's deadly one brought more miseries to Indonesians.

A second earthquake was recorded shortly before noon (AEST) today in Padang, Indonesia. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck 150 km south of the epicenter of last night’s quake. (source)

Wednesday afternoon's 7.6-magnitude quake toppled buildings and led to fires in Padang, home to nearly 1 million people on the coast of Sumatra, leaving the city largely without power and communications.

United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes said 1,100 people had been confirmed dead and warned that the toll was likely to worsen. Earlier, Indonesia's social affairs ministry said at least 770 people were dead and 2,400 injured, 300 seriously.(source)

Many organizations have already started rescue efforts. One notable initiative is by Air Asia:

In order to help the brethren in Padang in overcoming this disaster, PT Indonesia AirAsia will provide relief flights from Jakarta to Padang and Padang-Jakarta on Sunday, 04 Oktober, 2009. Chairs will be provided free of charge for the flights with Boeing 737-300. Free seats can be booked only through www.airasia.com started 02 Oktober, 2009 from 08.00 am. In Padang, prospective passengers can be booked directly at Minangkabau International Airport. PT Indonesia AirAsia will also allocate cargo space with a capacity of 1.5 tons for delivery the help of medication, food and other goods needed to help the brethren in Padang.

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