Muslims Want FBI Surveillance Reviewed

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

CAIRO — American Muslims want their government to review the recently-revealed FBI surveillance guidelines which they say violate their civil rights through spying and planting mosque informants.

“The Obama administration should review these guidelines and bring them into conformity with the Constitution and with the cherished American values of religious freedom and respect for civil liberties,” Nadhira Al-Khalili, National Legal Counsel of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a press release.

The leading US Muslim advocacy group urged Attorney General Eric Holder to address their concerns about an edited version of the FBI's Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide.

The guide, introduced in the final days of the Bush administration, blacked out a section on how the FBI pursues "assessments" of Americans without evidence of wrongdoing, and on the use of informants in mosques.

Khalili said the guidelines stoke concerns that the Bush administration “put in place policies that will inevitably lead to violations of the Constitution and of the right of all Americans to practice their faith.”

CAIR insisted that many civil liberties groups have repeatedly warned against planting moles inside places of worship.

“It is the FBI’s use of informants in mosques without probable cause indicating criminal activity that has been of particular concern to the American Muslim community.”

Several major American Muslim groups threatened earlier in the year to rupturing all outreach relations with the FBI and the Justice Department, protesting its approach in dealing with their mostly law-abiding community.

Muslims in the US, estimated between six to seven millions, have become sensitized to the erosion of their civil rights after 9/11 in the name of national security.

Wary

CAIR’s call comes while the community is still troubled by the case of Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant arrested over an alleged bombing plot.

He was reportedly approached several times by undercover agents before enough evidence had been gathered against him, in what some described as another example of the FBI’s questionable tactic.

"Our view is: Let's give him a fair trial first,” Ziyad Sarsour, president of the Colorado Muslim Society, told the Denver Post on Thursday, October 1.

“We don't want to hang him first and then give him a trial."

The FBI says it has damning evidences against Zazi, who has already pleaded not guilty in court.

But the New York Times reported Thursday that people briefed on the case and an examination of court papers show that a great deal of the evidence was not the result of a lengthy investigation.

“Instead, much of it was collected on the fly in the last two weeks, with hundreds of FBI agents, federal prosecutors and detectives rushing to fashion a mosaic of details into a case that could be brought to court.”

The daily asserted that several crucial discoveries were made after Zazi had returned on September 12 to Colorado, with his mission, if he had any, aborted.

Denver store and hotel employees said FBI agents did not ask about Zazi’s purchases of beauty salon products that contained the raw materials to make explosives or his stay in a hotel suite to mix them until five days after his return.

Some Muslims in Colorado are particularly wary because the FBI has a history of wrongfully targeting members of their community, citing the case of Haroon Rashid.

Then Attorney General John Ashcroft had cited the case of the Pakistan-born Denver immigrant as an example of home-front terrorism.

But the four-year case against Rashid fizzled and the government resorted to deporting him, separating him from his wife and children who remain in Colorado.

Djilali Kacem, imam at the Denver-North Islamic Center, says this and the government’s questionable track record in terrorism prosecutions leave him skeptical about Zazi’s case.

"That case makes me very cautious."

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Should Girls be Allowed to Marry at Age 16?

By Raphael Mweninguwe

The recent passing of the constitutional amendment bill that allows Malawian girls to be married at the age of 16 has attracted much criticism from rights campaigners. This law allows children under the age of 18 who cannot even obtain a driving license to legally marry.

Of those opposing the bill are the Minister of Health, Professor Moses Chirambo and his deputy Theresa Mwale, who are both MPs and who were present in the National Assembly when the bill was passed. They said they did not agree that the marriage age should be 16.

Chirambo warned that setting the marriage age at 16 is in opposition to the fight against maternal mortality, which according to health experts is common among teenage mothers.

Undule Mwakasungura, the Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, said that the bill is not in the interest of the female child. He urged the Malawian MPs to issue laws that are more in line with international protocols.

Many parents regard their children at 16 years of age as "too young to be married."

"At 16 we consider that person as a minor. He/she is not old enough to manage a marriage," said Judith Chabwera, a mother of three who runs a small scale business in the capital city Lilongwe.

She told IslamOnline.net (IOL) that she believes the MPs should consider pushing the marriage age to 19 or 20 at the least.

"I have seen many young women dying during labor in rural areas," said Lilongwe. This high maternal mortality rate in teenage mothers is due to conditions such as bleeding during child birth and other problems such as the development of fistulae.

A Leading Cause of Death

According to a statement issued by MacBain Mkandawire, the Executive Director of YouthNet and Counselling (Yoneco), "Premature pregnancy carries significant health risks and pregnancy related deaths are the leading cause of death for girls aged 15-19."

In many parts of Malawi, hospitals are too far away for the residents and many deliveries are managed by birth attendants who are not equipped to handle complications.In many Malawian families, children are being encouraged by their parents to drop out of school and get married as school in the view of these parents is "a waste of time."

"I dropped out of school when I was 13 and two years later I got married to a man who was 20. My parents never bothered about the legality of the whole thing," said Lilian Banda, a 25-year old mother of two.

Banda told IOL that many women in Malawi are poor and live in rural areas where culture and traditions are greatly valued.

"In towns and cities this age limit of 16 is bound to work but not in the villages where many children have nothing to do apart from thinking about sex," she said.

A former Lecturer at the University of Malawi, who is now a government MP but who declined to have his name used, described the marriage age of 16 as "unfortunate." He argued that the MPs should have raised the age to 21 as below this age girls "are still immature."

Patricia Kaliati, the Minister of Gender, Child and Community Development said she agrees with the new Bill. According to Kaliati, many children in Malawi lose their virginity before reaching that age and she argued there was nothing to worry about. Early marriage is very common in Africa especially in rural areas due to poverty.

Early Marriage Not a Priority

And it exists outside Africa too. A story was published in April of this year revealed how Najood Ali, an 8-year old girl, was married off by her family to 30-year old Faez Ali Thamer. After running away from her husband's home to seek a judge who would help her divorce, Ali finally received a divorce by court order.

According to the Yemen Times, Yemen's Parliament "does not consider early marriage as a priority and is not moving forward with legislation to prevent it."

Despite the fact that the man was placed into custody, there is no law in Yemen that bars men from marrying young girls.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), countries with high rates of child marriages are those with high poverty and high birth and death rates. In Ethiopia and other parts of West Africa, some girls get married as young as 7. The UN estimates that 42% of children in Africa marry before turning 18.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says that early marriage affects the education of these children since many of them drop out of school. According to UNICEF, "They are unfamiliar with basic reproductive health issues such as the risk of HIV/AIDS." They also warn that girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die of conditions associated with pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20 and older.

Do you believe it should be the parents' right to decide when to allow their children to get married or do you think there is a need for laws against marriage below a certain age? If so what age should that be?

Sources:

"Malawi: Child marriage law condemned" Child Right's Information Network. 12 Aug. 2009. Accessed 8 Sept. 2009.

Raphael Mweninguwe is a Malawian science journalist. He can be reached by sending an e-mail to HealthAndScienceATiolteamDOTcom.

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Indonesians Count Dead, Plead for Aid

JAKARTA – Racing time and devastating conditions, paramedics and rescuers struggled on Thursday, October 1, to save people trapped under debris after a powerful quake amid fears of a 4-figures death toll, while survivors pleaded for aid. "The quicker you can get there the better," Julie Ryan, a spokeswoman for the British-based charity International Rescue Corps (IRC), told Agence France Presse (AFP).

Thousands of people were feared dead and many more trapped under debris after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck bustling port city of Padang city, capital of Sumatra Island.

Hundreds of buildings were toppled sparking fires in the gridlocked and blacked-out city, home to nearly a million people.

Destruction, Rescue (in pictures) Rescue teams searched into the night for survivors in piles of mangled concrete and steel that mark the spots where buildings once stood. Many of them dug with their bare hands through rubble turned to mush by heavy rain.

"It depends how serious the injuries are and how strong a person is," said Seiji Amano, an official at Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

"But, generally speaking, the first 72 hours are the key."

Overcrowded hospitals were bracing for more victims as ambulances tried to find its way amid rubbles.

Emilzon, a medic, said they were treating 200 people for broken bones, head injuries and trauma, many of whom were car crash victims caught in the chaos.

"We are running out of doctors and nurses because we are overwhelmed with patients."

The government says at least 770 people are now known to have died in the quake, which followed a massive 8.0-magnitude tremor that spawned a deadly tsunami in the Samoan islands of the South Pacific.

Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said the death toll could be in the thousands, given the widespread damage.

Both Samoan islands and Indonesia's 17,000 islands sprawl lie along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the "Pacific Ring of Fire".

Damage Everywhere

Scenes of desperation, hope and despair unfolded in Padang, which has become ground-zero of the disaster on the island of Sumatra.

"I have been through quakes here before and this was the worst," American Greg Hunt, 38, told Reuters at Padang airport.

"There is blood everywhere, people with their limbs cut off. We saw buildings collapsed, people dying."

Scenes of devastated buildings with people trapped in were dominating the view.

"The big buildings are down," Australian businesswoman Jane Liddon said.

"The concrete buildings are all down, the hospitals, the main markets, down and burned.”

Two Indonesian Hercules transport planes carrying medical aid, as well as 20,000 tents and 10,000 blankets, flew to Padang on Thursday, the state Antara news agency reported.

But a Reuters reporter in the city said there was little sign of much aid being distributed and that fuel was also in short supply.

Nasaruddin, a 45-year-old father of four who lost his house, was camping out in a 1-metre by 3-metre tent made from some poles, a tarp and a piece of rusty corrugated iron.

"I share this with three other families," he said.

"We are waiting for aid from the government, food, water and materials to fix our house, especially cement and sand,” he explained.

"It's very hard to find food right now. Who knows when the aid will come, it may be next month but I think it could be three months before we can move out of this tent."

Source: IslamOnline

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Phasing out Islamic teaching in S. Nigeria

LAGOS – Muslim leaders are accusing authorities in the Christian-majority southern states of intentionally undermining Arabic and Islamic teaching in public schools by faking a teacher scarcity.

“Most public schools in the South-West lack teachers of Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) though graduates of this subject roam the streets in search of jobs,” Professor Lakin Akintola, the coordinator of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), told IslamOnline.net.

“We have every reason to believe that those charged with the responsibility of recruiting teachers have conspired with certain elements to create an artificial scarcity of IRK teachers with a view to depriving Muslim children access to Islamic education.”

Nigeria, officially a secular state, is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south.

But the Muslim population is equally well pronounced in the Southwestern states of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti.

Most of these states have returned schools to the missionaries, despite protests from local Muslims.

More than 70 percent of such public schools are owned by Christian missions, according to data obtained from the Ministry of Education.

Visits by IOL correspondent to 10 public secondary schools in Lagos and two each in of Ogun and Oyo states showed there were no IRK teachers.

The Lagos Baptist Secondary School, a public institution in Lagos state, last had substantive IRK teacher in 2002, according to students.

“But the school has the Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) teachers,” one said, requesting anonymity.

* Damaging

Hassan Ma’ruf, a Ph.D student at the University of Ibadan and prominent member of the Muslim Student Society of Nigeria (MSSN) who lives in Osun state, confirms the problem.

“I have challenged several school authorities on this issue and their response was not convincing,” he told IOL.

“The truth is, there is systemic eradication of Islamic studies from public schools and the consequences will be dire.”

But the authorities denied pursuing such a policy.

“I can assure you that whatever lapse noticed in the number of teachers in the employment of government is not to phase out any subject, much less subjects that promote religious understanding,” said Tunji Bakare, an official with the Lagos State Ministry of Education.

“We will look at these allegations to see whether they are true. But I insist that this ministry has always employed teachers to teach all subjects. We have just employed some. But again, we can only employ those who apply. And we employ based on request from schools which specify their need.”

Akintola, a professor of Islamic studies at the Lagos State University and renowned preacher, remains very skeptical.

“MURIC asserts that such de-Islamisation of Muslim children not only robs them of Islamic education but also deprives them of their Islamic culture and Muslim identity.”

He sounded the alarm that the trend would have very serious repercussions.

“We warn that this is a double edged sword. It is responsible for the dangerous misinterpretations and radicalization witnessed in recent times among Muslims.

In July, Boko Haram, a militant group opposed to anything modeled after the West, went on rampage in three states attacking police stations and other facilities.

A massive security operation resulted in the killing of hundreds of militants including their leader Mohammed Yusuf and alleged financiers.

“It is the breeding ground for fanaticism and religious violence,” warned professor Akintola.

“We therefore charge the governments of the South-Western states to reverse it without any delay.”

Source: IslamOnline

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