‘Lyrical terrorist’ has conviction quashed
Paul Lewis, Guardian
A former Heathrow shop assistant calling herself the “lyrical terrorist” yesterday won her appeal against a conviction under terrorism laws. Samina Malik, 24, was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence at the Old Bailey last December after she became the first woman to be found guilty of storing material likely to be of use for terrorism. Malik, of Southall, west London, adopted her nickname because of extremist lyrics she wrote on till receipts, but was never prosecuted over her poetry.
‘Bin Laden lieutenant’ Abu Qatada freed on bail
Sean O’Neill and Ben Quinn, Times
Abu Qatada, the radical Muslim cleric described as one of Osama bin Laden’s right-hand men, was freed from jail last night under some of the most stringent bail conditions ever imposed by a British court. A judge ruled that there were no grounds to detain Abu Qatada, 47, after previous attempts to deport him were defeated in the courts. The decision by Mr Justice Mitting at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) to release the Jordanian-born cleric was greeted with dismay by the Government.
[Qatada sent home with electronic tag after six years in jail: Robert Verkaik, Independent; Profile: Abu Qatada: BBC News Online]
The ‘pope’ of hope
Riazat Butt, Guardian
His All Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, is the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians and 270th successor to the Apostle Andrew. He is also extremely green, taking heads of church and state to areas beset with environmental problems – the Amazon and Arctic among them – and confronting them with the best science. After announcing, on an Aegean island, that attacks on the environment should be considered sins…
Sikh bangle means as much to Monty Panesar as it does to teenager, court told
Frances Gibb, Times
A simple steel wrist bangle means as much to Sarika Watkins-Singh, 14, as it does to the England spin bowler Monty Panesar, the High Court was told yesterday. The bangle is a symbol of her Sikh faith and not a piece of jewellery, Sarika’s lawyers said as they brought a challenge to a ban imposed by her school. Mr Justice Silber said that he would like to see one of the bangles – known as the kara – during the hearing, which is set for three days.
Archbishops criticise gay clerics’ ceremony
Riazat Butt, Guardian
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York yesterday expressed their “very great concern” over a wedding-style service between two gay priests at a London church and condemned clergy who disregarded Church of England teaching on human sexuality. The joint statement from Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, the two most senior figures in the church, is the most significant rebuke yet about the ceremony involving the Rev Peter Cowell and the Rev David Lord, who outraged conservatives…
Muslim stylist wins £4,000 payout
BBC News Online
The owner of a hair salon has been ordered to pay £4,000 compensation to a Muslim stylist who was turned down for a job because she wears a headscarf. Bushra Noah accused Sarah Desrosiers of religious discrimination when she failed to offer her a job at her Wedge salon in King’s Cross, central London. An employment tribunal panel dismissed the 19-year-old’s claim but upheld her complaint of indirect discrimination.
[Should all hairdressers wear headscarves? Alice Olins, Times]
Pieces in jigsaw ’show killer of Orkney waiter was racist hero’
David Lister, Times
The killing of a Bangladeshi waiter in an Orkney restaurant was “a cold-blooded assassination” by a racially motivated killer, a court has been told. The point-blank shooting of Shamsuddin Mahmood in 1994 at the Mumtaz Indian Tandoori restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney, was a “savage, merciless and above all pointless” murder committed by a war hero, the High Court in Glasgow heard. In his closing speech to the jury, Brian McConnachie, QC, for the prosecution, said…
Democratic downturn [Turkey and Indonesia] (Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF)
In Defense of Dr. Samar Habib (Muslimah Media Watch)
Updates etc at The Daily Terror.
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