UK Security services sends Muslim citizens out to get tortured

A businessman who was held and mistreated in the United Arab Emirates following the London bombings believes he has evidence that British consular officials asked permission from the UK's own security services to visit him while he was detained.

Heavily redacted documents seen by the Guardian appear to indicate that the request to visit Alam Ghafoor was made to an unidentified British intelligence officer and not to officials in the UAE.

Ghafoor is one of several British men who allege there has been British complicity in their detention and torture while abroad. The businessman, who is 38 and from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was detained and tortured while on a business trip to Dubai following the London bombings in July 2005.

Ghafoor and his business partner, Mohammed Rafiq Siddique, flew to the UAE on 4 July. They were dragged out of a restaurant as they dined on 21 July. The two British Muslims say they were threatened with torture, deprived of sleep, subjected to stress positions and told they would be killed and fed to dogs.

Ghafoor has obtained copies of correspondence from consular officials to the Foreign Office in London while he was in custody that show those officials were asking someone other than the UAE authorities for permission to see him. Who that person is, and who they represented, is unclear, as their name was censored before the copies were handed over. Some of the reports were so heavily redacted by the time Ghafoor received them that the only words not blanked are his name.

In one email, dated 25 July, 2005, a consular official wrote: "Today I phoned [name withheld] trying to get permission to see them. First [...] told me that there was no need because they would be deported soon. I asked if we could see them today or tomorrow. [...] told me that [...] would check with the UAE authorities... and would let me know. I didn't hear from [...] since then. Tomorrow I'll speak to [...] again."

Ghafoor, who was released without charge on 30 July, is convinced that the individual to which consular officials were turning for permission to see him was a British intelligence officer. At the time of his interrogation, Ghafoor was told that British security services had requested his questioning.

MI5 and MI6 officers who question terrorism suspects they know are being tortured, are acting in line with a secret government interrogation policy, drawn up after the 9/11 attacks. The policy states: "we cannot be party to such ill treatment nor can we be seen to condone it" and that "it is important that you do not engage in any activity yourself that involves inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners." It also advises intelligence officers that if detainees "are not within our custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene" to prevent torture.

According to Philippe Sands, QC, one of the world's leading experts in international human rights law, the policy almost certainly breaches international human rights.

When Ghafoor asked why he had been picked up, he was shown a photograph and told he resembled one of the 7/7 suicide bombers and must be related to him. His business partner, Siddique, who was also detained and tortured, says he was told he must have been involved in the bombings – not only did he share a name with the bombers – but he lived in Dewsbury, the same Yorkshire town.

Ghafoor said his interrogators questioned his sexuality, as he is not married, and insulted him because he was unable to wash, saying he smelled. He was also punched in the groin.

One interrogator said to him: "In the morning you will be thrown into a pit and the dogs will tear you to bits and I will watch it and enjoy it."

Eventually, he agreed to sign a false confession admitting he was a friend of the bombers and had organised the London attacks. "I wrote a false confession and put crazy things in it like 'I have constant contact with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden'," he said.

He was told he would be shot by a firing squad the following morning.

When Ghafoor returned home, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. His relationship with his partner broke down and he suffered nightmares, anxiety and paranoia.

Ghafoor is furious that there has been no explanation for his treatment, nor an apology. "I would like to know why I was put through this hell and I would like someone to be accountable."

Clive Stafford-Smith, the legal director of Reprieve, a not-for-profit human rights organisation, said: "It is impossible for the victims of torture to move on without truth and reconciliation, yet the British government seems intent on covering up what it has done."

He added: "Until recently, the British security services were told to effectively turn a blind eye to torture."

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See Also:

British pimps outsource torture to Pakistan

MI5 to Blackmail Muslims into Submission

£60,000 damages for nearly killing an innocent

Life with a control order

The truth about Arab science

Interesting 'Comment is free' from the Guardian:

Hannah Clark has certainly earned, both literally and figuratively, the title of the "girl with two hearts" bestowed upon her by the media. When she was just two years old, she had the dubious distinction of becoming the first person in Britain to possess a "piggyback" heart.

For more than a decade, Hannah lived on a potent cocktail of medication designed to stop her body rejecting her second heart. But suppressing her immune system in this way made her susceptible to infections and, by the age of 12, she had developed cancer. During chemotherapy, her body began to reject the donor organ which led doctors to take the dramatic decision to remove it. Through all this, although she lost her second heart, Hannah didn't lose heart. Now, aged 16, she has fully recovered, her doctors said in a recent article in the Lancet.

This is a truly heart-warming testament to the power of modern medicine to turn tragedy into triumph. And I could not help feeling a little rush of pride that the doctor who made all this possible was an Egyptian: Magdi Yacoub, who is actually also a neighbour of sorts, as his Cairo home overlooks my family's. Dishearteningly, and almost inevitably, Yacoub, the son of a surgeon, did not find his success in Egypt but in Britain, where he built up a career as one of the world's most pioneering heart surgeons and researchers. Dubbed the "King of Hearts" by the Royal Society, this naturalised Brit did not usurp the throne but he did receive a knighthood.

And numerous other examples abound of Arab minds – such as the Nobel prize-winner Ahmed Zewail – deserting the Arab science desert and thriving elsewhere. Why is it that a region that was once the world's scientific powerhouse has now become its outhouse? In an article last year, I explored some of the reasons which included: "The dominant patronage culture in academia, the shortage of research funding, the almost complete absence of private research, the difficulty of registering and protecting intellectual property, as well as the rote-based education system."

Some experts observe that Islam's scientific heritage equips Muslims to look positively upon modern science. In fact, many Muslims believe that modern science confirms the Qur'an. "In those countries where fundamentalism has taken hold among the youth in the universities, it is striking to observe that the fundamentalist students are in a majority in the scientific institutions," says Farida Faouzia Charfi, a science professor at the University of Tunis. "[Islamists] want to govern society with ideas of the past and the technical means of modernity."

But this selective interest in science is a double-edged sword because it encourages people to disregard inconvenient scientific truths if they conflict with or contradict their faith. Attitudes aside, another important factor that is often missing from the equation is the simple question of resources. I think it's no coincidence that the start of Europe and the west's golden age and the Arab and Muslim world's gradual decline occurred at about the time when Muslims ceded their grip on global trade to Europeans who also "discovered" a resource-rich "new world" in the process.

But things are looking up, according to Nadia al-Awady, a freelance science journalist based in Cairo. Writing in Nature, she links the surge in science coverage in the Arab media with a related boom in Arab research and development activities. Since 2006, there has even been an Arab Science Journalists Association (ASJA).

"Although the science staff of media organisations in the United States and Europe face cutbacks, a survey of ASJA members in January 2009 indicated that full-time jobs for Arab science journalists have remained relatively stable over the past five years," reports al-Awady.

However, quantity does not always mean quality, as al-Awady herself freely admits. "As I sit at my desk in Cairo, it is easier for me to know what is happening in American universities halfway across the globe than to know what is happening within the walls of Egypt's National Research Centre just across the street… Another problem for science journalism stems from a more general issue. Many media platforms are government-owned and, as a result, many journalists provide uncritical coverage of government announcements."

In addition, for someone whose role is to be a chronicler of science, al-Awady holds some pretty unscientific views. Writing for Islam Online, she goes against the scientific consensus and describes homosexuality not as a natural sexual orientation but as an individual lifestyle choice or a psychological condition that can be "cured".

More tellingly and even less scientifically, she cautions her readers, in case her scientific arguments have failed to persuade them: "Islam is a way of life. It is a system of beliefs based on divine revelation… As a Muslim, one cannot choose to follow parts of Islam and disregard others."

This illustrates well how scientific truth is sacred until it contradicts the holier truth of the Qur'an. During Islam's scientific boom years, such an attitude could just about survive alongside scientific inquiry – although many of Islam's greatest scientists were sceptics, theists or agnostics.

However, in the modern world, science fact increasingly contradicts religious myth and, for the Arab world to advance, it needs not only to invest more in research, it also has to hold universal truths above religious ones.

Trouble in Yemen

Up to 12 people have been killed in clashes between government security forces and opposition groups in southern Yemen.

Witnesses said hundreds of security forces opened fire on about 7,000 protesters in the city of Zinjibar in Abyan province on Thursday in an effort to disperse them.

Yemen's north and south were separate countries until they united in 1990, only to dissolve into civil war four years later when the south tried unsuccessfully to secede.

Secessionist sentiment has since been on the rise in the south and regular demonstrations by former army members demanding political reforms have heightened tensions between the two sides.

A doctor at al-Razi government hospital in Zinjibar said ambulances rushed to the scene and brought back 10 dead civilians and at least 12 injured police.

Another doctor at Aden's May 28th hospital said he received eight critically injured civilians, two of whom later died.

Read the complete article here.

Canada: Madina League Hockey Ball game fifth season just concluded

It's twilight, the sun has set behind the hills bordering the Milliken Mills Community Centre in Markham. Inside the arena, the echoing clatter of hockey sticks and shouts quickly dies down. The players remove their helmets, lay down their sticks and answer the call to prayer.

"You always have to take into consideration the prayer times," said Safi Habib, commissioner of the Madina Hockey League, a Muslim ball hockey league in east Toronto.

"The best time to play ball hockey is the nighttime, around the sunset or after the sunset," because there are fewer prayers, said Habib, 33, as the players, bowing on a white mat in the corner of the rink, observe the fourth prayer of the day.

There are more than 400 Muslims playing organized ball hockey across Greater Toronto, and interest in the connection between the community and the sport is at a high.

Last month, the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted their first Muslim player, Nazem Kadri.

The 5-foot-11 centre played for the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights and was the seventh overall pick, the highest a Muslim player has ever been drafted.

If he gets called up, Kadri would be the second Muslim player of Middle Eastern descent to play in the National Hockey League: Montreal-born Ramzi Abid played parts of four seasons before moving to Europe a few years ago.

"We are crossing our fingers," said Habib, "we would love to see (Kadri) in a Leafs uniform."

Like most Canadians, said Habib, Muslim youth have grown up loving hockey. They were playing ball hockey in large numbers in the mid-1980s and within a decade were competing on organized teams and in tournaments.

Last weekend marked the fifth annual Salaam Cup, a three-day event in Malton that saw the country's top Muslim players go head to head.

The Greenbirds took the cup.

Members of Canada's Muslim community, said Habib, "are utilizing the skills they have learned from their parents and their home countries," such as Pakistan and India, where cricket and field hockey are the dominant sports, "and using them in a sport Canadians love to play."

"They bring that culture of athleticism from those countries. They want to adapt to what Canadians do and hockey is the first thing that comes to mind."

From a practical perspective the sport is also far less expensive than ice hockey, since it requires minimal equipment, and, although many teams choose to play in arenas, all you need is a patch of concrete or a parking lot.

The Madina league has eight teams, each with about 16 to 18 players. They meet every Friday night in Markham, battling towards the Madina Cup in mid-August.

At the community centre in Markham, the first teams to play are the Hitmen and the Shaolin Monks.

As the game progresses, heat radiates off the players on the bench. The air thickens with the smell of sweat and the slightly rank scent of hockey equipment a few games overdue for a good cleaning.

"We are doing all right, obviously we are killing them," said Monks player Muqtidah Gulam, 29, after his team takes a 5-0 lead.

Players shout encouragement, but there is little to no swearing. The Muslim faith discourages profanity, anger or competitive aggression. Swearing in tournament play will result in a penalty and could mean a suspension, said Habib. "We are trying to teach the religion as much as possible, and that is hard to do if you are allowing bodychecks or fighting."

On the bench for the Hitmen is Zaid Majoo, a burly 23-year-old whose gold-toothed grin is wide and frequent, even as he watches his team go down in smoke.

"Hands down they are just hustling us. Outplaying us every single place, to the boards, to the net, everywhere," said Majoo.

The Monks win 6-0. The two teams shake and clear the rink. Meanwhile, throngs of Muslim boys and young men arrive to watch the next game.

Paying rapt attention is Usamah Bhoola, a 9-year-old centre for Team Corporate, one of 20 teams that make up the Scarborough Muslim Ball Hockey Association.

Bhoola, who plays Sunday mornings in the parking lot of Cornell Junior Public School, likes "passing and shooting."

"Kids love the game of hockey," said league president Saleh Hafejee, 42. "They are exposed to the game and they want to play." The league formed in 2003, out of the Jame Abu Bakr Siddique mosque at Lawrence Ave. E. and Midland Ave. It has 250 players and is growing as new immigrants sign on. "They don't have the skills, but their friends are playing. So they are getting involved."

A is for Allah by Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)

Must Watch: Nano-thermite in WTC dust

Eat less and live longer

It is mentioned in the Hadith: "Eat less you will be healthier."

Also,

"Nothing is worse than a person who fills his stomach. It should be enough for the son of Adam to have a few bites to satisfy his hunger. If he wishes more, it should be: one-third for his food, one-third for his liquids, and one-third for his breath." (Tarmazi, ibn Majah and Hakim)

Allah has mentioned in the Quran:

"O children of Adam! Look to your adornment at every place of worship, and eat and drink, but be not prodigals. Lo! He loveth not the prodigals." (Quran 7:31)

Now the research shows that if we eat less, its healthier and we will live longer. See the article on The Independant here.

See also my old blog on How Islam helps control Obesity.

Mosque's to help fight Egyptian disease of 'Sexual Harassment of Women in Public'

Egypt has finally decided to fight the rising phenomenon of sexual harassment on its streets, choosing mosques as the launching pad of its war against stalkers.

"Harassment has reached very dangerous levels," Sheikh Saad al-Takky, a senior Ministry of Religious Endowments official, told IslamOnline.net.

"There must be some serious action to curb it and our ministry has decided to take this action."

The Ministry, which is responsible for mosques and places of prayer, has distributed a booklet about sexual harassment in what appears to be a new bid to curb sexual harassment which continues to claim new victims on the crowded streets of Egypt.

The 35-page booklet contains important definitions about harassment and an analysis of the reasons why this phenomenon has risen in the largely conservative Egyptian society.

Among many other things, the authors blame unemployment and provoking clothes worn by some women for the increase in the number of harassment cases.

"Clothes are important for man in general, but they are more important for women because they protect them against molestation," it says.

The booklet urges women to wear the headscarf and be fully covered so that stalkers would not be tempted to approach them.

In 2005, officials at the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights - a local organization that gives legal aid to women - were showered by complaints from women who experienced harassment on the streets.

In one of the studies the center conducted, 83 percent of female interviewees said they undergo harassment every now and then.

Nearly 62 percent of the male respondents said they harassed women more than once.

Center officials say 69 percent of harassment cases happen on the streets, 42 percent on public transport, 22 percent on the beach, while only 6 percent in work places.

A recent crackdown by the government resulted in the arrest of a big number of men who were harassing women on the street.

Mosque imams would start to read out the contents of the new booklet before and after prayers with the aim of warning worshippers against the dangers of harassment.

Some of the imams said they would specify whole sermons for harassment and its consequences, especially before the Friday prayer.

Others said they would discuss the issue on a daily basis so that men stop harassing women.

"Mosques are the most appropriate places for fighting this phenomenon," believes Sheikh Ahmed Hashim, the imam of a small mosque in the crowded residential district of Shubra, west of Cairo.

"Mosque imams have credibility and I’m sure they’ll help a lot to make men stop harassing women."

Acer Yasser, a social researcher and a specialist on sexual harassment, believes mosques will be effective in fighting harassment, but not to a very big extent.

"The problem is that people always draw a strong line of demarcation between religion and their day-to-day dealings," she told IOL.

"I mean those males who pray may sometimes harass females and this is the problem."

Yasser, the social researcher, is yet critical of the booklet's linkage between harassment to how women are dressed.

"The book gives meaningless excuses for harassers," she argues.

"The fact that some women wear un-Islamic attire shouldn’t be excuse that people make her life hard."

Acer had conducted several researches on sexual harassment on the streets of Egypt.

She says that most of the women she met wore the hijab but were sexually harassed none the less.

Wafaa Nabil, a 27-year-old bank accountant, is one of those who is never out on the street without being catcalled at by men.

"It’s becoming so horrible," she laments.

"Men bother me all the time although I cover my hair and my body."

Egypt does not have a law to criminalize sexual harassment.

The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights has presented a draft bill to the Parliament so that harassment would be criminalized.

Although centre officials expect the law to take a long time to be approved by Parliament, they are hopeful harassment would disappear one day.

"We need to join hands to bring this ugly practice to an end," says Rasha Hassan, the lead researcher in the center.

"Harassment has very negative consequences. Some of the women who undergo the experience feel afraid to go out."

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BACKGROUND:

SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN EGYPT

Experienced by 98% of foreign women visitors

Experienced by 83% of Egyptian women

62% of Egyptian men admitted harassing women

53% of Egyptian men blame women for 'bringing it on'

Source: Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights

Nearly two-thirds of Egyptian men admit to having sexually harassed women in the most populous Arab country, and a majority say women themselves are to blame for their maltreatment, a survey showed Thursday.

The forms of harassment reported by Egyptian men, whose country attracts millions of foreign tourists each year, include touching or ogling women, shouting sexually explicit remarks, and exposing their genitals to women. "Sexual harassment has become an overwhelming and very real problem experienced by all women in Egyptian society, often on a daily basis," said the report by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights.

Egyptian women and female visitors frequently complain of persistent sexual harassment on Egyptian streets, despite the socially conservative nature of this traditional Muslim society.

Being an Egyptian woman is to accept sexual harassment as daily routine, according to a recent report from the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR). The study outlines, 60 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women are harassed on a daily basis.

Worse, though, is the expectation among both men and some Egyptian women that women are asked to be harassed by their manner of dress. According to the survey, 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women admitted to having been sexually harassed, though less than 3 percent of the harassed Egyptian women ever reported it. And, although it likely goes without saying, most of the Egyptian women who were harassed were wearing headscarves or clothes they deemed modest because, when it comes to street harassment, it isn't ever really about what a woman is wearing, it's always about a man trying to assert himself and intimidate her.

Surprisingly, some Egyptian women say that their veils don’t protect against harassment, as the lollipop ads argue, but fuel it. A survey released this summer supports the view.

“These guys are animals. If they saw a female dog, they would harass it,” Hind Sayed, a 20-year-old sidewalk vendor in Cairo’s Mohandisseen district, said, staring coldly at a knot of male vendors who stood grinning a few feet from her.

In accord with her interpretation of Islamic law, which says women should dress modestly, Sayed wore a flowing black robe and black veil. Together, they covered all but her hands and her pale face with its drawn-on, expressive eyebrows. Despite her attire, Sayed said, she daily endures suggestive comments from male customers and fellow vendors.

Mona Eltahawy, a 41-year-old Egyptian social commentator who now lives, unveiled, in the United States, said that as a Muslim woman who wore hijab for nine years and was harassed “countless times” in Egypt, she has concluded that the increase in veiling has somehow contributed to the increase in harassment.

“The more women veil the less men learn to behave as decent and civilized members of society,” Eltahawy wrote in an interview via Facebook. “And the more women are harassed, the more they veil thinking it will ‘protect’ them.”

Bangladesh: Acid attack capital of the world

Rahima Begum, a young woman in the village of Kaligonj in the northwest of Bangladesh, turned down the romantic advances of a neighbour and paid dearly for it.

In the dead of night, while she was asleep, her neighbour poured acid over her face, leaving her disfigured for life.

"I may be still alive but he took my life away, I have become the shame of my family and of my village. I have no where to go," she says.

According to official figures, there are only around 200 acid-related crimes reported every year in Bangladesh.

However, thousands of acid-attack victims find refuge at the Acid Survivor Foundation (ASF) in Dhaka, the capital, in any given year. Like Rahima, most victims are women who have spurned advances from men.

"The perpetrators have a strong mindset not to kill the person but to put the victim in a position that they suffer for life," Monira Rahman, the ASF's executive director, said.

The effect is to rob a woman of her beauty, thus ensuring that she will never be admired again, she said.

The survivors of these assaults suffer deep burns and most bear irreparable scars for the rest of their lives.

Some disfigurement can be treated through surgery, however.

Dr Ronald Hiles, a retired plastic surgeon from the UK, has spent his last two summers volunteering at the ASF, where he has been operating on victims of acid attacks and training Bangladeshi doctors in reconstructive surgery.

"The devastation that acid causes is really similar to the devastation from electricity, from alkaline, from flames or from hot water. Acid usually burns right through the skin," Hiles said.

The Bangladeshi government takes acid crime very seriously, and in the past decade has enacted many laws aimed at curbing the occurrence of this crime.

In 2002, legislation was enacted to restrict civilian access to the lethal substance.

This is an effective measure, but has not been adequately enforced. Acid is still accessible to the public, and can be purchased by the gallon for less than $3 at shops that sell industrial chemicals.

The Bangladeshi authorities have also stated that all acid related crimes will be tried within six months under a special tribunal.

John Morrisson, the founder of the Acid Survivor Trust International, an advocacy group, welcomed the move made by the government, but warns that a great many cases continue to go unreported.

"We started to collect our figures, and the more we collected, the more serious was the problem. The number of acid attacks started to increase and we could see that by 2002 there were 500 attacks a year and that the numbers were growing," said Morrisson.

Eight-year-old Babli was attacked by her own father when she was only an infant.

He had purchased acid from a local shop and then poured it into his daughter's ears and over her feet.

Her mother Ayeesha explains that he was angry that she had been born a girl.

Despite the government's promises to take these cases seriously, Babli and her mother have little hope of seeing justice done.

An arrest warrant was issued against Babli's father in 2002, but the police have still not taken action.

Ayeesha believes that her husband has been bribing the local police for the last five years in order to ward off arrest.

Rahman of ASF believes that such police inaction shows how deep the culture of impunity is in relation to acid attacks.

"Because of the impunity, the perpetrators are not punished," she said.

"This could encourage other potential perpetrators who have the mindset to do this. It is important to have the education to change the mind set of men."

In May 2008, ASF organised a march for Men Against Acid Attack, the first of its kind in Bangladesh.

Still, acid attacks remain a common crime in Bangladesh.

Until the law is enforced and people's behaviour begins to change, women will continue to be at risk, and cases like Babli's will remain unpunished.

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Also read, Honour Killing Report here.

See also: Condemnations Are Not Enough

The strange case of Sydney Islamic School

In a new bid to prevent the opening of a Muslim school in the area, the New South Wales government is seeking to put its hand on a Muslim-owned land, tearing down a two-year dream of having a new school to serve 1200 Australian Muslim pupils.

"I did deliberated long and hard on this decision," Education Minister Verity Firth told ABC on Friday, July 17.

Firth issued a decision to buy back a plot of land owned by Al Amanah College, arguing the land would be used to build a special school for children with disabilities.

The minister threatened that steps would be taken to compulsorily acquire the land if no deal was reached.

"I knew it would be a controversial decision and I also knew how it could be interpreted."

Al Amanah College had bought the land to build a school to serve 1200 Muslim students.

But the school plans were deadlocked over rejection of the Bankstown City councilors to build the Islamic school.

But light appeared at the end of the tunnel after the Land and Environment Court approved the school plans for the second time, ending a two-year legal fight.

But the minister's new decision came to stumble again the plans to build the Islamic school.

Media reports link the decision to a letter sent by the Bankstown council to the Education Minister, asking the government to acquire the plot, either by agreement or compulsorily.

"This decision was made following advice from the Department of Education and Training that a special school was required in the area and that this was the most appropriate site," Firth's spokeswoman told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"It is unrelated to the building of an Islamic school on the site."

Muslim school officials are disappointed at the minister's decision to buy back the land.

"At the moment I have more than 200 enrolments for next year.. already enrolled in this school," Mohamed El Dana, principal of the college, told ABC.

"The parents, the community, it's all supporting this project and where am I going to go with these students?"

Instead of preparing for constructing the school, Muslim leaders are now readying for a new legal battle with the government.

"To know that there is a school that has gone through two lots of hurdles to now want to exercise compulsory land powers," Ikebal Patel, the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, told the Herald.

"It's very disappointing."

Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.5 percent of its 20-million population.

Islam is the country's second largest religion after Christianity.

In post 9/11 Australia, Muslims have been haunted with suspicion and have had their patriotism questioned.

A 2007 poll taken by the Issues Deliberation Australia (IDA) think-tank found that Australians basically see Islam as a threat to the Australian way of life.

In 2008, a governmental report revealed that Muslims are facing deep-seated Islamophobia and race-based treatment like never before.

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Enraged residents have vowed to continue their fight against the building of another Islamic school in Australia’s biggest city, Sydney.

Planning permission has been granted by councillors in the Liverpool district following a long-running and acrimonious debate that has been stained with allegations of racism and religious bigotry.

The contentious project will see a school for 800 mostly Muslim pupils constructed in Hoxton Park, a working class suburb 38 kilometres west of central Sydney.

Locals have fought a vociferous campaign against the plan, citing a string of grievances relating to increased traffic, pollution and noise, which could, in their opinion, drag down property prices. They have vigorously denied suggestions that their actions are motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment, which has infected discussions about Islamic colleges in other parts of Australia.

“Traffic congestion has become a bit of a euphemism for prejudice and racism,” said Geoff Newcombe, the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools in New South Wales. “You can see an incredible amount of emotion with some of these people who are opposing the development of Islamic schools. You can’t imagine that emotion would be there if, say, a Catholic or an Anglican school wanted to set up in that particular situation.”

“With some people there is just a prejudice against the Islamic faith and that’s a shame,” Mr Newcombe said. “If you go into these schools and realise they are mostly Australian-born children, they go out of their way to emphasise Australian culture and values.” There are 15 Islamic schools in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, which cater to about 8,000 students. Many are located in low socio-economic areas and receive funding from both the federal and state governments, while community leaders have stressed that Australia’s rapidly growing Muslim population needs more faith-based education.
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