Saudi Arabia on May 9 denounced the decades long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory and said it is a perfect example of injustice and violation of human rights in some parts of the Middle East. Addressing a ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Prince Turki bin Muhammad, foreign ministry undersecretary for multilateral relations, reiterated Saudi Arabia’s support for the Palestinian issue.

The Kingdom urged all NAM member countri...

Turkish foreign ministry on May 5 expressed concern at the Israeli government’s endorsement of the building of 1100 new housing units in occupied Jerusalem. The ministry’s statement said that the expansion of the Givat Hamatos settlement was a new addition to the illegal Israeli activity in occupied Palestinian land. It recalled that Turkey had condemned, alongside the world community, the Israeli plan to establish new housing units in Givat Hamatos last October, and said that ach...

Egypt’s presidential election, set to be the freest it has ever had, began for citizens abroad on May 11 after a caustic televised debate between two candidates. Egyptians who overthrew President Hosni Mubarak as uprisings swept the Arab world last year are savouring the spectacle of politicians competing for their votes and the streets are abuzz with argument over who is the best man to tackle poverty and corruption and uphold their new-found freedoms. With no obvious ...

It was no accident, according to Yassin, that brutal thugs commit heinous massacres and mass atrocities against peaceful protesters: the usual ‘hidden hands’ are now at play desperately trying to suspend or postpone Egypt’s first ever free and fair presidential elections. Dr. Osama Yassin, Assistant Secretary-General of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said: “We support the right to peaceful protest and demonstration. The people rose in revolution so they would reg...

It’s a first for California, not just in an election year, but for any year.  The first annual “Muslim Day at the Capitol”, held on May 7, looked on the surface like any other group’s lobbying day. Briefings on issues, followed by meetings with lawmakers. But given post 9/11 politics, it’s much more. CAIR-CA, the Council on American-Islamic Relations California chapter, organised May 7 lobbying event to discuss issues like immigration and civil rights. &ldqu...

There should be no place within Britain’s Muslim communities for paedophiles or sexual abusers, said the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) on May 8, reacting to news of nine men’s guilt in an appalling grooming case. The men were found guilty of grooming teenage girls, following a 10-week trial in Rochdale. The court heard that these men used alcohol and drugs to help them prey on vulnerable young women.

“These are despicable and wicked acts wh...

A prominent US Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation on May 10 called on the Department of Defence (DoD) to dismiss the instructor who taught fellow officers that only a “total war” on Islam would protect America, that they should use “Hiroshima” tactics, target civilian populations, and abandon the Geneva Conventions. CAIR is asking that the officer who taught that course at the Defence Department’s Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., be dismisse...

A journalist’s fable portraying the Turkish military as a spoiled, overfed dog has provoked a rare show of unity by top generals and the Prime Minister seen by many as their nemesis. “This is an individual whose pen always drips with filth,” Erdogan said of columnist Bekir Coskun, whose account of a privileged military that puts comfort and security before freedom drew on a fable from ancient Greek writer Aesop. Erdogan has radically cut back the power of a ...