Oslo: Students complain school segregates by gender and ethnicity

Via VG (Norwegian):

Ali Hassan, Ali Al-Amin and Ali Hasane, who learn at Ulsrud high-school in the Oslo suburb of Bøler, say their school segregates based on gender and ethnicity.

Ulsrud high-school has two gym classes: one for immigrant boys, and the other for girls and Norwegians.

“It’s not good at all. You don’t get a good learning environment by organizing a class with just immigrants and boys,” Ali Hasane (18) told VG.

Several students tried moving from the immigrant class ot the other gym class, but did not succeed. They say that students only move in one direction: from the Norwegian and girls class to the immigrant class.

Though the school claims they don’t discriminate based on ethnicity and sex, the students say that’s exactly what’s happening.

Ali Hassan and Ali Al-Amin say that the school discriminates the boys class and their achivements are overlooked.

Their class includes students from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Morocco, Iraq, Somalia, Turkey and Sudan. There are no Norwegians in the class. The students ask whether this is legal according to Norwegian law.

They say they’re willing to finish the year in this class, but warn against such immigrant classes in the future.

Principal David Dunlop doesn’t hide the fact that the division of the two classes was controversial. However, he says the division is based on educational principles and not on ethnicity or gender. He says the teachers are ‘color blind’ when they consider the needs of the students.

When asked what educational principles were involved, Dunlop preferred not to say, citing privacy concerns. He said that educational concerns were always considered when it comes to the students’ academic level, group size, subject composition and the teachers’ skills.

Ulsrud school was previously criticized for not allowing students to pray in school

Oslo: Less than 40 show up for Afghanistan War protest

Via the Foreigner:

Organizers had announced they expected between 500 and 750, but several amongst Norway’s Muslim community had encouraged members to boycott the protest.

Just 37 people turned up in front of Parliament to hear one of two speakers, Arfan Bhatti, say, “the safety of the Norwegian people will be threatened as long as you are in Afghanistan. This is not a threat, but a warning.”

(source)

Denmark: Millions sent abroad to finance terrorism

Via JP (Danish, h/t JIHAD I MALMÖ)

Jakob Scharf, head of the Danish Security Service (PET), said Tuesday that terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab get funds from Denmark.

“PET estimates that around 20 million kroner (~$3.5m) are collected every year in Denmark to finance terrorist groups abroad,” he said. This is only an estimation.

In recent years Danish courts handled three cases of terrorism-financing. The cases involved people and associations who supported rebel movements in Colombia and Palestine with an overall sum of less than 150,000 kroner.

PET estimates that the groups who enjoy the Danish millions include groups in conflict zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine and Somalia.

PET says it’s often difficult to prove money transactions are related to terrorism because the terrorist networks use many middlemen. However , PET does say that various people have been stopped at airports on their way to conflict zones with large amounts of money.

EU: Judges overturn asylum regulation

Via Presseurop:

An asylum seeker cannot be transferred to an EU state where he or she “risks having to endure degrading or inhumane treatment,” reports Die Tageszeitung.

The European Court of Justice has set a precedent by ruling in favour of six refugees from Afghanistan, Iran and Algeria who entered the EU via Greece, and thereafter filed for asylum in the UK and Ireland. In line with the Dublin II regulation which stipulates that asylum applications must be processed by the first European state in which a refugee arrives, the six had been returned to Greece, where the conditions for refugees are catastrophic.

(source)

Russia: Tajik immigrants deported over jailed pilot case

Via RT:

Around 300 Tajik citizens will be deported from Russia in response to the jailing of a Russian pilot in Tajikistan.

“We have started working on the issue, and extradition will occur in days,” said Federal Migration Service Director, Konstantin Romodanovsky.

Once expelled, the Tajik citizens will not have the right to return to Russia for five years. The media reported that Tajik migrants had already had problems getting work permits. Around 1.3-1.7 million Tajiks are currently working in Russia.

The measure follows a harsh 8.5-year sentence handed down to Russian pilot Vladimir Sadovnichy by a Tajik court on November 8. The court found Sadovnichy, who operated humanitarian flights to Afghanistan, guilty of smuggling, illegally crossing the border into Tajikistan, and violation of flight rules.

(source)

US Sends Billions in Equipment That Kabul Can’t Afford:

And Musa (Moses) said:”Our Lord! You have indeed bestowed on Fir’aun (Pharaoh) and his chiefs splendour and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord! That they may lead men astray from Your Path. Our Lord! Destroy their wealth, and harden their hearts, so that they will not believe until they see the painful torment.”

Surah Yunus-Ayah 88

Norway: “You can’t oppose capital punishment and be Muslim”

Fahad Qureshi and Islam Net make the news every so often with radical statements and preachers. This article gave Norwegian Muslims an opportunity to voice their disagreement. See also: Oslo: “They’ve taken my religion and are using it in a way that scares me”

Via VG (Norwegian):

Norwegian news site VG NETT reports that Fahad Qureshi, head of the Islamic mission organization Islam Net, supports capital punishment.

Kristian Meisingset, cultural editor of the conservative magazine Minderva, found an online discussion on Islamnet.no, where Qureshi writes that a Muslim can’t oppose capital punishment.

In a discussion forum on Islamnet.no, Qureshi writes: “a person who says that he’s principally opposed to capital punishment, is opposing principles prescribed by Allah (…) A person who think that he knows better than Allah about what is best for people isn’t Muslims because the definition of a Muslim is one who submits to Allah. (…) This is something Muslims have agreed upon forever. This is so simple (…) that there is no doubt about it.”

This was written in a discussion on whether the laws of Allah are absolute and whether it’s possible to interpret them based on today’s reality. Qureshi was answering somebody who wrote that he principally opposed the death sentence and wished to reform Islam so that it upheld human rights.

This person was asked by several other participants whether he was an infidel.

Qureshi wrote: “Allah prescribed capital punishment in Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (…) practiced this. Do you think you know better than Allah (…) and the Prophet’s practice? Answer YES or NO, don’t try to avoid it.”

The VG NETT article got many comments from Norwegian Muslims who say they oppose capital punishment, and don’t think Qureshi or anybody else can decide for them whether they’re really Muslims or not.

The most ‘liked’ comment says: “on behalf of a lot of Muslims, I’m sorry that such people like him exist. (…) It’s extremely dangerous and this is the ideology of a lot of terror organizations, who namely justify their terror, based on whether you aren’t a proper Muslim or not, if you deserve to live or not. This is exactly what we see in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan.. and many other countries where Muslims kill each other based on exactly this religious interpretation. My answer to him is, you can be Muslim if you don’t follow precisely what it (sharia laws) say, if whether you agree or not. It’s up to God to decide that. As long as he’s chosen to live here in this country, he should follow Norwegian laws. This is an extreme attitude.”

Frankfurt: Islamist says ’sorry’ for killing US airmen

(picture)

Via AFP:

A 21-year-old man from Kosovo apologised in court Wednesday for killing two US soldiers at Frankfurt airport as they headed to Afghanistan, saying he had been influenced by Islamist propaganda.

“I want to apologize to everyone,” Arid Uka told the court in Frankfurt, western Germany, on the first day of his murder trial.

“On March 2, I killed two people and opened fire on three others. Today I can’t understand myself how I could have acted this way,” he said.

(source)

Afghanistan: British couple planned terror attacks

Via the Daily Telegraph:

A British man and a woman have been captured by forces in Afghanistan as they prepared to link up with terrorists in order to launch attacks in the UK, sources have disclosed.

The pair, who are of Afghan origin and are understood to have dual nationality, were detained by the SAS during a raid on a guest house in Herat, an historic city close to the Iranian border.

They are thought to be the first Britons to be captured alive in Afghanistan since 2001, although there have been reports of Britons who have died in suicide operations or been killed.

The couple were known to MI5 in Britain but they were not considered “high priority” targets and managed to leave the country unnoticed, security sources told the Daily Telegraph.

(source)

Netherlands: Westernized Afghan teenager wins right to stay

Via DutchNews:

A 14-year-old school girl threatened with deportation to Afghanistan is to be allowed to stay in the Netherlands, immigration minister Gerd Leers said on Friday.

Sahar Hbrahim Gel and her family have lived in the Netherlands for 10 years. The appeal court decided in February that Sahar should be allowed to stay in the Netherlands because she was too westernised to settle back in to Afghan society.

Leers appealed against that decision, saying the ruling – based on the fact the girl was westernised – was of fundamental importance to Dutch immigration law.

(…)

The minister said some 400 Afghan girls have been in a similar situation to Sahar. Of those 110 are still in involved in the appeal situation and 40 to 50 will be allowed to stay in the Netherlands, the minister said.

In his reasoning, Leer said the ages of 10 to 18 are crucial in terms of westernisation. If they have lived in the Netherlands for at least eight years, they cannot be sent back, Leers said. This does not apply if the family has deliberately frustrated the deportation process, the minister is quoted as saying.

(source)