According to Nice Matin newspaper, Christian Estrosi put a Euros 3,000 subsidy to vote for the benefit of the Muslim Youth Association in France, which is the Youth Branch of the Union of Islamic Organisations of France (UOIF).
The Union of Islamic Organisations of France (UOIF) has been included on the list of terrorist organizations issued by the United Arab Emirates.
This post is also available in Français .
While it is unlikely to be banned here, the organisation has links to groups widely regarded as terrorist
THE GOVERNMENT is preparing a major clampdown on organisations linked to the terror group Hamas after the longawaited publication of its review into the Muslim Brotherhood.
The review, by the former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, has been delayed for months amid disputes about how strongly it should say the Brotherhood is linked to terrorism.
It is expected to say that the Brotherhood, a multifaceted organisation, is not itself a terrorist group and should not be banned, a verdict most analysts agree with.
However, the report will dismiss claims by the Brotherhood that there is “no evidence” of links between it and terrorism. “There are clear links and Jenkins will trigger further action against some Brotherhood and Hamas-linked groups,” said one official source. Many of the groups have already been squeezed by removing their bank accounts.
Only a summary of the Jenkins report will be published. However, a separate investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found a number of clear overlaps between the Brotherhood’s UK operations and those of organisations linked to Hamas, which is banned as a terrorist organisation throughout the Western world. In particular, it is striking how often they appear to share premises.
One person involved in counterextremism said: “When you start forensically going through the names and locations, there’s no way the Brotherhood can keep up the denials.”
The Sunday Telegraph has established that the main hubs for the Brotherhood’s operations in Europe are Westgate House, a serviced office block at the Hangar Lane roundabout in Ealing, west London, and Crown House, about half a mile north of it on the North Circular Road.
The two buildings contain at least 25 organisations linked to the Brotherhood, or to Hamas. A third building very close by – Pinnacle House on Old Oak Common Lane – houses Interpal, another major charity which has had close links to the Brotherhood and Hamas. Interpal is banned by the US government as a terrorist organisation.
Interpal is allowed to operate in the UK after claiming it has broken its links with Hamas, a claim accepted by the Charity Commission.
However, its managing trustee, Essam Mustafa, was pictured just over a year ago accompanying the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, on an official visit in Gaza. The two were later filmed clapping and singing together. Mr Mustafa is a former member of Hamas’s executive committee.
The organisations based at Westgate House include the Cordoba Foundation, described by David Cameron as a “political front for the Muslim Brotherhood” and run by Anas al-Tikriti, the key spokesman and lobbyist for the Brotherhood in Britain, though he claims not to be a member himself. The Cordoba Foundation’s office is on the seventh floor of the building.
Mr al-Tikriti states openly that “the Brotherhood supports Hamas. I believe that if you are occupied you need to fight back.” Mr al-Tikriti co-founded a group called the British Muslim Initiative with a senior commander in Hamas, Mohammed Sawalha, and a Hamas “special envoy,” Azzam Tamimi.
The seventh floor of Westgate House also houses the Muslim Charities Forum, an umbrella body for 10 British charities, at least six of which have funded Hamas organisations and most of which can also be linked to the Brotherhood.
The Muslim Charities Forum was stripped of £250,000 in Government grants in December in what the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, described as a decision to “cease funding any organisation that supports or is linked to individuals who fuel hatred, division and violence.” More than £100,000 of the grant has already been paid, however.
Six of the Muslim Charities Forum’s 10 members are or were members of the Union of Good, also known as the 101 Days Campaign. The Union of Good is designated by the US Treasury Department as a terrorist organisation created by the Hamas leadership “in order to facilitate the transfer of funds to Hamas”.
The Union of Good is chaired by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a key intellectual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who has twice turned down offers to become its political leader.
Mr Al-Qaradawi, who is banned from the UK, is a strong supporter of suicide bombings, describing Israeli civilians as legitimate targets. The Union of Good’s founder and general secretary was Essam Mustafa, the managing trustee of the British charity Interpal.
Members of the Muslim Charities Forum include Muslim Aid, which has admitted funding organisations run by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Islamic Help, which works closely with a Hamas front organisation in Gaza; Muslim Hands, which also funds Hamas front bodies; and Human Appeal International, accused by the FBI, CIA and in the leaked US diplomatic telegrams of funding Hamas and of other terrorist links.
The Brotherhood’s objective is to replace secular democratic government with an Islamic caliphate under sharia law. Members swear an oath of allegiance declaring that “the Quran is our constitution” and “to die for the sake of God is our greatest objective”.
The Brotherhood’s leaders insist that it works democratically – albeit to secure the replacement of democracy – and says the British Government review is a form of “pandering” by Britain to Gulf dictatorships.
Hamas’s 1988 founding charter states that it is “one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine”, but the British government has tended to treat Hamas and the Brotherhood as unconnected.
The organisations based at Crown House comprise broadly the Brotherhood’s UK outreach wing. They include the Palestinian Return Centre, the Brotherhood campaign group with the closest links to mainstream politics. The PRC last month met David Quarrey, director for the Middle East at the Foreign Office, according to its website, and was also present at the Labour Friends of Palestine annual dinner in November, addressed by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Many MPs have spoken at its events.
The PRC has close links to the Brotherhood, sharing directors with the Muslim Association of Britain, the Brotherhood’s main declared British affiliate.
However, it is also claimed by the Israeli government to be “Hamas’s organisational branch in Europe” whose members are “senior Hamas leaders who promote the movement’s agenda in Europe”.
The PRC denies these claims. However, it has regularly hosted Hamas leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, at its annual conferences.
Other organisations at Crown House are Middle East Monitor (Memo), a news site which promotes a strongly pro-Brotherhood and pro-Hamas view of the region. Memo’s director, Daud Abdullah, is also a leader of the Brotherhood-linked British Muslim Initiative, set up and run by the Brotherhood activist Anas al-Tikriti and two senior figures in Hamas.
Memo’s “senior editor”, Ibrahim Hewitt, is chairman of Interpal, the Hamas and Brotherhoodlinked charity.
Another organisation at Crown House is the Emirates Centre for Human Rights (ECHR), also set up by Anas al-Tikriti. Its website was registered to his wife, Malath Shakir.
Its founding director, Abdus Salam, is the husband of Mr al-Tikriti’s sister.
The ECHR has co-organised at least two meetings at the House of Commons with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights. The ECHR’s director, Anas Mekdad, has personally tweeted supporting recent terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. He is the founder of AlMakeen Network, a UK-based website which also publishes articles praising the Brotherhood, Hamas and suicide bombings.
Other extremist organisations based at Crown House, though not formally linked to the Brotherhood, include the Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA), which sends extremist preachers around British universities and mosques.
Both Westgate House and Crown House have other tenants and there is no suggestion that all their tenants are Islamists or extremists.
© 2015 Sunday Telegraph (UK). All rights reserved.Sunday Telegraph (UK)Sunday, February 8, 2015, p. 4
On February 4, 2015, the Egyptian news website Akhbarak.net reported that the Qatari Fatwa Center, a body belonging to the Qatari government, had removed from its website a fatwa permitting execution by burning. The Fatwa Center is part of Qatar’s Religious Da’wa and Guidance Authority, which belongs to this country’s ministry of religious endowments and Islamic affairs. According to Akhbarak, the Fatwa Center removed the fatwa from its website, Islamweb.net,[1] a few hours after the burning of the Jordanian pilot, Mu’adh Al-Kasasbeh, by the Islamic State (ISIS) became known. However, a search of this site reveals that the fatwa, issued in June 2009, is still available on another part of the Qatari website,[2] as well as two earlier fatwas that make a similar point.
The June 2009 fatwa was issued in response to a query by a reader who asked whether it was permissible to execute a Muslim by burning, adding that someone had told him about such cases.[3]The fatwa issued in reply stated that, as a rule, the shari’a forbids burning people alive, but that some scholars were inclined to permit this as part of the principle of “measure for measure.” This fatwa is similar in its content and conclusion to the fatwa issued by ISIS in the Syrian city of Raqqa to justify the burning of the Jordanian pilot, though ISIS’s fatwa was issued in response to a question about the burning of infidels, not Muslims. [4] ISIS’s fatwa stated that the burning of the pilot was justified because he had carried out airstrikes on Muslims, thereby causing them to be burned alive.
The following are excerpts from the three fatwas on the Qatari website.
The June 2009 fatwa on the Islamweb site
Some Religious Scholars Were Inclined To Permit This
“Question: Is it permissible to punish a Muslim, Sunni or Shi’ite, by burning him? Please inform me, because I received an email about a Muslim being burned, and I answered the person who sent me the email [with a quote from the hadith]: ‘only the God of fire may punish with fire.’ But he opposed my position to the point that I started to doubt its correctness.’
“Answer: According to the shari’a, punishment by fire is forbidden, regardless of a person’s status, for it is written in the hadith: ‘only the God of fire may punish with fire’… [So] this deed is a sin that is forbidden because of the injustice it involves. As for a punishment imposed by the Muslim leader on criminals, it is better for one who is deserving of death to be punished with an appropriate death, according to the hadith that says, ‘if you must kill, then kill in the best manner’…
“[However,] some scholars advocated killing [a murderer] in the same way he killed [his victim], as written in the book Mukhtasar Khalil [by 14th century scholar Khalil ibn IshaqAl-Maliki]: ‘He must be put to death in the way he killed, even by fire.’ In the Al-Sahihain collection of hadiths [it is said] that the Messenger of Allah ‘crushed the skull of a Jew with two stones, just as [that Jew] did to the slave girl he killed.'”[5]
Caliph Abu Bakr Punished A Man With Fire
At the end of the fatwa, links to two other fatwas are provided. One of them, titled “The Burning of Iyas bin ‘Abd Yalil by the Righteous [Caliph] Abu Bakr,” was issued in February 2006 in response to the following question: “How can we reconcile the Prophet’s ban on burning with fire with [Caliph] Abu Bakr’s burning of Iyas bin ‘Abd Yalil during the Ridda Wars?…”
The fatwa issued in reply stated: “The Prophet’s ban is valid. According to the honorable hadith,the Prophet said: ‘only the God of fire may punish with fire’… [However], religious scholars were divided on whether this ban is absolute, or is only meant to [instill] humility [towards God]. [Shafi’i jurisprudent] Ibn Hajar [Al-‘Asqalani] said in his book Fath Al-Bari: “This ban is not meant to prohibit [burning], but only to [instill] humility. The actions of the Prophet’s Companions indicate that burning is permissible. The Prophet blinded members of the ‘Uraina tribe with a hot iron. [Caliph] Abu Bakr punished criminals by burning in the presence of the Prophet’s Companions, and [the Prophet’s Companion] Khalid Ibn Al-Walid [also] burned people from among the apostates. Most of the scholars of Medina permitted to burn horses and chariots with the people inside… [Conversely, the scholar] Ibn Al-Munir and others said: ‘There is no evidence [to support the view] of those who say it is permissible. The [punishment] of the ‘Uraina tribesmen was in retaliation [for their deeds], or else was abolished [as a form of punishment]. Moreover, [we see that] a permit by one Companion of the Prophet contradicts a ban by another Companion.[6] The case of the horses and chariots is a matter of necessity; that is, [such an act] is permissible if it is the way to overcome the enemy.’
“The story about Abu Bakr’s burning of the believer Iyas bin ‘Abd Yalil is recounted in the books of biography and history. [It is said:] ‘Iyas bin ‘Abd Yalil came to Abu Bakr and said to him: Give me weapons so I can fight the apostates. [Abu Bakr] supplied him with weapons and appointed him commander, but [Iyas] turned against the Muslims… Abu Bakr discovered this, and sent people to arrest [Iyas] and fetch him. Abu Bakr ordered to light a fire in the Medina mosque, and then he pitched [Iyas] into it, swaddled in cloths.’
“Thus, the scholars were divided with regard to the ban on burning by fire, as we have clarified, and those of them who said that this was forbidden made exceptions for cases in which this was permitted. There is no doubt that Iyas bin ‘Abd Yalil’s deed justified his burning. May Allah maximize the reward of the Caliph of the Messenger of Allah for his zeal for Islam.”[7]
Islam Permits Punishment Measure For Measure
The third fatwa, titled “The Limits of the Principle of Measure for Measure” and issued March 5, 2009, responds to a reader who asked how one could determine when to apply the rule of measure for measure against the enemies of the Muslims, and when not to apply it. The fatwa states:[8]
“The correct principle of Islam is that there is permission to punish measure for measure, as long as this is does not violate our religion… The Koran commentators said that whoever is harmed by an unjust deed will have vengeance against the one who transgressed against him, if he succeeds in overcoming him, in a way that is similar to the injustice done to him, and he must not deviate from this to other deeds. In light of this, it is possible to kill a murderer as vengeance in the way that he killed… and for this reason, the Maliki [scholar] Khalil said in his book Mukhtasar [Khalil], ‘He will be killed as he killed, even by fire, but not by means of intoxication or by means of sodomy’…”
The author of the fatwa stressed, “But if the aggressor kills in a way that is forbidden by shari’a, he must not be killed in a way that Allah has forbidden… The ratio of measure for measure is permitted as long as it [does not involve an act] forbidden by our religion.”
Source Memri.org
Endnotes:
[1] A link to this website is also found on the Qatari government portal, which invites readers to “contact Islamweb, which belongs to the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs in the State of Qatar, for a shari’a opinion on any topic of interest.”
[2] See: http://www.islamweb.net/ramadan/index.php?page=ShowFatwa&lang=A&Id=123722&Option=FatwaId
[3] In 2008 there were reports that the Islamic State of Iraq (the previous incarnation of ISIS) had burned Iraqi tribesmen it had taken captive. Perhaps these were the incidents of which the asker had heard.
[4] See MEMRI JTTM report, “ISIS Issues Fatwa To Justify Burning Of Jordanian Pilot,” February 4, 2015.
[5] Islamweb.net, June 17, 2009.
[6] This means to say that there are other stories about the Prophet’s companions that indicate burning is forbidden, and therefore the stories about Abu Bakr and Khalid Ibn Al-Walid cannot be taken as conclusive evidence for the permissibility of burning.
[7] Islamweb.net, February 7, 2009.
[8] Islamweb.net, March 5, 2009.
The municipality and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs have paid nearly 245,000 francs to the Geneva-based foundation Alkarama, whose former president is accused of supporting terrorism by the United States, with his name also included on the United Nations list of sanctioned persons for his links with al-Qaida
The American decision had repercussions as far as Switzerland. On 18 December 2013, the US Treasury Department decided to freeze the assets of Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi. The Qatari man was accused by Washington of having transferred, in that same year, nearly $ 600,000 to Al-Qaeda via one of its representatives in Syria. As a matter of fact, this man – who presents himself on his Twitter account as a history professor at Doha University – has reportedly overseen the transfer of $ 2 million to the terrorist network, but in Iraq this time, as well as provided material support to Iraqi insurgents. Also according to the American authorities, he allegedly handed money to al-Qaeda in Yemen, as well as $ 250,000 to al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia.
Beside the United States accusations, al-Naimi was also known as the president of the Alkarama Foundation Council (Le Temps dated 21.12.2013), a Geneva-based non-governmental organization “defending victims of human rights violations in the Arab world “. When the case broke out, one element was still unknown: the funding origin of a project implemented by the NGO in Egypt in 2013. Since then, Le Temps has learned that the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the City of Geneva both committed CHF 245,000 francs for that project (195,500 francs for the Foreign Affairs, and 50,000 francs for the City). The project was intended “to start investigations into past violations and to bring to justice those responsible for such violations” and “to strengthen the human rights protection system”.
Further to our call, the NGO director, Mourad Dhina, still contests the American accusations: “The information on which the Americans are based comes from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two countries whose actions are regularly questioned by us. Similarly, our investigation on drones’ strikes in Yemen, which make thousands of victims, is not to the liking of the United States. As for Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi, he has asked to be heard by the American courts, but has not received any reply yet”. The Director confirmed that “his Foundation made sure with the American authorities that it was not concerned by these accusations”.
In January 2012, Mourad Dhina faced extradition to Algeria, on the grounds of terrorist activities between 1997 and 1999. Arrested in France, he was later released, after the Paris tribunals rejected the Algerian judiciary request.
The Egyptian project was suspended “in the summer of 2013, due to then on-going developments in Egypt and the fact that it had become impossible to work in the field, whether for Alkarama or for other foreign NGOs”, says Mourad Dhina.
Out of 50,000 francs paid by the City of Geneva, the latter only recovered 13,140 francs, said Gérard Perroulaz, an administrator of the Delegation Geneva Ville Solidaire (DGVS). This amount actually represents funds not used by the Foundation. Questioned on whether the missing sum (36,860 francs) will be recovered in view of the Department of the Treasury accusations, the city dodges the issue by saying: “At this stage, we are following the Confederation policy. Were it to change, our policy would adapt accordingly”, said the personal adviser of the magistrate in charge of finances, Socialist Sandrine Salerno. Finally, on the monitoring process regarding the award of grants, Gérard Perroulaz declared that “the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs’ expertise and recommendations have been followed for each politically sensitive project”. In other words, the DGVS does not have the technical and human resources in order to ensure that its beneficiary organizations act respectfully.
Since 18 December, Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi situation has changed, as he found his name on 24 September 2014 on the UN list of persons sanctioned for their links with al-Qaeda.
We contacted the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, which failed to answer our questions.
Olivier Francey
This post is also available in Français .
Starting this Saturday, 6 September, and ending on 20 September, CAGE (formerly known as CagePrisoners), the jihadist support group run by confessed terrorist Moazzam Begg, will be touring some of Britain’s worst terror apologists and hate preachers around the UK as part of the organisation’s “Is it a Crime to Care?” lecture series.
The series, which concludes with “Syria, Gaza and the Criminalisation of Islam” at the Waterlily in London, will discuss such issues as “the Islamophobic nature of the criminalisation of those who believe in fighting in Syria,” according to CAGE’s website. Speaking alongside no fewer than four senior Hizb ut-Tahrir activists (Abdul Wahid, Reza Pankhurst, Jamal Harwood and Taji Mustafa) are the following extreme Islamists – all familiar to Stand for Peace:
Suliman Gani
Suliman Gani is a Muslim chaplain with links to Hizb ut-Tahrir. He uses the derogatory term “Qadiani” to refer to Muslims of the Ahmadiyya sect, and believes that women are inferior to men. He is also a vocal supporter of Aafia Siddiqui, a convicted terrorist described by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller as “an al-Qaeda operative and facilitator.”
Haitham al-Haddad
Haitham al-Haddad is a prominent hate preacher who describes Jews as “the enemies of God and the descendants of apes and pigs,” and quotes from the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He believes that cases of domestic abuse should not be investigated; that peaceful co-existence between people of different religions “is wrong;” that female genital mutilation is “sunnah [Islamically correct];” and that suicide bombing “is permissible.” Haddad has also argued that the Japanese tsunami was divine retribution for Japan’s “lack of submission to Allah,” and has urged Muslims to “fight everyone until they establish the law of Allah.” Any system of law other than Sharia, he argues, “is invalid.”
Adnan Rashid
Adnan Rashid is a self-identified Islamist and conspiracy theorist who believes that the Egyptian president and Saudi clerics are “Israeli agents” working to undermine Islam. Like Suliman Gani, Rashid is an admirer of Aafia Siddiqui, referring to her as “sister” and even suggesting that she should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He has also argued that rape is the “price” that women must pay for the “free[dom] to work in mixed offices or to go to mixed colleges.”
Uthman Lateef
Uthman Lateef has a Masters degree in “Crusader Studies” from the University of Damascus, and advocates the violent destruction of the non-Muslim world. He has spoken on the same platform as the late al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, and claims that the anti-Christ will be a Jew who will lead 70,000 Jewish soldiers in an attempt to destroy all Muslims. He has also described Muhammad Hamid, the convicted terrorist, as “our dear brother.”
Wasim Kempson
Wasim Kempson is a patron of HHUGS, a jihadist support group whose other patrons include confessed terrorist Moazzam Begg. Kempson has referred to Shaker Aamer, whom Begg once identified as an al-Qaeda “recruiter,” as “our dear brother;” and has spoken in support of Aafia Siddiqui, the convicted terrorist and “al-Qaeda operative and facilitator.”
Ismail Patel
Ismail Patel is a spokesman for the British Muslim Initiative, where his colleagues include fugitive Hamas commander Mohammad Sawalha. Patel has himself praised Hamas, saying, “Hamas is no terrorist organisation … We salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.” In his book, “Islam: The Choice of Thinking Women,” he advocates the murder of adulterers. Patel has also expressed support for Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy and anti-Semitic Hamas financier Raed Salah.
Ibrahim Hewitt
Ibrahim Hewitt is a trustee of Interpal, the British charity designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. On the subject of what he calls “Zionist control of the media and [other] conspiracy theories,” he asks, “Can there be smoke without fire?” “The Jews,” argues Hewitt, “cannot be entrusted with the sanctity and security of this Holy Land.” He has also referred to the “so-called Holocaust.” In a pamphlet, “What Does Islam Say?”, he advocates the death penalty for apostates and adulterers, and demands that homosexuals suffer “severe punishments” for their “great sin.”
Anas al-Tikriti
Anas al-Tikriti is a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood who runs the Cordoba Foundation, described by British Prime Minister David Cameron as “a political front for the Muslim Brotherhood.” In interviews, he has reported to have defended the killing of British and American soldiers by Iraqi insurgents, and speaks fondly of Hamas.
Asim Qureshi
Asim Qureshi is an activist with links to Hizb ut-Tahrir, and has called upon British Muslims to emulate “the example of our brothers and sisters fighting in Chechnya, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Afghanistan.” He has expressed support for Hezbollah, and describes Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade as “amazing.” Of suicide bombings, he says, “Don’t call them suicide bombings; call them ‘martyrdom operations’.”
Abdullah al-Andalusi
Abdullah al-Andalusi has described his “political views” on his Facebook page as “Islamic – Caliphate”. He believes that “democracy … doesn’t work, it doesn’t represent the people, it never will, it’s based on some interests where no one is happy, no one has their interests fulfilled and that you have to fight with other people.” He favours Sharia law instead. Andalusi is a supporter of Moazzam Begg, the jihadist activist recently arrested on terrorism charges following his return from Syria.
Fahad Ansari
Fahad Ansari is an activist who has described Anwar al-Awlaki, the al-Qaeda commander killed in a US drone strike, as “inspirational.” In an article on the death of a Libyan al-Qaeda terrorist, Ansari wrote, “His death however may serve as the fertilizer that serves to revive the spirit of jihad in the Muslims of Britain.” He also wrote to the Guardian to complain about the newspaper’s “sensational” report about British Afghans joining the Taliban, “as if it was somewhat surprising that Afghani citizens living abroad would return their homeland to liberate their country from an occupying army.” On 9/11, Ansari has said that “you cannot help but feel a little happiness that for once, the hunter has become the hunted … It is difficult to suppress the sentiment of justice being done.”
Source : Stand for Peace
This post is also available in العربية.
ikhwaninfowhoswhoen.data.blog 