PRESSWATCH

Our  look at  the  world media  
 

When money counts more than freedom
By George Galloway - Labour MP for Hillhead
The decision to deport Mohammed al-Masari - a top physicist, Islamic scholar and leader of the Saudi opposition, to Dominica, would be an Ealing-type comedy if it were not so tragic.

His passport there will transport him to a place where 75,000 souls eke out a banana-dependent living on the cusp of the Atlantic.

There he would be literally the only Muslim, the chances of a Halal dinner are slim where the stable diet is pork.

And al-Masari would have a long wait for the kind of fax lines and Internet links, which he has used with such aplomb in harrying the Saudi dictatorship from London.

The deportation order, issued by Britain, is an act of sordid submission to the Saudis, who routinely behead women for adultery and poor foreign labourers for petty crimes in public squares on Friday afternoons, tyrants who have looted their own country to toss dice in Europe's casinos and bedded tarts in the world's bordellos.

Of course, the British decision has everything to do with the Saudi's willingness to further stuff their bloated armouries with British GUNS and GAS. Turbulent Selling arms to Arab dictators has not gone out of fashion, it's just that, like Saddam Hussein, some of the dictators go in and out of vogue.

Ann Widdecombe, that friend of freedom in the Home Office, says the decision was carefully "weighed in the balance."

The only thing that was weighed was the desire for CASH, the profits of Vickers and British Aerospace, and other arms traders.

I know for a fact that before Christmas, leading Foreign Office mandarins met with the top brass of big business, who openly called for Britain to renege on international law in a way which, would rid the Saudis of this turbulent priest.

Keep calm, said the suits from the Foreign Office, we have exile plans, unused since Napoleon was sent to Elba or Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios was deported to the Seychelles.

AND IT TURNS OUT, THEY DID. Whether the plan will pass the sterner test of the courts of appeal is another matter.

Home Secretary Michael Howard has not been noticeably successful in the courts; indeed, he's been found to have acted illegally more often than Ronald Biggs!

All Mohammed al-Masari wants is an end to the dictatorship in his country; not so much a one-party state, more a family business - of the Don Corleone type.

All those who know the Middle East say that the Saudi regime has never looked more rocky.

The fat, corrupt and dying King Fahd has just given way to his half-brother Abdullah. His full brothers - the so-called Sudairi Seven, of whom Sultan, the Defence Minister, is top dog - are determined to unseat Abdullah. Blackmail All the princes have their own armed forces, all are stabbing each other in their very broad backs. Come to think of it, maybe the Borgias are a better family model.

Last month, the CIA barracks in Riyadh were devastated by a bomb, which killed five Americans.
In short, all is turmoil in this 'friendly country', to whose blackmail we have now buckled.

So much for all the fine words about liberty when brave British soldiers were sent to confront another Arab dictator in the Gulf War.

We seem doomed NEVER to learn that selling arms to despots is not a long-term economic strategy.

We must realise that when a dictatorship is overthrown, the triumphant people check the 'Made in Britain' labels on the guns of their oppressors . . . . . and it's not good for future business.

And what is this man al-Masari, who we are about to expel to the other end of the earth, emerges one day, as many believe, as the leader of what is now called Saudi Arabia?

What will be the long-term prospects of British business then?
Napoleon came back from Elba and Archbishop Makarios returned to Cyprus as President.

If al-Masari must brave the hurricanes of the Windward Islands, it is nothing to the storm facing the tottering tyrants of AI Saud.

The winds of freedom are blowing in Arabia.

Sunday Mail,(UK) 711)96
 
 
 

Ustaz molested nine other students, says officer
By Philip Golingai

PETALING JAYA: A 53-year-old religious teacher, charged with pinching an eight-year-old girl's nipples and private parts, he had also molested nine other students, a magistrate's court heard yesterday.

Investigating officer Insp Kamsiah Aris said she questioned the ustaz's Standard Two students after the victim's mother lodged a police report on april 17.

"My investigation revealed that nine other girls were molested by the ustaz", she said.

Kamsiah, 25 was testifying against Ustaz Abdul Munek of Taman Dato Haron in Jalan Klang Lama, who was charged with molesting an eight-year-old girl in a classroom at Sek. Rendah Agama Kampung Medan between Dec 1994 and July 17.

Earlier, the mother of the victim's nine-year-old classmate, Sharifah Harun, said her daughter had complained that Abdul Munek was gatal (lecherous)

Sharifah, 38, said her daughter had told her that Abdul Munek had pinched her nipples.

Kamsiah's testimony also marked the end of the prosecution's case.

Prosecuting Officer Chief Insp A. Narainasamy offered 10 witnesses to defence counsel V.Rajadevan.

Magistrate Tay Lee Ly fixed today for submission.
The Star, (Malaysia) 15/12/95
 
 
 

The Sign of the Night
In the Quran God told the Messenger that the Sign of the night is darkness. "Another Sign for them is the night ('laili'). We remove daylight therefrom whereupon they are in darkness" Surah 36:37.

"We rendered the night ('laili') and the day two Signs. We made the night ('laili') dark and the day lighted, that you may' seek provisions from your Lord therein. This also establishes for you a timing system and the means of calculation. We thus explain everything; in detail" Surah 17: 12.

"He made the night ('laili') dark and brightened the morning.." Surah 79:29.

After explaining in some detail that the Sign of the night is darkness, God then told the Messenger to observe the fast during Ramadan until the night or 'laili'.

"You may cat and drink until the white thread becomes distinguishable from the black thread at sunrise ('fajri'). Then you shall fast until the night ('laili')"
Surah 2: 187.

*Like millions of other Muslims - enjoying a communal breaking of the fast during Ramadhan in broad daylight. The Messenger followed the Quran down to the letter. What about us today?
 
 
 

Islam
Akbar Ahmed
CHARACTERISTIC of our post-modern world, a contradictory pattern of violent conflict and, simultaneously, increased dialogue will mark Muslims societies. Muslims living as minorities complain against what they see as increasingly xenophobic government policies. Kashmir will carry on bleeding.

Initiatives to improve understanding between Muslims and the West will continue. The Oxford lecture of the Prince of Wales sparked several: this month, Emma Nicholoson launched the first of six major conferences.

In Muslim majority areas, clashes with government will result in more violence; those in the middle will be increasingly squeezed. From Cairo to Karachi, Muslim cities will remain battlegrounds. A surreal peace, tied inextricably to outside forces, is precariously balanced in Bosnia, the Middle East and large parts of Central Asia.

There are too military dictators, authoritarian religious figures and corrupt demagogues in the Muslim world. A large percentage of Muslim society is young and disenchanted; many are unemployed. Violent confrontation may not be in the tolerant spirit of Islam but it engenders a red-hot sense of commitment. These Muslims are protesting against the injustice of their world. Islam is all they have to fall back on. They will be labeled "Islamic fundamentalist" and damned in the world media.

Professor Akhbar Ahmed is a fellow of Selwyn college, Cambridge and author of Living Islam (BBC - Penguin Books)

The Guardian, (UK) 30/12/95