A plea from German president, and launch of Islamic art museum. Some nice photographs here.
Latest Updates: germany RSS
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arif
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thabet
Germany convicts home-grown militants.
I seriously think the only suitable punishment for such people is that they are parachuted into the middle of a war zone so they can play out their stupid fantasies.
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thabet
US judge grants asylum to German home schoolers:
The reason for that fear has rarely, if ever, been the basis of an asylum case. The parents, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, want to home-school their five children, ranging in age from 2 to 12, a practice illegal in their native land, Germany.
[...]
The family has been here for some time, having left Germany in 2008. But it was not until Jan. 26 that a federal immigration judge in Memphis granted them political asylum, ruling that they had a reasonable fear of persecution for their beliefs if they returned.
In a harshly worded decision, the judge, Lawrence O. Burman, denounced the German policy, calling it “utterly repellent to everything we believe as Americans,” and expressed shock at the heavy fines and other penalties the government has levied on home-schooling parents, including taking custody of their children.
(Via @sepoy.)
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plimfix
Germany: an anti-racist academic faces prosecution for questioning whether court negligence could have been a contributory factor in the case of Marwa al-Sherbini, who was stabbed to death in a Dresden courtroom in July 2009. Dr Sabine Schiffer, Director of the Institute for Media Responsibility in Erlangen, is accused of slandering a police officer; she has been summonsed to appear before Erlangen Municipal Court on 24 March and, if convicted, could face a 6,000 Euros fine or two months imprisonment. There is also a petition in support of Dr Sabine Schiffer and calling for a full investigation into Marwa al-Sherbini’s death.
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thabet
A German orthodontist refused to serve a teenager named ‘Jihad’:
The doctor in Donaueschingen told local daily Schwarzwälder Bote on Friday that she believed his name was a declaration of war against all non-Muslims and refused to treat him.
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thabet
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arif
German public schools now teach Islam, why not, USA is in the waiting – or fear – mode I guess.
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buzz
A Russian-born immigrant who stabbed to death a pregnant Muslim woman as she gave evidence against him in court was today given Germany’s highest possible sentence for murder – 15 years’ jail with no chance of early parole.
The case has enraged the Arab world and in particular Egypt, where 31-year-old pharmacist Marwa al-Sherbini grew up.
Street demonstrators and commentators have blamed Germany for encouraging Islamophobia. The victim has been hailed as a martyr for her faith, a so-called “veil martyr”, because she had stood up against the taunts of the 28-year-old assailant, Alexander Wiens.
A fatwa has been pronounced on Mr Wiens and as a result the trial in Dresden was held under extraordinary security conditions, with the whole courthouse cleared and 200 armed police encircling the room.
“We find you bear a particularly heavy burden of guilt,” said Judge Birgit Wiegand. The phrase is German legal language indicating that Mr Wiens will not be considered for early release. Fifteen years constitutes a life sentence.
“We are very satisfied with the verdict,” said Ramzy Ezzedin Ramzy, Egypt’s ambassador to Berlin, “the maximum sentence was demanded and the maximum sentence was awarded.”
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aziz
good news in the Marwa el-Sherbini case:
A man who stabbed a pregnant Egyptian woman to death in a German courtroom in front of her husband and three-year-old son has been sentenced to the maximum penalty of life in jail.
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thabet
German publisher cancels book ‘insulting Islam’:
Droste publishers dropped the book by author Gabriele Brinkmann entitled “To Whom Honor is Due” after she refused to change several passages, including one where a fictional character is portrayed making abusive remarks about the Koran.
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johnpi
Judge says Berlin school must provide a room for a Muslim pupil to pray once a day, but the school district will appeal.
The court spokesman, Stephan Groscurth, said this was an isolated case.
“But other Muslim pupils can refer to it,” Groscurth said. The courts would then have to rule on each concrete case one at a time, he said.
The school is now obligated to allow Yunus M. to pray in a separate room outside of class time for a 10-minute period. The school director, Brigitte Burchardt, said she was disappointed by the ruling.
“If this is a precedence ruling, we cannot sustain school operations as they are,” Burchardt said. If only eight more pupils demanded similar treatment, she wouldn’t know how to implement it, she said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted an integration summit for youth in Berlin last year
“I have to consider the freedom of 650 pupils,” Burchardt said. Up to 90 percent of them are from migrant backgrounds. All major world religions are represented in the Diesterweg High School in Berlin-Wedding.
But the ruling judge Uwe Wegener said he did not see the acute danger of a wide number of pupils demanding rooms for prayer. Wegener also said he could not determine in this case that Yunus’ acts of prayer caused or deepened conflicts between pupils of various religions in day-to-day school life.
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johnpi
Pakistan discovers ‘village’ of white German al-Qaeda insurgents.
The village, in Taliban-controlled Waziristan, is run by the notorious al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which plots raids on Nato forces in Afghanistan.
A recruitment video presents life in the village as a desirable lifestyle choice with schools, hospitals, pharmacies and day care centres, all at a safe distance from the front.
In the video, the presenter, “Abu Adam”, the public face of the group in Germany, points his finger and asks: “Doesn’t it appeal to you? We warmly invite you to join us!”
According to German foreign ministry officials a growing number of German families, many of North African descent, have taken up the offer and travelled to Waziristan where supporters say converts make up some of the insurgents’ most dedicated fighters.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has a foothold in several German cities, has capitalised on growing concern over the rising profile of German forces in Afghanistan. Their role has become increasingly controversial in Germany in recent weeks after dozens of civilians were killed in an air strike ordered by German officers.
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thabet
Britain, France and Germany call for a new Afghanistan
(exit) planconference:In the wake of the the second presidential election in Afghanistan, Germany’s Chancellor Merkel said she would like to create some momentum in that country. “Now we are coming to a transitional phase,” she said.
I wonder if the Europeans told their American counterpart about this
(exit) planconference before announcing it to the world… -
thabet
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thabet
Germans confess to planning terrorist activities:
Daniel Schneider, a 23-year-old German convert to Islam, told the court he was relieved to have been arrested along with three other alleged cell members in 2007 and said that he now believes such an attack would be harmful to Islam.
“Today, I would not make the decision to fight holy war,” Schneider said.
Schneider, along with Fritz Gelowicz and Adem Yilmaz, both 29, and Attila Selek, 23, are suspected of operating as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union. They face charges of plotting bombing attacks in Germany against American citizens and facilities across the country.
More details on the ‘Sauerland cell’ can be found at the Deutsche Welle English-language German website.
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thabet
This is odd. A German football club from the Rhine-Ruhr region, formed in the early 1900s, has a club anthem which features the name of the Prophet (via Islam in Europe):
At first I thought the song may have an origin in an old dislike of Turks (i.e. from the days of the Ottoman Empire), but the words don’t actually tell reveal any obvious dislike of Turks or Muslims. The Islam in Europe blog says the song is based on an old German hunting song:
According to the German folk song archive, the anthem is based on a hunting tune from 1797 which says “Mohammed is my patron! He knew real beauty. He, for whom only green was holy from all the colours.”
I still find it odd that the Prophet has any relationship with any of the above, even in a negative sense.
German Muslims are not too happy with the song and have petitioned to club, FC Schalke, to change the anthem.
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thabet
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johnpi
Iranian students protest killing of Muslim woman in Germany.
Tehran- Iranian students hurled eggs at the German embassy on Saturday to protest the slaying of a Muslim woman by a right-wing extremist in a German courtroom. About a dozen protesters gathered outside the building, chanting “Down with Germany” and “Down with Racist Europeans” as police guarding the embassy looked on.
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thabet
An Egyptian woman, who was killed in a German courtroom by a man she was suing for insulting her, was three months pregnant.
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plimfix
There has been widespread media coverage – at least in the UK – (and some blogging, too) in respect of The Gallup Coexist Index 2009: A Global Study of Interfaith Relations With an in-depth analysis of Muslim integration in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
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thabet
Berliners are preparing to go to the polls to decide whether children should have a choice between classes in secular ethics or religion. Berlin is one of the few German states which do not have compulsory classes on religion.
Catholics and Muslims have campaigned for a ‘yes’ vote.
The influence of the Turkish model of secularism and religion is clear on one of the (Turkish) Muslim groups campaiging for a ‘yes’ vote:
The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (Ditib) is one such supporter. Their spokesperson Ender Cetin argues that fostering a knowledge of officially-sanctioned Islam can help prevent young people from being lured into radicalism.
“It’s important that schools have enlightened Islamic lessons, and that we avoid unofficial Koran lessons in backyards.”
See more from FaithWorld and Spiegel.
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thabet
Four men in Germany stand trial for planning terror attacks in the US.
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thabet
Abu Dhabi buys a 9.1% stake in Daimler.
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thabet
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thabet
A report by Human Rights Watch says Germany’s ban on headscarfs violates basic rights of Muslim women in the country.
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Kawthar
Germany’s Deutsche-Welle offers one of the most troubling definitions of “honour killing” that I’ve seen to date:
The term refers to a Muslim daughter being executed by the males of her own family, who jointly decide she has disgraced the family’s honor through her sexual behavior.
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Kawthar
‘Pro familia’, a German organization, “estimates” that a tenth of Muslim in Berlin have had their hymens repaired.
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thabet
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thabet
A Liberal Democrat MP has said the courts should refuse an extradition request from Germany for an Australian schoolteacher accused of being a Holocaust denier.
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thabet
Regurgitated raisins: Spiegel interviews a German academic on the controversy surrounding a Muslim scholar whose academic work has put him at odds with mainstream Muslim organisations in Germany.
The Muslim in question, Muhammad Kalisch, is said to support the work of another German academic who has suggested “that the Koran is a Christian text and that Muhammad probably never lived”.
On the face of it, it looks to me like a case of regurgitated raisins.
