Free Republic

A Muslim member of the French Government has attacked the head-to-toe Islamic dress as a prison, applauding a court decision to deny citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wore it. “The burka is a prison, a strait-jacket,” Fadela Amara, the Minister for Urban Affairs and a longstanding women's rights campaigner, said yesterday. “It is not religious. It is the insignia of a totalitarian political project for sexual inequality.” The court decision denying Faiza Mabchour, 32, French citizenship has drawn approval from both Left and Right, highlighting a rejection of Muslim customs that conflict with the values of the secular French...

The fiancée of one of the leaders of the failed July 21 suicide attacks has been sentenced to three years in jail for helping him escape by dressing in a burka as a Muslim woman. Fardosa Abdullahi, who was 17 at the time, gave Yassin Omar her mobile phone handset, provided a scarf and handbag for his disguise and accompanied him to Golders Green coach station where he fled to Birmingham in his feminine disguise. Omar's family persuaded her to contact police but she claimed she did not know where he was and it was not until six days after...

When I came to this country, I took off my hijab. It wasn't an easy decision. I worried at night that God would punish me for it. That's what I had been taught would happen, and it filled me with fear. I was 27, coming from my home country of Iraq to study in California. I hoped that by taking off the hijab I had been wearing for eight years, I would be able to maintain a low profile. In Baghdad, you keep a low profile to stay alive. But in the United States, I merely wanted not to be...

Cambridge University has been given £8 million by a Saudi Arabian prince to establish an Islamic studies centre. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, ranked in the top 20 richest men in the world, with a fortune of about £10 billion, has donated the cash to the university to fund a centre in his name for the study of the role of Islam in the Middle East and globally. The gift has been recommended by the university's general board and is expected to be announced in June. advertisement The grandson of King Ibn Saud and nephew of King Abudllah, the prince counts...

A fringe sect of Jewish women with a Taliban-like dress code will be overcome by a major spiritual crisis after the arrest of the group's leader on charges of child abuse, haredi sources in Beit Shemesh predicted Wednesday. According to haredi media and a well-informed source in Beit Shemesh, the 54-year-old mother of 12 who is suspected of serious child abuse and failing to report multiple cases of incest among her children, is none other than the head of a sect of women who adhere to a dress code more stringent than that of the most extreme Muslim sects and...

A burqa may not be the flirtiest garment ever invented for women. The highly modest head-to-toe robe even shrouds the eyes, so for centuries it's been difficult for women wearing them to send suggestive signals to men. But now a German designer has debuted a digitally-enabled burqa that can broadcast a photo of the wearer to nearby mobile phones. Markus Kison calls it the "CharmingBurka," and says it isn't forbidden by Islamic law. A model demonstrated a prototype of Kison's garment at the Seamless 2008 design and fashion show in Boston, a high-tech fashion event run with support from the...

The bright blue veil of the burqa is one of the most iconic and widely worn pieces of women’s clothing in Afghanistan. Since the fall of the Taliban, fewer women wear the burqa in Kabul, but elsewhere, in the provinces, the burqa is as ubiquitous as ever. The Zamarai family, shown in the video, have been tailors and burqa-makers for three generations. But recently there’s a new player in the Kabul burqa market: China, which mass-produces a style of burqa that many women here find more fashionable than the Zamarais’ traditional hand-assembled garments. The Chinese-made burqas’ tightly-crimped folds and machine-produced...

Little girls in the militancy-hit Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan hate a diktat issued by pro-Taliban rebels to attend school in burqas. Burqas are the only option some girls' schools in northwestern Pakistan have against being shut down or worse, being bombed. "I want to study, but not in a burqa," said Shah Rukh, a 12-year-old girl enrolled at a primary school at Saidu Sharif in Swat. Shah Rukh is just one of many girls who have learnt to speak out against the burqa diktat in the picturesque Valley. "My 11-year-old daughter cries every morning when she has to wear...

'I 'd like a one-way air fare to New York on the next available flight. I have no luggage. Could you make sure the ticket is refundable … in case I change my mind?" I was standing at the Delta shuttle counter at Washington's Reagan National Airport, dressed in my Saudi burka. "Sure, no problem," the clerk replied brightly. "Do you have Skymiles?" "Uh, no." "I'll need some form of identification." I handed her my driver's licence, which showed the occupant of the black tent to be a blonde, blue-eyed resident of the District of Columbia. "Thanks." Tap, tap, tap...

HIDDENITE, N.C. -- Police are investigating an unusual robbery in Hiddenite. Someone dressed in a burgundy burka walked into the People’s Bank at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, showed the teller a handgun and demanded money. The robber then took off down N.C. 90 in a burgundy sport utility vehicle

THIS is the face of the anti-war Left!I took this from the Navy Memorial side of the counterprotest today, 15 September 2007, Washington, DC. More left-wing insanity: The enemy: the Code Pinkos, trying their best to stir us up. The veterans who have turned their backs on their brothers and sisters. This "Free Palestine" character stood out. Accompanying the conspiracy nutjobs... http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v112/196/104/662887830/n662887830_199561_7230.jpg". Hugo Chavez fan. Don't know if he was an illegal or not. And the coup de gross:She just couldn't keep her mouth closed as well.

It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Stuck for inspiration about what to wear at their village carnival, one group made a last-minute decision to dress up in mock Muslim burkas. Calling themselves the "Page Three Beauties from the Ramalama Ding-Dong Times", the 17 men and women carried placards with made-up names such as "Miss Hairyarmpitsbad", "Miss Slackistan", "Miss Notbadinbedabad" and "Miss Reallyamanistan". As they walked the one-mile parade route, the group knelt down in mock prayer and used fake compasses to try to find Mecca. Their routine impressed carnival judges - a mayor, two district councillors...

Once-exotic forms of Muslim women's head and body garments have now become both familiar in the West and the source of fractious political and legal disputes.

THE leader of a radical Pakistani mosque was arrested while trying to flee in a woman's burqa as security forces stepped up pressure on a few hundred hardcore followers still holed up inside. Firebrand cleric Abdul Aziz's capture sparked an exodus from Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, with 1,200 male and female students surrendering to the authorities a day after clashes there left 16 people dead. The government of embattled President Pervez Musharraf hailed the capture of the firebrand preacher as a major success, after months of criticism that it was failing to tackle extremism. "After all the things...

Islamabad, 4 July (AKI) - (Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The leader of a radical mosque in Islamabad besieged by Pakistani security forces has been captured as he tried to escape the complex wearing a burqa. Maulana Abdul Aziz was arrested as he tried to leave the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) amid a crowd of women wearing the black burqas favoured by the Taliban. Reports say that his wife Umme Hasan has also been arrested. However, Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, the other hardline brother leading the mosque's months-long challenge to central government authority, is believed to have remained in the complex with...

LONDON: Increasingly, Muslim women in Britain take their children to school and run errands covered head to toe in flowing black gowns that allow only a slit for their eyes. Like little else, their appearance has unnerved Britons, testing the limits of tolerance in this stridently secular nation. Many veiled women say they are targets of abuse. At the same time, efforts are growing to place legal curbs on the full Muslim veil, known as the niqab. The past year has seen numerous examples: A lawyer dressed in a niqab was told by an immigration judge that she could not...

Caption the Speakertress in dhimmitude... Practicing for her grand vision of post-surrender USA. Dim-Dhimmi-Dems....

Michael Moore calls Muslim terrorists "Minutemen" ("The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win."). But Islamists are cowards who kill innocent civilians, and then run away and hide, disguising themselves as women: Why should we believe Moore, whose "rage against the machine" includes investing in stocks like Halliburton? Here's more proof of Islamist "bravery:" CCTV images of one of the 21 July bomb suspects apparently fleeing London in a Muslim veil have been shown in...

CCTV images of one of the 21 July bomb suspects apparently fleeing London in a Muslim veil have been shown in court.The jury at Woolwich Crown Court saw footage prosecutors say is Yassin Omar, 26, wearing a black full-length dress and burka with a handbag over his arm. He is said to have travelled by bus to Birmingham from Golders Green in north London on 22 July 2005 - the day after an alleged attempt to bomb the Tube. Mr Omar and six other defendants deny charges of conspiracy to murder. The footage shows Mr Omar mingling with ordinary commuters...

Young Muslim women will definitely save money on bikini wax and suntan lotion at the beach this year. That's because the burkini, the latest in swimwear for Muslim women, is making its appearance and creating quite a stir on Australia's beaches, famous for their scantily-attired females. A hybrid of the Islamic burqa and the Western world's much-beloved bikini, the lycra, two-piece bathing suit covers its wearer from head to foot, showing only the hands, feet and face. The full-length swimsuit's designer, Lebanon-born Aheda Zanetti, told the media her lightweight creation is meant to allow Muslim women to enjoy water sports,...

Dramatic film of a fireman confronting one of the alleged July 21 bombers on a Tube train as other passengers fled in panic was shown to a jury yesterday. The CCTV footage showed Ramzi Mohammed, 25, wearing a rucksack and boarding the busy Northern Line Tube at Stockwell, south London. He turned his back towards a mother with a child in a pushchair before detonating his device. The detonator exploded, although the main charge, made up of liquid hydrogen peroxide and chapati flour, failed to go off. As other passengers tried to run, Angus Campbell, an off-duty fireman, stayed and...

The would-be suicide bombers gathered the night before July 21 in a flat in north Kensington in London; everything was ready for an attack that had been planned for weeks and was to be carried out with explosive devices cooked up on a kitchen stove, mixing high-strength hair bleach, nail varnish remover, acid, lightbulbs, batteries and chapati flour, the jury at Woolwich crown court heard. When the five men walked out of 14 Dalgarno Gardens the next day, Ramzi Mohammed left the remnants of a draft suicide note to his two children; evidence found later suggested a suicide video had...

Jewelry stores in the Indian city of Pune are considering a ban on burqas after a series of thefts of big-ticket items by customers wearing the head-to-toe Islamic garment. Security cameras in stores help to fight crime and reduce shoplifting. But what can shop owners do if thieves hide behind the all-covering Islamic garment, the burqa? This is the problem facing jewelers in the Indian city of Pune after a number of expensive pieces of jewelry were stolen by burqa-clad shoplifters. Indian Muslim women wearing burqas. The head-to-toe Islamic robe could be banned at jewelry stores in an Indian city...

San Diego - Today I took my elderly mother to WalMart for a shopping expedition. While shopping in the Christmas section, I noticed a fully veiled female. I was taken aback a bit but then noticed she was an employee with a blue WalMart shirt on. I'm not talking a head scarf but a full on burka, with a full dress down to the feet. Only the eyes and the hands were visible. I thought for security reasons this was not allowed. For a moment I thought I was dreaming. Is anyone else seeing fully veiled females anywhere else let...

snip In other action today in Iraq, coalition forces operating near Baqubah engaged and killed four armed terrorists and detained 11 suspected terrorists during a raid that targeted individuals associated with al Qaeda. ... One of the 11 terrorists detained was hiding in a house dressed as a woman, pretending to nurse a baby, officials reported.snip

Holland is to become the first country in Europe to ban the burqa after the government announced plans to introduce legislation outlawing the head-to-toe Islamic garment "within days".The cabinet decreed yesterday that it posed a "terrorist threat" because it prevented the wearers' face being identified. The ban is likely to extend to all face-covering veils and prevent anyone "appearing in public with covered facial features". Rita Verdonk, the hard-line immigration minister known as "Iron Rita", has made no secret of her dislike of the garment, which she believes "aids and abets the repression of women". Calling it "a danger to...

Legal advisers and solicitors may wear the Islamic veil in court unless it interferes with the "interests of justice", judges have been told. The judiciary were told to use their discretion to interpret the temporary guidance, which covers all courts. The advice was issued by immigration tribunals chief Mr Justice Hodge after a case had to be halted when a legal adviser refused to remove her veil. The Lord Chief Justice said full rules on the veils issue were being drawn up. Case adjourned Earlier this week it emerged legal adviser Shabnam Mughal had refused to remove her headwear during...

   Full-face ... lawyer dressed in veil like this one    EXCLUSIVE  Trial halted over lawyer's veil By JOHN SCOTTNovember 07, 2006           AN immigration tribunal was halted yesterday after a lawyer twice refused a judge’s request to remove her veil.  Shabnam Mughal was dressed from head to foot in black with a full-face veil leaving just her eyes visible.Miss Mughal was acting for Sikh businessman Jagdev Singh in his appeal against the Home Office’s refusal to grant his nephew permission to visit the UK.She was asked to remove the veil by tribunal chairman George Glossop during...

The new look for Britain’s hospitalsTHIS is the latest look coming to our NHS hospitals – a burka-style gown for patients. Instead of standard issue clothing, women who want to cover up because of their faith are to be offered the striking turquoise garment. Although welcomed by doctors as a breakthrough to encourage Muslim women to seek treatment, critics last night said the move was "another example of political correctness". The "Inter-faith gown" is being piloted at Royal Preston Hospital after complaints from women that regulation dress was too revealing. Hospitals across the country are also being offered the £12...

A MUSLIM woman was prevented from getting on a bus in Greater Manchester because she would not remove her veil. The 22-year-old Manchester University student from Oldham says other passengers laughed when the driver refused to let her on because he could not check her identity with her bus pass. Now the driver's bosses at First Manchester are to meet with their trade association, the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), to seek advice on how to deal with the problem if other passengers with photo passes refuse to lift their veils. Advertisement your story continues below They say they have...

A journalist dressed in a Muslim burka was not required to reveal her face to Copenhagen airport security A reporter from daily newspaper B.T. dressed in a burka was able to pass through at Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport without being asked to reveal her face to security personnel. Burkas are an item of Muslim clothing worn by women and exposing only the hands and eyes of their wearers. B.T.'s female reporter was required only to pull down the outfit's veil past her nose when passing through the security checkpoint. The reporter flew from Copenhagen to London Stansted airport, where she was...

A MALE suspect in a major anti-terrorist investigation in Britain escaped capture by allegedly disguising himself as a Muslim woman dressed in a burka, The Times can reveal. The man, who was wanted in connection with serious terrorist offences, evaded arrest for several days as police searched for him across the country. The fact that a fugitive remained at large after disguising himself in an Islamic dress which covered his face will further fuel the debate sparked by Jack Straw, Leader of the House of Commons, about the wearing of the veil. Details of the man’s true identity were circulated...

Suspect in terror hunt used veil to evade arrest The Times (UK) October 09, 2006 By Sean O’Neill and Anthony Browne A MALE suspect in a major anti-terrorist investigation in Britain escaped capture by allegedly disguising himself as a Muslim woman dressed in a burka, The Times can reveal. The man, who was wanted in connection with serious terrorist offences, evaded arrest for several days as police searched for him across the country. The fact that a fugitive remained at large after disguising himself in an Islamic dress which covered his face will further fuel the debate sparked by...

Alleged terror leader Abu Bakar Bashir said TV shows featuring scantily clad women were more harmful than the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, the state news agency reported. The remarks were likely to anger Australia, which lost 88 citizens in the attacks on two crowded nightclubs. Bashir, recently released from jail after serving 26-months for conspiracy in the bombings, said images of naked or semi-naked woman on television were sinful and chipped away at the moral fibre of Muslim believers. “So, if I am asked which is more dangerous, naked women or the Bali bombs, then my...

An English teacher who converted to Islam when she joined a Muslim faith school was horrified when the owner asked questions about her virginity, a tribunal was told. Monique Buckner, a 33-year-old South African said married father-of-five Hojjat Ramzy asked whether she was a virgin when the pair were alone in the school office. The school boss also told her he would marry her if he was 20 years younger. Ms Bucker told the tribunal: "In the office one day after school, Mr Ramzy told me that if he were younger, he would marry me. "This disgusted me as I...

RIYADH (Reuters) - Sitting in the reception area of a Saudi newspaper office, we do nothing more damning than talk about the weather and the local press. The security guards eye us suspiciously -- so much so that I avoid crossing my legs to escape the impression of being overly casual with my female interlocutor. In almost any other country it would be a routine exchange. In Saudi Arabia, a public meeting like this between a man and a woman could ruin her reputation and besmirch a family's honor. The young woman explains in almost a whisper that we are...

BRUSSELS — Three Belgian coastal municipalities are moving to ban Muslim women from wearing a burka. The municipalities of De Panne, Koksijde and Nieuwpoort have drawn up a proposal that will be presented to town councils in the near future. The proposal was drawn up on request from the police and will be part of a general ban on disguises. The ban comes after several incidents in which residents raised alarm during end-of-school celebrations. Some youths had dressed up as gangsters. The chief of the West Coast police zone, Johan Geeraert, said local officers had also complained about the Islamic...

AN Egyptian man discovered on his wedding day that his fiancee of three years was a man who had been concealing his identity behind a veil. The 26-year-old groom-to-be, Tamer Shehata, was notified by a female guest attending his wedding that his would-be wife was a man in women's clothing. When Mr Shehata confronted his fiancee, he broke down and revealed that he was actually an 18-year-old man called Ahmed Abo Zeid. Mr Abo Zeid confessed that he had tried several times to undergo a sex change but had failed to secure doctors' approval. Mr Abo Zeid, whose face was...

Muslim wins right to reject the hijab By Anthony Browne, Brussels Correspondent ISLAMIC groups across Europe have campaigned for years for the right of Muslim women to wear the religious headscarf, or hijab. Now a Muslim woman in the Netherlands has won the right not to wear it. Samira Haddad, 32, won her case against the Islamic College of Amsterdam, which insists that all Muslim women wear the hijab. The secondary school rejected her for a job after she said in an interview that she did not wear it. The country’s Equality Commission ruled in Ms Haddad’s favour, saying that...

Now it is another Vietnam. Again, a nonmilitary branch of the government is sticking their nose where it doesn't belong and demanding withdrawal before victory. America must not abandon another just cause. America must not betray another nation of people who are hoping for freedom and representation. It is the ideal of relativism that says freedom and democracy are not superior to tyranny and terror. Liberals who adhere to this philosophy may need to experience the latter before changing their mind about the superiority of America's way of life. Yet, a proper study of history would make that unnecessary. America's...

The 'time of cosy tea-drinking' with Muslims is over, says the minister who would ban the burka (ROBERT VOS/EPA) THE Netherlands is likely to become the first country in Europe to ban the burka, under government proposals that would bring in some of the toughest curbs on Muslim clothing in the world. The country’s hardline Integration Minister, Rita Verdonk, known as the Iron Lady for her series of tough anti-immigration measures, told Parliament that she was going to investigate where and when the burka should be banned. The burka, traditional clothing in some Islamic societies, covers a woman’s face and...

Italy bans Islamic burqas Natasha Bita, Florence August 01, 2005 ITALY has banned Islamic burqas under tough terrorism laws that provide two-year jail terms and E2000 ($3200) fines for anyone caught covering their face in a public place. The counter-terrorism package, passed by Italy's parliament yesterday, doubles the existing penalty for wearing a burqa or chador -- traditional robes worn by Muslim women to cover their faces -- or full-faced helmets or balaclavas in public. Police can extract DNA samples without a suspect's consent, detain them for 24 hours without a lawyer present, and deport foreigners suspected of terrorism under...

Pakistani police on Tuesday arrested two suspected Islamic militants with explosives and bomb-making literature near the industrial city of Faisalabad. The report received on Tuesday said that one of the bearded men was wearing a head-to-toe veil, (burqa) worn by many conservative women in Pakistan. The suspects are believed to be members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an extremist Sunni Muslim militant group that was banned in 2001 for attack. The report said that the two suspects were found carrying 16 kg (35 pounds) of explosives. According to the initial investigating, the men claimed they were experts in making bombs.

Hello! Just wanted to pass this information along to everyone, thought you might enjoying watching it. Attention!! We would like every llama owner and lover to be aware of an exciting 1/2 hour llama program that is being aired on RFD-TV. The showings will be at the following times: July 4th at 6:30pm. July 5th at 2:30am and again at 10:30am July 9th at 5:00pm. It will be shown on channels: Dish Network channel #9409 Direct T.V. channel #379 Cable T.V. (check your local listings) This was filmed on a llama ranch and features Cart Pulling, Fiber, Youth, A Breeding...

I've now read and re-read Senator Dick Durbin's comments on interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay. They are completely, perfectly respectable. The rank hysteria being perpetrated by some on the right is what is shameful. Hugh Hewitt should answer one single question: does he doubt the FBI interrogator who witnessed the appalling treatment of some detainees at Guantanamo? Here's the report: On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food, or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had...

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Although we didn't think of it in those terms at the time, I now realise that I attended a very multi-racial school. Between the ages of nine and 12, I went to a prep school in Sussex which, possibly short of numbers, recruited heavily abroad. The result was sudden influxes of differing ethnic groups. Thus the sons of members of the ruling True Whig Party in Liberia arrived in a bunch, as did several similarly highly placed Nigerians. This improved our sporting prowess. Several Persians, as everyone then called them, also came. The biggest group were the sons of a...

Teenage Muslim Girl Wins Right to Wear Islamic Dress in Britain By VOA News 02 March 2005 Britain's Court of Appeal has ruled that a teenage Muslim girl's rights were violated when her high school refused to let her wear a full Islamic dress. The court said Wednesday a clothing ban at Denbigh High School in Luton, north of London, violated Shabina Begum's right to religious freedom. The school sent Begum home in September 2002 after she showed up wearing a jilbab, a long gown that covers the entire body except for the hands and face. She has not returned...