Free Republic

The radical Islamic preacher who shouted down John Reid while he was addressing a Muslim meeting in east London has been arrested for allegedly encouraging terrorism. Abu Izzadeen barracked the Home Secretary in a five minute outburst in September last year, as Mr Reid urged Muslim parents to stand up to extremists. Dressed in a long white robe and turban, he shouted at Mr Reid: "How dare you come to a Muslim area when you have arrested so many Muslims in this area? "I am furious. I am absolutely furious — John Reid should not come to a Muslim area....

Somalia is officially an Islamic state and conversion is prohibited. The country has a population of approximately 8.3 million, nearly all of them Sunni Muslims. There is a small, extremely low-profile Christian community. According to the International Religious Freedom Report 2006 issued by the US State Department last Friday, proselytizing for any religion except Islam is prohibited in Puntland and Somaliland and effectively blocked by informal social consensus elsewhere in the country. Somalia has had no government since the fall of Siad Barre in 1991. The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which grew out of individual courts' efforts to establish...