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14-year-old boy ‘flogged to death’ by para-military police in western Iran Thu. 25 Nov 2004 Iran Focus Iran Tehran, Nov. 25 - New information has come to light over the sudden death of a 14-year-old schoolboy in western Iran, who died after being flogged for “eating in public” during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. Kaveh Habibi-Nejad died Nov. 12 and was buried in the cemetery of the Kurdish city of Sanadaj on Nov. 13, according to his death certificate. The new information is the official report by the coroner’s office in Sanandaj. The report states that the boy died...

BEIRUT, Sept 8 — The brutal school siege in Russia, with hundreds of children dead and wounded, has sparked an unusual round of self-criticism and introspection in the Muslim and Arab world. "It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims," Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, the general manager of the widely watched Al-Arabiya satellite television station wrote in one of the most striking of these commentaries. Writing in the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Mr. Rashed said it was "shameful and degrading" that not only were...

BESLAN, Russia (AP) - Russians rallied against terrorism Tuesday in response to a hostage-taking that claimed more than 350 lives, and President Vladimir Putin denied a link between Russia's policies in Chechnya and the standoff in this southern city. In an interview late Monday with foreign journalists and academics, Putin again rejected Western calls for negotiations with Chechen rebel representatives, Britain's Guardian daily reported.``Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?,'' the...

Egyptian-born and Qatari-based prominent sunni cleric Youssef Qardawi issued a fatwa declaring that it is a must to kill American civilians in Iraq because they are "invaders" just like the army. The fatwa was issued in a meeting with the Egyptian journalist syndicate here in Cairo. Qardawi is the spiritual leader of the Islamist political party the Muslim Brotherhood. He left Egypt and is now living in Qatar in a mansion that would fill Bill Gates with envy. He lives under the protection and blessing of his fat financier the Emir of Qatar. There are two very interesting points in...

Cleric supports targeting children An extremist Islamic cleric based in Britain said yesterday that he would support hostage-taking at British schools if carried out by terrorists with a just cause. Omar Bakri Mohammed, the spiritual leader of the extremist sect al-Muhajiroun, said that holding women and children hostage would be a reasonable course of action for a Muslim who has suffered under British rule. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Mohammed said: "If an Iraqi Muslim carried out an attack like that in Britain, it would be justified because Britain has carried out acts of terrorism in Iraq....

CAIRO, Egypt — Expressions of shame and self-reproach swept the Arab world yesterday as Muslims mourned the deaths of Russian schoolchildren and voiced unusually critical condemnations of the social ills widely blamed here for breeding terrorism. The Arab world has watched with mounting disgust in recent weeks as a wave of civilian hostages — some of them Arabs and Muslims — were slaughtered by masked insurgents in Iraq. This weekend, newspapers and satellite channels were dominated by pictures of bloodied, naked children in southern Russia fleeing armed guerrillas suspected to be Islamic rebels supporting an independent Chechyna. Many Arabs faced...

The bloody siege of a Russian school by Chechen rebels brought widespread condemnation and soul-searching in the Islamic world yesterday. Arab newspapers and television broadcasts were full of dramatic photographs of the children killed and injured in the siege by Islamic rebels demanding Chechen independence from Russia. Commentators and clerics put a harsh spotlight on those who kill and maim in Islam's name. "What is the guilt of those children? Why should they be responsible for your conflict with the government?" Egypt's top Muslim cleric, Grand Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, asked during a sermon in Banha, 30 miles north of...

THE full horror of the Russian school atrocity began to emerge yesterday as traumatised children told horrific tales of stabbed babies and brutal rapes. It has also emerged that scores of the 323 who died - including many children - had been shot in the back. While despairing soldiers and rescue workers moved among the growing pile of body bags, it was revealed that an 18-month-old baby had been repeatedly stabbed by a black-clad terrorist who had run out of ammunition. Other survivors told how screaming teenage girls were dragged into rooms adjoining the gymnasium where they were being held...

AFTER more than 24 hours in the sweltering heat of the school gymnasium in Beslan, one of the boys trapped inside could not take it any longer, writes Peter Conradi. Summoning up his courage, he approached a hostage taker with a bayonet fixed to his assault rifle and asked him for a drink. It was probably the worst error that he could have made. “Instead of giving him water, he drove his bayonet through the boy’s body,” said Stanislav Tsarakhov, 10, another captive standing nearby. “I don’t know if he died.” Details of the incident emerged as children who escaped...

Islamic leaders in the Middle East yesterday denounced the slaughter of children in Russia as 'unIslamic', as commentators asked unusually soul-searching questions about the region and terrorism. Even the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest Islamic group, condemned the bloody siege in Beslan. Its leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, said that kidnappings may be justified but killings are not. He added: 'What happened is not jihad [holy war] because Islam obligates us to respect the souls of human beings; it is not about taking them away.' While some Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East have long supported fellow Muslims fighting in Chechnya,...

BESLAN, Russia, Sept. 4 - Long before the first bombs exploded in Middle School No. 1, marking the beginning of a ferocious battle that left hundreds of schoolchildren and their parents and teachers dead, the hostages had descended to near despair. "At first I thought it was a joke," said one survivor, Emma Gagiyeva, 13, who sat numbly on a couch on Saturday, as the death toll climbed relentlessly, to 330, with many children still missing. "Then they started to shoot the windows, and glass fell on the people. They were shooting above our heads and they killed a few...

Sep 4, 3:17 PM EDT Pro-Bush Booth Stirs Anger at ConventionBy RACHEL ZOLLAP Religion WriterROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- They stop abruptly when they see the 5-foot-tall photo of President Bush, with "muslimsforbush.com" above his head.Then come the outbursts."Disgusting," said one onlooker. "Take that down," said another.At the largest annual convention of American Muslims, a pro-Bush booth has stirred anger among attendees who believe the president's actions since Sept. 11, 2001, have hurt more innocent Muslims than terrorists."I think President Bush has misled not only the United States, but the world," said Noor Maciael, an educator who called the booth "disgusting"...

September 2, 2004: When Chechnya first declared independence from Russia in 1993, the Russians promptly invaded. The Russians quickly tired of getting a lot of their troops killed for what appeared to be little gain. In the wake of their 1994 withdrawal from Chechnya, Russia simultaneously declared Chechnya still a part of Russia (and paid pensions and government salaries there) and left the Chechens to their own devices. But the Chechens could not govern themselves. It was as simple as that. The central government in the province controlled little beyond the capital Grozny. At least six major warlords held sway,...

Russia blasts EU siege statement MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has described as "blasphemous" a request by the European Union for an explanation to the bloody end to a mass hostage seizure at a school by Chechen gunmen. More than 320 people, almost half of them children were found dead after troops stormed a school in the southern Russian town of Beslan, where the separatists held more than 1,000 hostages for 53 hours. In a statement in the name of the presidency of the 25-nation EU, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said on Friday that all countries should work together to...

As I was getting my 6 yr old ready for school this morning, my thoughts went to Russia, and the current tragedy that has unfolded there over the last few days. I take my little one to school every morning, fairly secure in the fact that she will be relatively safe at school. I don't worry about masked terrorists breaking in to her school and doing what they did in Russia. My heart breaks for all the parents and children over there right now. I can only imagine the pain and anguish that comes from having to wonder if your...

by Dmitry Zaks in Moscow The front page of one of Russia's most authoritative newspapers had no headline or story on its front page Saturday. Instead, Izvestia showed a man with a pained look on his face rushing a girl to safety in his arms. She was semi-naked and clutching on to his neck with a look of horror on her face. A militia man stood solemnly in the background. Discuss: Russia should've given in to hostage-takers, instead of letting children die The photo spoke volumes -- graphically underlining how many Russians were left speechless and terrified at events in...

"Black widows" blow themselves up -- and anybody else in the vicinity -- with bombs attached to their person. The women are thought to have been among the militants who terrorized a southern Russian school. A new type of terrorist has emerged. The Chechen women, aged between 20 and 30, turn themselves into walking bombs and are prepared to die for their convictions and kill others in the process. They have experienced much suffering in the 10 years since the start of the Chechen conflict, living in country in which anarchy reigns and murder goes unpunished. "Black widows," as they...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Muslims worldwide are the main perpetrators of terrorism, a humiliating and painful truth that must be acknowledged, a prominent Arab writer and television executive wrote Saturday, as Middle East media and officials expressed horror at the bloody rebel siege of a Russian school. Unusually forthright self-criticism followed the end of the hostage crisis, along with warnings that such actions inflict more damage to the image of Islam than all its enemies could hope. Arab leaders and Muslim clerics denounced the school seizure as unjustifiable and expressed their sympathy. Russian commandos stormed the school Friday in Beslan,...

Saturday, September 4, 2004 GLOBAL JIHADLondon conventioncelebrates 9-11'Either you're with the Muslims or with the infidels' Posted: September 4, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com An extremist Islamic movement in Britain plans a convention in London titled, "The Choice is in Your Hands: Either You're with the Muslims or with the Infidels," to mark the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. As WorldNetDaily reported, last year the group, Al-Muhajiroun, had planned a similar anniversary event called "The Magnificent 19 [Suicide Attackers]," but canceled it at the last minute. The group's leader Omar Bakri, a Syrian residing in London, told Al-Sharq...