Kazemi case reopened
The Iranian Supreme Court has now ordered a reopening of the case of Zahra Kazemi. In July, 2003, Kazemi, a photojournalist with dual Canadian and Iranian citizenship, was arrested in Teheran while taking pictures of a student demonstration outside Evin Prison. She was put in that very same prison herself, and she died as a...Abu Dhabi funds translations
The push is on to translate important Western and other non-Arab works into Arabic. Egyptian Karim Nagy initiated a non-profit agency, Kalima, to undertake this work, and the Abu Dhabi government's Authority for Culture and Heritage is supplying the bulk of the funding. Publishers are on board, with Beirut being a prime...Canadians wary of U.S.
A poll of 1000 Canadians carried out by the firm Strategic Counsel from December 6 to 9 found that Canadians prefer a somewhat arms-length relationship with the United States. When asked what they saw as the major factor influencing Canadian foreign policy, the largest percentage, 25%, said that it is the relationship with the...Canada shifts toward Israel
During his current visit to the Middle East, Canada's Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier was asked about Israel's expansion of construction at Har Homa, in the West Bank near Jerusalem. While he said that expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is "contrary to the peace process," he pointedly refused to comment on Har...Muslim Canadian MP accused of illegal spending
Canadian MP Wajid Khan finds himself without a party. As a Liberal, he raised eyebrows when he took an assignment from Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper to report back on visits to the Middle East. He then crossed the floor to join the Conservatives, and his report on the Middle East, which he and Harper had promised...Danish cartoons on trial
Ezra Levant, former publisher of Canada's Western Standard, was defiant before going into a meeting with an officer of the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission. To mark the occasion, he reproduced the notorious Danish cartoons on his personal website. It was for printing these when they originally appeared in...Sharia investments paying off
This year, conventional banks and other financial institutions are bad news for investors because of the sub-prime debacle. By contrast, sharia-compliant instruments have been soaring. Funds operated by Amana, Azzad Asset Management, and Dow Jones Islamic Fund have all done very well indeed. Amana Income Fund, for...UAE cleanup
Remember the days before the push to recycle? Everything went to the dump. Well, when Canadian Samer Kamal went to visit his mother in Sarjah, one of the United Arab Emirates, he felt he was back in time to those days. He was struck by the amount of waste just going to. . . well, waste. Kamal heads up Tactical...Canada fast-tracks family reunification for Iraqis
Last month Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced a program to expedite admission of Iraqis with family members in Canada. The paper work for those wishing to come to Canada will be handled by the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration office in Damascus. Many refugees fleeing Iraq have managed to make...The planting of the Hormuz tale
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the Jan. 6 U.S.-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident...Official version of naval incident starts to unravel
Washington (IPS) — Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to U.S. ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a "battle at sea," new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no U.S....Toward a different intifada
The key concern for Palestinians is putting an end to the occupation. If we look at the current situation, Israel is holding lots of the cards. It has, to use their expression, "facts on the ground" in the form of settlements—legal and "illegal," according to Israeli criteria, but the latter are also often supported and...Canadian Muslim group snubbed
Mohammed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, has attacked the Conservative minority government for refusing to meet representatives of his group. He said that they wanted to communicate with the government of Stephen Harper "on Afghanistan, on the Middle East, on U.S. intervention in Lebanon, the threat of the U.S....Canada shares info with torturers
On January 8, at a hearing into Canadian government involvement in torture abroad of three Canadian Muslims, Justice Department lawyer Michael Peirce, speaking for Foreign Affairs, the RCMP, and Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), left everyone with raised eyebrows when he said that Canada can share information on people...
George W. Bush vision is Palestine’s nightmare
January 12th, 20080 U.S. President George W. Bush landed in Israel this week on his first presidential trip to the country. He participated in a press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, what both men termed a "historic" and "monumental" occasion. After listening to both so-called leaders make their opening comments and fielding......
Candidates not doing Israel any favors with unconditional support
Once again, as the presidential campaign season gets underway, the leading candidates are going to enormous lengths to demonstrate their devotion to the state of Israel and their steadfast commitment to its "special relationship" with the United States. Each of the main contenders emphatically favors giving Israel extraordinary material...Study: Canadian Muslims less likely to vote
Muslims are less likely to vote than other Canadian religious minorities. That is a finding of a study sponsored by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW). CCMW engaged Daood Hamdani to produce a report on the political involvement of Muslim women in Canada. Funding was received from governmental sources.Looking at...British lawyers berate Canada
The British Bar Council, Law Society, Criminal Bar Association, Bar Human Rights Committee, and Commonwealth Lawyers Association have joined in criticizing Canada for failing to act on the case of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, imprisoned at Guantanamo now for six years since his capture in Afghanistan when he was a 15-year-old child...Ramadan attacks Muslim studies
Writing in Academic Matters, a Canadian journal, Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss Islamic scholar, attacks Western universities for the way in which they teach about Islam and the use they make of Muslim scholars. He charges that universities in the West have focused on the struggle against terrorism and extremism, to the neglect of its......
The grinch who stole eid
Some people's noses are out of joint because of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's brand of season's greetings. His card wishes recipients a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah but does not mention Eid-ul-Adha, in spite of the fact that there are half again as many Muslims as Jews in the country. His website greetings make the...The Camelot of Benazir Bhutto
The 1970s were beginning, and the unrivaled star of my Introduction to the Middle East class was "Pinkie" Bhutto. I asked her once about her given name, Benazir, and she giggled in embarrassment at its literal meaning: "Incomparable." No one at Radcliffe or Harvard called her anything but "Pinkie" back then. But it was already apparent......
U.S. illusions die with Bhutto
The shortsighted, ad hoc nature of U.S. policy toward Pakistan is on display once again. Benazir Bhutto has been murdered, most likely by religious fanatics. In the West, pundits and diplomats now wring their hands and lament: "Oh no. All our eggs in one basket."But let's step back for a second to look at how thoroughly bankrupt U.S....Should Lebanon become a neutral country?
Should Lebanon become a neutral country? That is the question addressed by André Patry, professor emeritus of international law at Laval University, in an article appearing in the French-language Quebec magazine "Forces." To begin, Patry distinguishes between two kinds of neutrality.Neutrality can be either perpetual or......