Persson
Four Swedish Muslims have been arrested, and a spokesman is complaining that the arrests are simply examples of discrimination. From the BBC, with thanks to Filtrat:
Swedish police say they have arrested four suspected Muslim militants.They were detained in operations in the capital, Stockholm, and the southern city of Malmo on Monday, police said.
Officials say the four have links with "Islamic extremism" outside Europe, but gave no details. Prime Minister Goran Persson welcomed the arrests.
According to Swedish media reports, the suspects are of foreign origin and were detained in connection with attacks on US-led forces in Iraq.
One newspaper said the arrests were made "based on information that US authorities sent to Sweden".
Mr Persson declared the arrests justified "in a law-and-order society".
An outspoken critic of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the prime minister said he was not surprised that suspected militants had been caught in his country - which is neutral.
"The fight against terrorism must take place also in Sweden," he said.
'Discrimination'
Mr Persson said: "We have long received many people [from abroad] in Sweden.
"Among them there are of course people who sympathise strongly with groups today connected to terror activities."More than 400,000 Muslims live in the country.
However a spokesman for the community implicitly condemned the arrests.
Mahmoud Aldebe, chairman of Sweden's Association of Muslims, said there was not "a single Muslim in Sweden who deserves to be called terrorist".
"Since 11 September discrimination against Muslims and Arabs has burst into the open," he added.
Sorry this is off topic Mr. Spencer but I think how the Singapore government has dealt with its Muslim population is very instructive. Here is a link to Singapore's Administration of Muslim Law Act:
http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_retrieve.pl?&actno=Reved-3&date=latest&method=part
And just to repeat, the interesting thing about this legislation is that the government appoints or approves all the Muslim hierarchy, decides where and if a mosque should be built, regulates Muslim schooling including curricula, regulates all aspects of the application of Muslim law and keeps track of Muslims so closely that it even requires every single, individual conversion to be reported to the state. This legislation, of course, is the opposite of a separation of a church and state but it is, I think, the direction France is heading and the direction that we may have to head to stave off catastrophe. It is especially fascinating to me that the state even decides, for the Muslims, what false doctrine is:
False doctrine
139. —(1) Whoever shall teach or publicly expound any doctrine or perform any ceremony or act relating to the Muslim religion in any manner contrary to the Muslim law shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
[20/99]
(2) In any prosecution for an offence under this section, where evidence is given by the President that any doctrine, ceremony or act is contrary to the Muslim law, the court shall presume that such doctrine, ceremony or act is contrary to the Muslim law.
Please note, because this bears repeating: "where evidence is given by the President that any doctrine, ceremony or act is contrary to the Muslim law, the court shall presume that such doctrine, ceremony or act is contrary to the Muslim law." In other words, the Muslims don't have a choice in Singapore about what their doctrine is. The President decides what it is for them. I think that is the only way to keep a lid on them. I am so impressed with how Singapore has neutered the Muslims in Singapore. They are just trained little Islamic lapdogs for President Lee Kuan Yew. My hat is off to him.
"Four Swedish Muslims have been arrested, and a spokesman is complaining that the arrests are simply examples of discrimination."
Oh well,If the Shoe Fits.....
Sweden. A soft underbelly of sociallist liberalism. Of course muslim terrorists will be found there!
Theres no way that the Singapore's Administration of Muslim Law Act would work in the U.S. This would be way to much government control.