After a heady day of freedom, European dhimmitude reasserts itself with a rush -- at least in France. Still, if the other editors don't get fired, we're still ahead of where we were 24 hours ago. "Muhammad cartoon row intensifies," from the BBC, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
France Soir originally said it had published the images in full to show "religious dogma" had no place in a secular society.But late on Wednesday its owner, Raymond Lakah, said he had removed managing editor Jacques Lefranc "as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual".
Mr Lakah said: "We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication."
The president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Dalil Boubakeur, had described France Soir's publication as an act of "real provocation towards the millions of Muslims living in France".
Other papers stood by their publication. In Berlin, Die Welt argued there was a right to blaspheme in the West, and asked whether Islam was capable of coping with satire.
"The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical," it wrote in an editorial.
La Stampa in Italy, El Periodico in Spain and Dutch paper Volkskrank also carried some of the drawings.
I am very sorry that Jacques Lefranc lost his job. I hope he gets a new one soon -- say, as President of the European Union.
Well, the dhimmi "BBC" won't even show their visitors the cartoons. Remember, people, the "BBC" has its head so far up the islamists arse that they simply cannot report fairly. Their agenda is clear. The "BBC" is in the enemy.
It appears that Raymond Lakah, the owner of france Soir, is a Coptic Christian.
He may have relatives in Egypt.
Or some Mussulmaniac's may have 'reminded' him about the 'backlash' this might have against Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Just a friendly reminder from a local Mufti or Imam, nothing threatening, you know?
Thats how the RoP operates, folks, nothing new here....
disillusioned_german, You are just soooooooo right on the Beeb, currently based in shepherd's bushistan
but then you just have to look at whats happened recently to the Beeb to understand why their allegedly non biased reporting is straight from the new labour/muslim council of britain script
firstly the beeb lost some quality senior execs over iraq and the WMD lies etc
next Blair supplanted two of his own dhimmi's in there to ensure all us Brits knew muslims were a peaceful loving bunch who didnt wish to kill us unless of course we didnt believe what we were being told
so remember the beeb actually equals new labour and the chances of actually seeing these pictures on their site are about as unrealistic as seeing the entire islamic world give up violent jihad in favour of wicker basket making
I think it probably has more to do with the French having freshly in their minds the riots of the "religion of peace" in their country. They had their asses handed to them then and are probably cowering in their bomb shelters worried that the riots are about to start again.
Dhimmitude is alive and well in France.
שלום
The despicable Swine from the beep just reported it without even showing one of the cartoons, can you imagine? They reported the whole thing and mentioned that Mo was depicted with a burning fuse in his turban, but didn't have the guts to show it!
Aaaarrrgh! They showed all the papers and mentioned who featured it, and then that. Makes your skin crawl!
Rami Lakah acquired a majority interest in the dying France-Soir only in October 2004. He is a louche character indeed - on the lam from Egypt, the owner of "Star Airlines," and who knows for whom he is fronting, or the real source of his money. You know what the phrase "Middle Eastern businessman" means.
Jacques Lefranc bears a name out of a morality tale. He not only printed the cartoons, but wrote a good editorial. A foreigner, a Middle Easterner (a Copt, it appears) used to doing the bidding of Muslims, and perhaps even a front man for Muslim money, has fired him. He needs a job. Someone should give him one that he now merits. And the next time there is one of those prizes handed out for Press Freedom, make sure he gets one, and Carsten Juste of Jyllens-Posten, and all the others, otherwise such prizes will lose all meaning.
Waiting for Le Monde to cover the story appropriately, and to show the cartoons, both the 12 actually published by the Danish newspaper, and the 3 forged by Danish Muslims attempting to whip up even more hysteria among the hysterical Muslim mobs and governments of the Middle East (and beyond).
If Le Monde cannot do this, given its atrocious record of covering, or not covering, the world of Islam -- think only of the malevolent, lying Eric Rouleau, a kind of Robert Fisk in his consistent hatred of Israel and stout defense of the PLO and Muslim Arabs, rewarded for his pains by being lifted out of mere journalism to become Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and now back in Paris, still spouting his venom and his misinformation. And think of Peroncel-Hugoz, the best reporter on the Middle East Le Monde ever had, quickly transferred to inconsequential matters (reports from the Algarve, that sort of thing) just as soon as his book "Le radeau de Mahomet" appeared, and it was clear that he was unfoolable.
Perhaps Yvan Rioufol will discuss the matter in Le Figaro. Or others, including those at www.les4verites.com and www.france-echos.com. This is how the French must communicate nowadays and learn the truth about what is happening in their own countyr, and about what Muslims have done or are doing in France-- through a quasi-surreptitious source, these and other websites, always subject to being put out of business.
And what does that make you think of? The German Occupation. There is a Muslim Occupation in France and elsewhere in Western Europe. It can be handled, at the moment, but not forever. It has to be contained, undone, reversed. And it will happen, because the behavior and acts of Muslims themselves will finally, despite every effort of the Rouleaus and Lakahs and D. de V.'s and Chiracs of this world, cause a break, a final understanding of what Islam is all about, and what the immutable texts of Islam tell Believers to believe.
Ali Sina's double whammy
Ali Sina points out two things that work well together -- buy Danish cookies, and then, by cutting use of Saudi petroleum, i.e., by leaving your car at home once a week and walking or bicycling to work or the store, avoid gaining weight from eating the cookies.
"But late on Wednesday its owner, Raymond Lakah, said he had removed managing editor Jacques Lefranc "as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual"."
Translation: 'Special protections only for those advocates of the ideology known as Islam.' It's called sharia. No other ideology, except in dictatorial states such a North Korea, is protected to this extent.
This disgusting attempt to silence criticism and lampoon should not be without consequence. French citizens should immediately boycott the purchase of Lakah's publication. Picket/protest at their location. Send letters of protest to Lakah. Lakah should be criticized thoroughly and harshly in other French publications, and in interviews on television and radio. Lakah has brazenly attacked one of the fundamental freedoms of western civilization, and then claims to be defending individual rights.
If this 'useful idiot' Lakah actually took the time to open a Koran and read it, he would realize that most of the cartoons are mild compared to what Allah-Mohammad was advocating. I view most of the cartoons as exceedingly polite. For example, not one of them shows Mohammad raping a nine-year-old girl, or beheading a Jew, executing a critic, or giving orders to his black slave. Congratulations Mr. Lakah: You are the unwitting defender of an ideology that allows/promotes slavery, rape, terrorism, slaughter, punitive amputation, crucifixion, coercion, misogyny, religiously based apartheid, etc. In short, Mr. Lakah, you are morally bankrupt, ignorant, a cowardly bully, and a traitor to all French citizens. For all that, you have scored no true points with Islamists. Islamists (who believe their Korans) still think that you, as a non-Muslim, are the "worst beast in Allah's sight" and are deserving of eternal hell-fire for no crime other than being a non-Muslim. (But they'll happily use you for now. They view what you have done as a gift from Allah, not from you). At least I, and the European citizens that you betrayed, stop short of wishing hell-fires upon you. If you want to commit moral and intellectual suicide, don't try to take the rest of your society down with you.
Rival publishers should seriously consider hiring the brave Lefranc, who knows the meaning of free expression, and is willing to stand up to the Islamic jihadists, sharia enthusiasts, and their politically-correct 'useful idiot' helpers.
Bad ideologies survive only because there is a failure of knowledge and critical thought, combined with some other amoral or immoral force that sustains them. Ideologies that cannot withstand CARTOONS prove themselves not worthy of defence. Ideologies that are as foolish and as corrupt as Islam require force to be supported, and Lakah's actions simply demonstrate that once again.
French voters, remember this when the elections come in 2007. Vote for those candidates who will defend freedom of speech and will give a clear position in support of it, in reference to the Danish cartoon test case. It's their job to defend the values of France, not the values of the Saudi Arabian and Iranian governments.
More about Lakah:
Rami Lakah: The next Conrad Black?
WHAT’S THE FIRST thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Rami Lakah? Billions in non-performing loans? The nation’s most wanted (and heaviest-set) fugitive tycoon?
More than four years after allegedly fleeing to Paris under the weight of some LE 1.2 billion in bad debt, Lakah, 41, started making his own headlines last month (quite literally) as the new owner of France-Soir, a storied French tabloid.
Lakah, who goes by the first name “Raymond” in his French exile, bought a 70 percent stake in the nightly newspaper for 4.5 million from Italy’s Poligrafici Editoriale. The French press isn’t certain what to make of Lakah’s newest toy, with the daily Libération claiming the tabloid is losing some 500,000 a month.
Under the terms of the deal, Poligrafici will retain a 30 percent stake with the option of selling it in 2006 to Montaigne Press, the British holding company Lakah set up to own France-Soir. If Poligrafici does sell out, the entire deal will be worth 9.4 million.
France-Soir isn’t Lakah’s first venture into media, though: The one-time aerospace and medical supplies titan quietly became an investor in Lafayette Press several years back; Lafayette is the publisher of the French version of Newsweek magazine.
Although France-Soir was once one of the most storied of all French newspapers, the company’s days of million-copy print runs in the 1950s and 1960s are far behind: It now prints an estimated 67,500 copies a day.
Given Lakah’s track record in Egypt, you’ve gotta wonder: Is he the next Rupert Murdoch? Or tomorrow’s Conrad Black?
Look at the cartoons posted on page 5 (scroll down)
http://www.thelocal.se/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=1585&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=100
The posters on the forum don't seem to have an understanding of islam. Would someone please direct them to this site?
Something to lighten up the day:
http://answering-islam.org/BehindVeil/btv12.html
Events Which Led To The Loss Of Some Verses
A Domesticated Animal Eats Qur’anic Verses
I can't beleive the OIC and Arab league are trying to get a UN resolution to outlaw showing contempt of religious beliefs!!!! It echos the anti-religious hatred legislation they tried to push through in the UK, soley for the protection of Muslims of course. THEY ARE ALREADY TRYING TO DHIMMIFY THE WHOLE WORLD. Can't they at least wait for the new Caliphate to be established? Why the hurry?
Raymond Lakah is a Maroniate who immigrated to Egypt and became very
wealthy by dabbling in all sorts of activities, both legal and illegal
Raymond Lakah is a Maroniate who immigrated to Egypt and became very wealthy by dabbling in all sorts of activities, both legal and illegal. Every time Copts would publish an ad in the New Duranty Times ahead of a visit by Mubarak to denounce Coptic persecution, he would pay for a counter full page ad in support of Mubarak. He was a very vocal tool of Dhimmitude; always speaking in denial of Coptic persecution. A real scum bag jammed by the Muslims down the Copts throat… And the SoB was not even Coptic. He cleaned out millions of dollars from Egyptian banks on his way out and defrauded investors. A real piece of excrement, if you ask me!
Abby, have_mercy,
Good stuff. Let's expose Lakah for all to see.
Firing him will only make this spread even further. Other newspapers will see the firing as an attack on their freedom of expression, and join the fight for it. Just like the quasi-apology from Juste triggered a rush of new papers printing the cartoons, this will only bring more into the fray.
But why is nothing happening in the land of the free yet? There has got to be at least a single mid-size newspaper where the editor or owner has the balls to print those drawings! Is it because the story simply isnt big enough yet to have those in power notice it?
Yes, looking forward to seeing which US newspapers stand with their Eurpoean brethren in anti-dhimmitudinal solidarity and publish some or all of these cartoons.
Maybe this will motivate a US paper to publish...
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/12017.html
I think the Iranian Midget-in-Chief, despite the fact he is obviously barking mad, reveals the worst aspects of the Muslim mentality to the world. He can't contain it, he can't pretend to be moderate like a good Muslim should. Even the Mad Mullahs around him ask him to tone it down.
The UN should bring in that resolution, and start sanctions against every Islamic regime right now for attacking non-muslims religious beliefs. No exemption for the Koran and Sharia law either, which of course the Saudi and other despotic regimes will need so they can continue treating the ME people like dogs, with impunity.
I am not sure if I have heard correctly this morning on BBC4 Radio that the owner who sacked the editor is ....Egyptian. That would explain a lot. Should we let Muslims (assuming he is one) run our media? Should we let our enemies control our right to free speech?
Well then Islamochristian?
I spoke to the "reader's representative" at my local newspaper. It leans heavily left, but, not everybody there is a total knucklehead. The reader's representative was very interested in the story and seemed to understand the implication for freedom of speech.
Prior to my call, my local newspaper had buried a pair of short stories in the back pages, drawn from AP, written by someone with an arabic name. Guess how the AP writer described the cartoons.
I await the response of my local paper, I feel fairly certain that I motivated the reader's representative, but, I don't know how persuasive he will be with the bigwigs above him. Normally, they speak no evil of Muslims because they are SOOOO concerned that some innocent Muslim might suffer from say a nasty name or cross-eyed look. [Just think how few Muslims have, in fact, been truly harassed in America, given the enormity of the attack we suffered.]
Definitely time to hand out posters at shopping malls and such. Be careful friends.
newsflash - Paletinian gunmen have surrounded the EU office in Gaza and demanded its closure..
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L024756590.htm
From news article linked by archduke:
"The gunmen called for an apology within 48 hours for the Danish cartoons, one of which shows the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb."
It's the RoP and they'll bomb you to prove it!
As a cartoonist/artist, I've been watching this story unfold in amazement. Artists are now in the front line!! Those cartoons may heve been blasphemous to Muslims, but certainly don't warrant death threats or riots.
It's ironic that, in the long run, they'll have to reform or outlaw Islam before the west can have genuine freedom of expression, and genuine freedom of religion. I don't think that's overstating the situation.
Great quote from France Soir, despite the subsequent backdown....
It is necessary to crush once again the infamous thing, as Voltaire liked to say. This religious intolerance that accepts no mockery, no satire, no ridicule. We citizens of secular and democratic societies are summoned to condemn a dozen caricatures judged offensive to Islam. Summoned by who? By the Muslim Brotherhood, by Syria, the Islamic Jihad, the interior ministers of Arab countries, the Islamic Conferences - all paragons of tolerance, humanism and democracy.
So, we must apologise to them because the freedom of expression they refuse, day after day, to each of their citizens, faithful or militant, is exercised in a society that is not subject to their iron rule. It's the world upside down. No, we will never apologise for being free to speak, to think and to believe.
Because these self-proclaimed doctors of law have made this a point of principle, we have to be firm. They can claim whatever they like but we have the right to caricature Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha, Yahve and all forms of theism. It's called freedom of expression in a secular country ...
For centuries the Catholic church was little better than this fanaticism. But the French Revolution solved that, rendering to God that which came from him and to Caesar what was due to him.
blast from the past - Fox News coverage changed after phonecall from Saudi prince:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1665621,00.html
so , fat chance of the cartoons appearing in the Murdoch owned press in the UK.
That Guy is a Maronite from Lebanon who ran away from the Civil war to Egypt like a proper coward. He was quick to surrender his Lebanese passport, keeping only his French one--- for convenient escape! He became an Egyptian citizen through patronage and corruption--- This is next to impossible for even native-born children of Egyptian mothers and foreign fathers.
He won a seat at the Egyptian Parliament, the only Christian to do so, which is saying something about his character! He is the kind who would sell out his Mama! He ran for the parliament to obtain Parliamentary immunity to help him of legal difficulties. The Muslim Brotherhood was upset and used the fact that he is dual-national (French-Egyptian) to bar him from taking office. Soon after, he got multi-million dollar loans without collateral from Egyptian banks with a wink and smile, cleaned out his companies and took off to France.
Please do not call this scum bag a Copt.
_Lakah Winning the election from the Ahram newspaper:
Perhaps more than any of Cairo's districts, the struggle for Azbakiya and Al-Dhaher's two seats has captured the attention of people throughout Egypt during the past two weeks. Businessman Rami Lakah, who was rumoured to have fled Egypt this summer to escape LE1.2 billion in debts, has attracted many supporters in the area. An integral part of Lakah's campaign was his payment of regular stipends to more than 850 families of limited means in the area.
Making a greater impression on a wider number of the district's inhabitants, however, was Lakah's donation of expensive medical equipment to the Railway Authority Hospital. One Azbakiya resident told the Weekly that he was sold on Lakah when the businessman gave this equipment to the hospital. "I will give my vote for Lakah because it is better to vote for someone able to offer tangible services than to give a person who can do no more than talk," the Azbakiya resident said.
Very sad and depressing
I have compiled a selection of interesting comments on the cartoons (from both sides - a very revealing Muslim ones!!!) from the BBC Have Your Say readers comments - enjoy:
"
When a British Prince dressed in a Nazi uniform, there was an outcry from the Jewish community and establishments.
So why is Islam seen as an easy target to pick on?
I wonder what would be the response if the Pope was depicted as a drunk doing a moonie in Trafalgar Square.
Ismail Amin, London
Come on BBC - either you are going to conduct a serious debate, including showing the cartoons in question so open-minded people can give an informed opinion, or you're not.
If in order to protect Muslim sensibilities regarding the portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed you feel you have to refrain from publishing the cartoons, there is no debate. You've already decided they shouldn't be published. So why bother asking what I think?
easterhay, Buenos Aires
Recommended by 430 people
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am proud to see European press show solidarity with Denmark. Yes, the drawings are offensive to Muslims, just as there is material in European papers that offends Christians on a daily basis. That is what freedom of speech means. To Muslims living in Europe who are offended and demand government action: move to Saudi Arabia, you will not have such problems there. To Muslims in Arab countries who are offended: nobody is forcing European papers on you. If you don't like them, don't read them.
Nathan Wajsman, Amsterdam
One Danish company offends...all Danish people and companies are threatened and punished. And yet the same people protesting condemn the west for withholding funds from the PA and the Palestinian people because of its new and deeper association with Hamas. Killing is OK, cartoons are not.
William, Richmond
Just because something may be in poor taste does not mean it should be illegal. Unpopular opinions and beliefs are the very things "freedom of speech" is meant to protect. What I find more offensive is the degree to which Western nations bend over backwards to accommodate immigrants. If you disagree with the cultural values of a country, my advice would be to not emigrate there.
Kevin S, Charlotte, United States
Yes they should! The freedoms of speech and religion enshrined in western law were, in many cases, paid for in blood.
Let's not forget that these are the same people that would burn your flag in your face, and not care if you were offended.
Juan, Queens, NY, USA
Recommended by 243 people
Added: Wednesday, 1 February, 2006, 16:20 GMT 16:20 UK
ITS HIGH TIME THAT THE EUROPEAN PRESS MUST RESPECT ITS MUSLIM READERS AND ITS BELIEF. PRESS FREEDOM DOES NOT OVERRODE RELIGIOUS BELIEF. THIS IS WHAT I WOULD CALL IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AND THE PRESS MUST QUICKLY APOLOGISE TO ITS READERS AND THE ENTIRE MUSLIMS UMMAH.
ABDALLAH KATUNZI, DAR ES SALAAM
In Muslim countries, cartoons, newspaper articales and television shows call Jews pigs and apes. They cites things like the forgery, Protocals of the Elders of Zion, they continually publish anti-Jewish...not talking anti-Israel here but anti-Jewish media. Muslims do not have a leg to stand on here.
Matthew, Vienna, VA
Recommended by 375 people
Of course they should have been published. If Iranian clerics can decree that "Death to America, Death to Britain" be chanted in mosques, when clerics can support and incite suicide bombers, when terrorists can pervert Islam to justify their twisted actions, we can print meaningless cartoons. My question is: should be be laughing at Islamofacism?
Peter Kohler, Washington DC, United States
Recommended by 98 people
Added: Wednesday, 1 February, 2006, 16:13 GMT 16:13 UK
As a Muslim living in America, I have also began to boycott Danish and French items. The Danish made a mistake..and tried to fix it..the French are just trying to add fuel to the fire! These depictions are one of the most blasphemous things in Islam. The world needs to sit down and learn Islam, or just stop being fearful of Islam. This fear is a result of these intentionally upsetting cartoons!
Yousef, New York
Of course they should have been published. What I want to know is, why haven't the BBC or the rest of the British press reproduced the cartoons, so that we can make up our own minds?
Why isn't the BBC raising the banner for free speech? What is the BBC afraid of?
Last week the BBC ran a debate on censorship in China. It looks like we've got censorship a lot closer to home.
[chatmandu_uk], London, United Kingdom
Recommended by 331 people
Added: Wednesday, 1 February, 2006, 15:52 GMT 15:52 UK
How in the world can Muslims expect the non-Muslim world to know (or even care) what Islam finds offensive? Why is it that Muslims the world over never have a shortage of things to gripe or complain about. What a bunch of first-class whiners!
Julius Bijou, White Plains, NY, United States
Recommended by 126 people
Added: Wednesday, 1 February, 2006, 15:51 GMT 15:51 UK
I will read and write whatever I want to, including cartoons that others find offensive. I am not a Muslim and these cartoons do not offend me. The laws of Islam only pertain to Muslims! Islamic law does not pertain to Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists or Atheists. Personally I don't even care enough to worry about what may or may not be offensive to some people. It could become a full-time job worrying about such things. Are there not more important things in the world to worry about?
Chester Drawers, Warwick, New York, United States
Recommended by 85 people
I saw them. I’m not Muslim and I don’t abide by Islamic law. I have no problem with these cartoons. It’s not up to every human to be well versed in the beliefs of all religions. That’s an impossible task. If these cartoons are against Islamic law then that only applies to Muslims. It is not against my laws therefore I cannot be held responsible for creating cartoons such as these or enjoying cartoons created by others. Islamic law has no relevance in my country. These cartoons are no big deal.
Last Straw, Putnam Valley, NY, United States
Recommended by 122 people
Added: Thursday, 2 February, 2006, 10:09 GMT 10:09 UK
I once met someone (a Christian) who visited Saudi Arabia, and was publicly flogged for the "crime" of eating bread during Ramadan.
Westerners are obviously expected to follow Islamic law in Islamic countries, so they should realise and accept that it goes both ways: Freedom of speech is fundamental to Western Law.
Deal with it.
[Mysturji], Basingstoke, United Kingdom
Recommended by 33 people
Added: Thursday, 2 February, 2006, 10:09 GMT 10:09 UK
The BBC was quite willing to broadcast Springer-The Opera, against mass protests from Christians, but has so far refused to republish these cartoons for fear of offending muslims. That's the true meaning of equality.
It's as if Blair never lost those votes in Parliament!
Dan Hassett, Folkestone, United Kingdom
Recommended by 26 people
"
June 20, 2005, 7:56 a.m.
Freedom’s Fighters
Ramy Lakah deserves American support.
By Nina Shea
Egyptian businessman and human-rights activist Ramy Lakah should be very much on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s mind as she visits Cairo today. The case of this 41-year-old Coptic Christian dramatizes the destructiveness of Hosni Mubarak’s human-rights policies upon a nation that was once the cultural leader in the region and raises some of the steep challenges facing President Bush’s democratization push for the country. But his experience also offers some hope and points a way forward.
Lakah, a business entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social-reformer politician, is a citizen any country would be proud to call its own and one that Egypt desperately needs if it is to develop into a successful democratic state. But, according to Lakah, because of his political success at the expense of the ruling National Democratic party and his criticism of the Mubarak regime’s human-rights record, he has been the target of harassment and a vicious government-smear campaign that has shattered his endeavors inside Egypt and forced him and his family to flee the country.
In 1998, building on a fortune inherited from his father bioengineering business, he formed the Lakah Group, a holding company that employed 12,000 people. Lakah says that international rating agencies gave it the highest bond rating achieved by any Egyptian company until that time. An indomitable mover and shaker, his ambitions did not rest there. He wanted to invest in the people of his native land, as well. Hence, he started micro-enterprises for girls and sponsored educational opportunities in the lower middle class neighborhood of Dahar, in central Cairo.
Lakah’s good works proved so popular that Dahar, which like the country as a whole is about 90-percent Muslim, elected him to parliament in 1999 despite his open identification as a Catholic (he was a principal host of Pope John Paul II during the papal visit to Egypt in 2000). He was popular among his peers in the legislature as well, and they made him the vice chair of the parliament’s powerful foreign-affairs committee.
The Problem of Success
This was the start of Lakah’s troubles. Not only did he defeat the ruling NDP in a seat it had traditionally held in the People’s Assembly, he did so by beating a close relative of the prime minister. Around the same time, he joined the board of directors of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and signed his name to a courageous report that found that “torture is practiced in police stations in governorates all over Egypt, from Aswan in the south to Alexandria in the north.”
The Banc du Caire, whose chairman was appointed in 2000 by the prime minister, and other government banks soon began bouncing millions of dollars in checks due to the Lakah Group and employing other forms of financial harassment against the company, according to Lakah. The pressure intensified when he joined with human-rights dissident Ayman Nour to announce their intention to form a new liberal political party, the Al Ghad party.
Next, Lakah, who also holds a French passport, was removed from his elected seat through the selective enforcement of a new measure barring parliamentarians with dual citizenship. The rule was not been applied to other deputies with dual citizenship; one of his colleagues in the assembly, a fellow human-rights advocate who is Muslim, resigned in protest.
The Lakah Group was dealt a major setback after government banks and institutions failed to honor their commitments to it. Lakah himself was subsequently accused of financial wrongdoing, charges that he denies and has tried to counter through international audits.
Acting on a tip that he was about to be arrested, Lakah finally left Egypt in July 2001. Now 41, he lives with his wife and two young daughters in Paris where he is CEO of Star Airlines, a Middle East commercial airlines with offices on the Champs Elysees. Even in exile, he continues to be hounded by the Mubarak government, which Lakah says falsely reported to Interpol that he is wanted on criminal charges though he knows of none that have been lodged against him. In 2003, based on an Interpol warrant, he was subject to a 24-hour detention, followed by deportation, when he landed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport while on a business trip. This is doubly tragic because Lakah is staunchly pro-American and was one of the few Egyptians to respond to the United States government’s call for help by training Iraqis in radiology and other areas of bioengineering.
Lakah is eager to clear his name but holds little hope for a fair trial. The Egyptian judiciary is not known for its independence. His friends and pro-democracy colleagues, Nour and Saad Eddin Ibrahim have both served jail time on trumped up charges in Egypt and were released only because of international pressure.
Egyptians have not had the freedom to change their government. Mubarak has been president for nearly a quarter of a century by standing for office unopposed in four national referendums. The president appoints the country’s 26 governors and may dismiss them at his discretion. The National Democratic party, which has governed since 1978, has used its entrenched position to dominate national politics and has maintained an overriding majority in the People’s Assembly and the upper chamber, the Shura Council. Earlier this year, in response to domestic pressure and President Bush’s explicit calls for democratic elections in Egypt, President Mubarak called for an amendment to the constitution to allow opposition candidates to run. However, candidates must be registered with officially recognized political parties and be approved by the People’s Assembly — thus ensuring Mubarak another six-year term.
Mubarak’s policies have created a situation in which pro-Western democrats like Ramy Lakah are silenced or driven abroad, leaving the Muslim Brotherhood as the only organized opposition within Egypt. If an open election were held this year, few doubt that the Muslim Brotherhood would win. An Islamist group, the Brotherhood has won hearts and minds through charitable work and exploited religion to thrive despite ruthless repression against it. It purportedly renounced violence in the 1970s, but its motto continues to be: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” Though some of its members disclaim the group’s agenda and promise moderation, its institutional goal is to rule through a form of sharia (Islamic law) that would suppress women, give second-class dhimmi status to Coptic Christians and other minorities, and impose restrictions on Muslims’ rights to freedom of speech, association, and religion.
Egypt Is Not a Lost Cause
Nevertheless, the Lakah case does provide some bright rays of hope:
Egyptian society is still not rigidly polarized along sectarian lines. It is encouraging that Muslim Egyptians inside and outside parliament gave Lakah, a prominent member of a non-Muslim minority group, solidarity and support.
Public assistance and humanitarian development projects at the neighborhood level have more to do with the deliverer’s popularity than his religious agenda. As Lakah demonstrated, non-Islamist politicians are electable if they deliver the goods for their districts. With the freedom, resources and time to organize politically, they could conceivably be competitive against the more developed Muslim Brotherhood.
Brave leaders who are committed to individual civil and political freedoms exist within Egyptian society. Ramy Lakah can be added to the list of heroic Egyptian dissidents who include Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Ayman Nour — they are the Andrei Sakharovs, Vaclav Havels, and Natan Sharanskys of their day.
Egypt can begin to “show the way toward democracy in the Middle East,” as President Bush urged in the State of the Union, by clearing Ramy Lakah’s name — and by giving him and other pro-freedom candidates, who as Dr. Ibrahim has spelled out are willing “to abide by certain rules of the game,” the political space to participate fully in the democratic process.
— Nina Shea is the director of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom
Rami Lafah fled Eqypt leaving a debt of 1.7 egyptian pounds, after first getting himself elected to the Eqyptian parliament in an apparent attempt to gain immunity. When this didn't succeed he fled to France and reinvented himself as 'Raymond'.
In France he is the owner of Angel Gate, a holding company that also owns the airline companies Air Horizons and Star Airlines. He also owns France-Soir. How could he afford these. As Hugh said, Follow The Money.
A question: Is it that easy for a Copt to get elected to the Eqyptian parliament?
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2824
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2824
With all the hoopla surrounding the publication of these cartoons, one would assume that they are the vilest most despicible pieces of art ever created. But, upon viewing these appalling cartoons (with a Western mind that is) you find "What the hell is so bad about these, the art in most of them is pathetic and they sure ain't funny?". Much ado about nothing. Unfortunately the muslim mind is so imbecilic they make the 3 Stooges look like Einsteins (oh my gosh I believe the Stooges and Eistein were jewish I must have had one of them Freudian slips).
januaryman -> the reaction to those quite mild cartoons has only encouraged other artists to do more , but not so mild, cartoons:
http://thestudyofrevenge.blogspot.com/
Looks like the resistance is spreading even to muslim papers now. The danish Ekstrabladet reports that the Jordanian tabloid-paper al-Shihan has printed some of the drawings along with an editorial that urges their fellow muslims to be sensible.
I'm sorry I dont have any links to this story in english or to the Jordanian paper, but here is the link to Ekstrabladets report on it (in danish).
http://ekstrabladet.dk/VisArtikel.iasp?PageID=333239
My wife heard on French radio that La Monde and other major titles in France will now publish the cartoons. This is good news.
Ho ho ho, ha ha ha, ho ho ho....
A JORDANIAN tabloid, al-Shihan, has published 3 of the Muhammed caricatures.
NOW what's going to happen I wonder?
DanishDynamite, I would guess that they are the three offensive ones the Muslims manufactured/added to get the Muslim street going?
Daffersd, according the danish Ekstrabladet, the 3 drawings published in Jordan are from the original 12.
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/kentuckydan/CommitteesofCorrespondence/index.blog?entry_id=1148142
I Support Denmark
In it's struggle for Freedom of Speech.
Sign the Petition NOW!
Jihadists are organising a protest outside of the Danish embassy in London - Friday, Jan 3rd:
http://www.alghurabaa.co.uk/
more info here:
"the trinity of evil"
http://www.alghurabaa.co.uk/pr/danishdemo.htm
why dont we turn up with Danish flags and placards with the cartoons on them?
"Kill those who insult the Prophet Muhammad"
http://www.alghurabaa.co.uk/articles/new/cartoon.htm
Daffersd,
I don't know which caricatures they are, but they were published alongside an editorial urgins muslims to calm down and realize what really damages islam; the caricatures or a hostagetaker slitting the throat of his victim or a suicidebomber blowing himself up at wedding in Amman?
I would say, it sounds like it's supporting Denmark.
My understanding of orthodox Judaic thought is that to represent the human form is to break the taboo against creating graven images as all humankind are created in the likeness of God. Consequently, it took my father a great deal of persuading to convince his grandfather to allow him to take pictures of him way back in the 1940s, when Dad was a teen. I don't know what current orthodox thought is, but Conservative and Reform Jews do not subscribe to this extreme interpretation.
As for understanding the Muslim prospective, with all the prohibitions against investing the status of a diety into a human, how can it be blasphemous to make drawings or other representations of Mohammed? He was a man, not God, and a self-proclaimed prophet who happened to be very successful at gathering followers and leading countless military campaigns against weaker and unsuspecting "enemies".
Some of the drawings are no more contemptuous of Mohammed or Islam than those that appeared in Arab media after the London transit system bombings of last summer. The Religious Policeman at muttawa.blogsite.com alluded to the orchestration of this "outcry" in Saudi Arabia and the incredible hypocracy of it all.
DanishDynamite, OK thanks for the clarification and it is good to see them making that point too. Good.
Danish Dynamite,
"...an editorial urgins muslims to calm down and realize what really damages islam; the caricatures or a hostagetaker slitting the throat of his victim or a suicidebomber blowing himself up at wedding in Amman?"
This is one of the main absurdities of this whole exercise: Most moderate Muslims and Islamists are entirely focussed on perceiving this as an insult against Islam, and they are completely missing the point. This also highlights the differences between Islam and the west. We look at the cartoons and, besides just appreciating the humour, we appreciate the social commentary. Many of the cartoons touched on issues such as terrorism, violence, hate, misogyny, and freedom of expression. Muslims overall are missing this completely; they're learning nothing from it. The same thing happened with the van Gogh/Hirsi Ali production _Submission_. As Hirsi Ali has pointed out, Muslims were focussed on the perceived insult against Islam, and ignored what the film was about: the treatment of women in Islam.
At least more non-Muslims are going to learn from all of this.
From Baranabas Fund FYI:
IRAQ
02 February 2006
IRAQI CHURCHES BOMBED: LINK WITH DANISH CARTOONS?
A spate of car bombs exploded outside churches in Iraq last Sunday 29th
January in what appears to have been a coordinated attack. The
explosions
occurred within a half hour period, apparently chosen to coincide with
the
time at which Christians would be going to church.
Two churches in the northern city of Kirkuk and at least two others in
the
capital Baghdad were targeted. At least three people, including a
13-year-old boy, were killed and an estimated 16-20 people injured.
According to some reports as many as seven churches were bombed.
The bombings were condemned by some Muslim political leaders including
Ali
al-Adeeb (Shi’a) and Naweer al-Ani (Sunni).
A similar incident of near-simultaneous explosions at Iraqi churches
happened on Sunday 1st August 2004 during the time of the evening
service.
Four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul were bombed on that occasion,
with some 15 fatalities.
LINKS WITH DANISH CARTOONS?
Many Christians in Iraq are connecting this week’s church bombings with
the
growing furore across the Muslim world caused by the publication of
some
cartoons caricaturing Muhammad in a Danish newspaper on 30th September
2005.
These cartoons have been republished this week by newspapers in France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.
IRAQI CHRISTIAN STUDENTS BEATEN UP FOR DANISH CARTOONS
On the same day, 29th January, Christian students at Mosul University
were
beaten up by Muslim students. Some days earlier a number of fatwas had
been issued by sheikhs in Mosul, acting in reponse to pressure from
Islamic
militias in the city. The fatwas called for their followers to “expel
the
crusaders and infidels from the streets, schools and institutions
because
they insulted the person of the prophet in Denmark”.
FATWA FOR KILLING OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR CARTOONS
Yesterday, 1st February, a Kuwaiti newspaper reporting on the Danish
cartoons stated that Islamic cleric Sheikh Nazem Mesbah had issued a
fatwa
calling for the killing of people who insulted Muhammad in this way.
Other
Islamic clerics rejected this fatwa citing the need to comply with the
realities of the modern era.
PRAYER ITEMS
* Pray for the protection of Christians in Iraq from those Muslims who
want
to punish them for the actions of other people in “Christian countries”
like the US, UK and Denmark. Pray that Christians will be recognised
as
loyal citizens instead of constantly mistrusted. Pray that Christians
will
not give way to fear, despite the efforts of those who want to
intimidate
them into fleeing from their homeland.
* Pray that the Muslim political leaders who condemned the bombings
will
have greater influence in society at large than the radical leaders who
encourage such anti-Christian violence. Pray for courageous Muslim
clerics
to issue fatwas calling for justice and security for Iraqi Christians.
* Pray for stability and peace in Iraq, remembering all who mourn those
of
every nationality who have died in the violence there.
* Pray that the republishing of the Danish cartoons in other European
countries will not result in violence against Christian minorities in
Muslim-majority countries.
BARNABAS FUND E-MAIL NEWS SERVICE
Barnabas Fund’s e-mail news service provides the media and our
supporters
with urgent news briefs concerning suffering Christians around the
world.
If you would like to receive news briefs from the Barnabas Fund please
contact us with your name, postal and e-mail addresses.
Further details, quotes and photos on this and other stories may be
available
for news editors on request.
Barnabas Fund works to support Christian communities around the world
where they are facing poverty and
persecution.
Barnabas Fund, The Old Rectory, River Street, PEWSEY, Wiltshire, SN9
5DB, UK.
Tel: +44(0)1672 564938, Fax: +44(0)1672 565030, E-mail:
info@barnabasfund.org
Web: www.barnabasfund.org
The fired French editor Jacques Lefranc is a patriot!!! He saw the enemy, faced it, stared it down with courage and resolve, and went with the conviction of his cause, Getting the truth out no matter what the cost. A true patriot will sacrifice what he or she has for the cause of freedom. Muslims never miss the chance to down Christianity. As much as we love Jesus and the Bible, Muslims have often claimed that the Bible was corupt and that Jesus was not the son of God. Thing about it is that, in a free society, a person is entitlied to their opinion. With Muslims this is not the case when it comes to Islam.
Christians have seen the crucifix submerged in urine. Decorated with dung. And even burned. Christians have filed public complaints, but were laughed off and reminded of the freedom of the right to free expression by the leftists.
But let an attack on Islam take place and here come the attacks and charges of being "insensitive to Muslims and their faith." No reminders of the "freedom of free expression" here!!! "Nuts to that!!!" What are the Muslims afraid of? The truth? Tough rocks, Islamofeces!!!
The more you try to silence antagonists or antaganism to Islam, the more you take from the credibility of Islam. Reveiling more of Islams dirty under garments!!!
Mr. Lakah is a bonified coward. He should have stood up for the freedom of expression but he didn't. I mean Muslims didn't have regarde for French property when they rioted in the streets of France a meer two months ago! They had no regarde for the French citizens as they rode the rail system. But here Mr. Lakah wants the Muslims community in France to know that "they are sensitive to the feelings of Muslims and they're faith." "We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication." How about the people that were shocked about having their vehicles burned, busnesses looted and destroyed? How about the commuters that were terrorised by Islamofeces/terrorists in training? Where is the Muslim regret for these acts? Where is the apology on the part of the Muslim community for these acts? Nowhere!!! Where are the demands for an apology? Unheard!!! Muslims can get way with whatever they think that they can get away with and not suffer retribution or retaliation!!! Mr. Lefranc took a bold stance and showed the Islamics "this will no longer stand!" Plus the other European newspapers have picked up the baton and are now running with it.
You can not silence a free people, no matter what you do or what you try. The word will get out!!! The truth will be told!!! And it will spread!!! As an American freedom lover, I applaud the European press for having the courage to stand against the Islamic invasion of their "Right of Free Expression." For giving the Islamofeces the fight of they're Muslim lives by not backing down.
Keep the faith and maintain the fight !!!
God Bless You!
I think with the increasing numbers of papers around Europe printing the toons, they're not just making a point about freedom of speech but also demonstrating their disrespect for the Mohammed idol worshippers. Of course, it's not stated, but I think thats part of it.
Nina Shea, a devout Christian, should reconsider her belief that others, self-described as religious people, are therefore to be trusted. Her paean to Rakah was uncalled-for, and at the time it was clear that he was one more louche Middle Eastern businessman of the kind we all know so well -- from Khashoggi (see Lockheed bribes), to that rich Lebanese Christian family of contractors (the one that first funded Esposito, who has gone on to bigger and better, because Saudi, things). Do not assume that any Copt or even Maronite will not do the bidding of Muslim masters. Some will. Rakah had been a great defender of the Mubarak regime, just as Emile Lahoud as president of Lebanon did the Assad regime's bidding.
Don't make assumptions. When someone is called, or more likely depicts himself, as the Great Muslim Hope, the "reformer of Islam," and then proceeds to show his spots. Don't keep looking for Muslim (or islamochristian) love in all the wrong places.
Be wary of all such people. And Saad Eddin Ibrahim, too, has perfectly conventional Muslim views on the non-legiitmacy of Israel, even if he is a "brave fighter" against the Mubarak Regime at the Ibn Khaldun Center. He can't make the break. He is no Aly Salem, no Magdi Allam. Why keep accepting substitutes?
And when this or that thrusting young or by now not so young academic, presents himself as the Great Muslim Hope, the Redeemer who will Reform Islam, such as one Khaled Abou El Fadl (google his name, as you goolge "Jihad Watch" and "Posted by Hugh"), whose self-admiring "scholarofthehouse" website vies, with the website of Mark LeVine, for the World Record in Self-Promotion, Megalomania, and Humorlessnessthere -- be wary. It is not enough that someone calls himself a "moderate" or is anathematized either by some Saudi imam or by al-Azhar. Don't take that as quality assurance.
As for Rami Lakah, one more MIddle-Eastern fixer and middleman, helped by who knows to buy the moribund France-Soir, in its long descent from the Lazareff days, now better known for its Le-Parisien-style faits divers of the Nice-Matin variety -- "poignardisee par son mari en pleine rue."
One suspects that Nina Shea will be much more careful from now on. No one dealing with the Middle East has ever not been disappointed, ever not been surprised, and surprised again, by those they took at face value.
The motto should be that used as an epigraph to Edward Cecil's "Memoirs of an Egyptian Official":
"Here lies one who tried to hustle the East."
You can't hustle the East. Not Khashoggi. Not the House of Al-Saud. Not Saint Sadat or Colonel Nasser or Colonel Khaddafy or Boumedienne, or Saddam Hussein, or Hafez al-Assad or Bashir al-Assad or any of them. They can't be hustled. They are always doing the hustling. Learn what the British knew, once upon a time, in their pre-Chris Patten, pre-Robert Fisk, pre-Alistair Crooke period.
Any ideology that is too inflexible to smile at itself is doomed.
This is the chink in their Koranic carapace. (Like ichthyosis of the soul.)
Laughter will shake down the petrified dogma of the Ka'aba as sure as trumpets brought down the walls of ancient Jericho.
Keep mocking the fossilized fools and their inability to chuckle will destroy them.
May a trillion caricatures bloom!
The cartoons must be put up at all European border checkpoints. Let all who enter know that Europeans can mock anything.
I knew it was an anomaly. The French are, well, Frech.
Any business of Mr. Raymond Lakah's that I could boycott?
It is not surprising that he was fired as the owner of France Soir is Egyptian.
This comment is addressed to Hugh and to any others who may frequent the website France-Echos.com. The site has experienced severe difficulties in recent days. It is now out of commission. It is assumed that sabotage is at work, because of the manner in which the site was brought down - a deluge of mail that simply forced the server to quit. This started when they published the cartoons a few days ago.
Another site you may be interested in is occidentalis.com.
Citizens of Europe:
Let's face it. You probably have 50-100 years of freedom left unless you do something (which you probably won't). Tell your kids to buy land in the USA or even Mexico and we will make a last stand for a couple of centuries until mo-hammed builds a navy.
Dear friends,
First, Mr lakah is a real Egyptian, who was born and lived in Egypt in Cairo.
Second,a good number of his friends are muslims since his childhood.
Third, I am sure Mr. Ramy Lakah believes in the freedom of press, but he cannot accept that a press he owns indignates muslims, because he is a Christian from Egypt who cannot misrespect his friends who are muslims, some of them were his teachers.
I have a great deal of respect to him. He took a decision and he is the type of man who can bear what it entails.
Thank you.