Recently in Bangladesh Category

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Violent Islamists in Bangladesh Declare: Kill all the Infidels," from BarnabasAid, May 10 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

Bangladesh (BarnabasAid)- Barnabas Aid has received requests for prayer and practical help from Christian leaders in Bangladesh as the Church is endangered by a violent uprising by Islamists who are demanding that the country become an Islamic state.

Christian homes have been torched and churches threatened as increasingly volatile protests have rocked the country.

Scores of people have been killed in the clashes, which erupted in February. At least 37 died earlier this week as police tried to quash protests in the capital, Dhaka, where 70,000 Islamist demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday (5 May), calling for the introduction of an anti-blasphemy law.

This was the deadline that one Islamist group, Hefazat e-Islam Bangladesh (HIB), had given the government to implement its demands, which include sharia rule, virtual segregation of women and the death sentence for those who insult Islam or Muhammad.

An anti-blasphemy law would be disastrous for Christians in Bangladesh. Their counterparts in Pakistan suffer grievously as a result of the blasphemy laws there, under which they are vulnerable to malicious, false accusation. Devotion to Muhammad is a particular feature of South Asian Islam, and the Pakistani law specifies a death sentence for anyone who insults him.

Jama’at-e-Islami (JI), the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh, has threatened to “kill all the Malauns [infidels]”. Muslims view Christians and other non-Muslims as "infidels"....

The Qur'an allows for the owning of sex slaves:

If you fear that you will not act justly towards the orphans, marry such women as seem good to you, two, three, four; but if you fear you will not be equitable, then only one, or what your right hands own; so it is likelier you will not be partial. (Qur'an 4:3)

This verse is the basis for Islamic polygamy, allowing a man to take as many as four wives, as long as he believes he is able to “deal justly” with all of them. But justice in these circumstances is in the eye of the beholder. Ibn Kathir says this the requirement to deal justly with one’s wives is no big deal, since treating them justly isn’t the same as treating them equally: “it is not obligatory to treat them equally, rather it is recommended. So if one does so, that is good, and if not, there is no harm on him.”

The verse goes on to say that if a man cannot deal justly with multiple wives, then he should marry only one, or resort to “what your right hands own” – that is, slave girls.

The Qur'an commentator Maulana Bulandshahri explains the wisdom of this practice, and longs for the good old days:

During Jihad (religion war), many men and women become war captives. The Amirul Mu’minin [leader of the believers, or caliph – an office now vacant] has the choice of distributing them amongst the Mujahidin [warriors of jihad], in which event they will become the property of these Mujahidin. This enslavement is the penalty for disbelief (kufr).

He goes on to explain that this is not ancient history:

None of the injunctions pertaining to slavery have been abrogated in the Shari’ah. The reason that the Muslims of today do not have slaves is because they do not engage in Jihad (religion war). Their wars are fought by the instruction of the disbelievers (kuffar) and are halted by the same felons. The Muslim [sic] have been shackled by such treaties of the disbelievers (kuffar) whereby they cannot enslave anyone in the event of a war. Muslims have been denied a great boon whereby every home could have had a slave. May Allah grant the Muslims the ability to escape the tentacles of the enemy, remain steadfast upon the Din (religion) and engage in Jihad (religion war) according to the injunctions of Shari’ah. Amen!

This is by no means an eccentric or unorthodox view in Islam. The Egyptian Sheikh Abu-Ishaq al-Huwayni declared in May 2011 that “we are in the era of jihad,” and that as they waged jihad warfare against infidels, Muslims would take slaves. He clarified what he meant in a subsequent interview:

...Jihad is only between Muslims and infidels….Spoils, slaves, and prisoners are only to be taken in war between Muslims and infidels. Muslims in the past conquered, invaded, and took over countries. This is agreed to by all scholars--there is no disagreement on this from any of them, from the smallest to the largest, on the issue of taking spoils and prisoners. The prisoners and spoils are distributed among the fighters, which includes men, women, children, wealth, and so on.

When a slave market is erected, which is a market in which are sold slaves and sex-slaves, which are called in the Qur’an by the name milk al-yamin, “that which your right hands possess” [Qur’an 4:24]. This is a verse from the Qur’an which is still in force, and has not been abrogated. The milk al-yamin are the sex-slaves. You go to the market, look at the sex-slave, and buy her. She becomes like your wife, (but) she doesn’t need a (marriage) contract or a divorce like a free woman, nor does she need a wali. All scholars agree on this point--there is no disagreement from any of them. [...] When I want a sex slave, I just go to the market and choose the woman I like and purchase her.

Right around the same time, on May 25, 2011, a female Kuwaiti activist and politician, Salwa al-Mutairi, also spoke out in favor of the Islamic practice of sexual slavery of non-Muslim women, emphasizing that the practice accorded with Islamic law and the parameters of Islamic morality.

...A merchant told me that he would like to have a sex slave. He said he would not be negligent with her, and that Islam permitted this sort of thing. He was speaking the truth….I brought up (this man’s) situation to the muftis in Mecca. I told them that I had a question, since they were men who specialized in what was halal, and what was good, and who loved women. I said, “What is the law of sex slaves?” 

The mufti said, “With the law of sex slaves, there must be a Muslim nation at war with a Christian nation, or a nation which is not of the religion, not of the religion of Islam. And there must be prisoners of war.”

“Is this forbidden by Islam?,” I asked.

“Absolutely not. Sex slaves are not forbidden by Islam. On the contrary, sex slaves are under a different law than the free woman. The free woman must be completely covered except for her face and hands. But the sex slave can be naked from the waist up. She differs a lot from the free woman. While the free woman requires a marriage contract, the sex slave does not--she only needs to be purchased by her husband, and that’s it. Therefore the sex slave is different than the free woman.”

While the savage exploitation of girls and young women is an unfortunately cross-cultural phenomenon, only in Islamic law does it carry anything approaching divine sanction. Here is yet another human rights scandal occasioned by Islamic law that the international human rights community and the mainstream media cravenly ignore.

"Young Christian Girls Trafficked into Forced Labor and Sex Slavery," by Corey Bailey for Persecution.org, May 5 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

5/5/2013 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern)-More than 140 children have been rescued from Islamic training centers (madrassas) in the last nine months, with a majority of the children targeted because of their Christian faith. The females, accounting for nearly half of those rescued, report that they were used for forced labor and sex slavery.

New information has come to light regarding the treatment of the young girls rescued from madrassas earlier this year. “They were forcefully converted to Islam,” said Akash, a contact for International Christian Concern (ICC) whose name is changed for security reasons. “The girls were made to wear veils at all times. Some girls were also forced to work as slaves in the homes of Muslim families and were only fed one time a day.”

The rescued girls were told they would study at a Christian school and receive training to become beauticians. However, after completing the grueling travel from their villages to the capitol city, Dhaka, they discovered it was all a lie. “Instead of training in the Beautifying Parlor, we were forcefully sent to hotels for the sex trade,” explained one of the girls.

Suspicions Lead to Rescue

Last year Akash was selling bus tickets for a transportation company in Bangladesh when he noticed that a man named Norbert Tripura frequently traveled to Dhaka with groups of children. When asked what he was doing, Norbert replied that he was taking the children to a Christian missionary school “where they can eat and live in comfort with a good education.” Hoping for his daughter to have the opportunity for a quality education, Akash asked Norbert to take her to the Christian missionary school, and became suspicious when he was refused. “Doubt was created in my mind when Norbert continued to avoid me,” said Akash.

Akash began to investigate the matter and soon discovered that countless families had sent their children with men, including Norbert, who were later discovered to be traffickers. With the help of an ICC ministry partner, Akash arranged for the rescue of the first twelve children in July 2012. More were rescued in October 2012, followed by over 100 rescued since January 2013.

How Does This Happen

As Christians, these children and their families are a marginalized minority in a country that is over 90% Muslim. As minorities, Christians find it difficult to locate jobs and obtain quality education. They are sometimes even banned from using community wells in the villages. As a result, many Christians, specifically the Tripura people, are extremely poor and desperate for a better life for their children. This, in turn, leaves them vulnerable to traffickers like Norbert.

Reports by The Kapaeeng Foundation and ICC’s partner in Bangladesh indicate that there may be as many as 138 children from Rangamati, 42 from Banderban and six from Khagrachari that are still missing. “We think they are also sold to madrassas and we are searching for them,” said Akash. “It is my dream that all the children will be rescued and receive a higher education so that they can stand on their own two feet.”

WARNING: Video is not very easy to make out, but disturbing nonetheless. Note that these murderers are adherents to the same Sharia that their coreligionists in the U.S. insist is benign and "Islamophobic" to resist.

"Bangladeshi Islamic mob beating people to death to enact sharia law," from LiveLeak, May 6 (thanks to Golem):

from yesterday, Sunday May 5- 200,000 Islamists marched in large rallies in Bangladesh to press the govt to enact hardline sharia law which critics have described as on par with the Taliban and their legal system. They also demand that the govt kill various bloggers and media figures for "insulting" Islam. Violence spread from Dhaka, the capital to other parts of the country including Chittagong, where this video was recorded and 5 people were murdered in large riots. I have no idea why these people were murdered by the mob, either they wore govt uniforms or they were Hindus, who have been targeted in large scale attacks recently by the majority muslim population. In total 20 people have so far been reported killed from yesterday with the figure likely to climb.

Prominent Muslim leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere have called for restrictions on the freedom of speech, including the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and the Muslim Brotherhood – and in the U.S., Sheikh Husham al-Husainy of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn, Michigan and Imam Mohammad Qatanani of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, New Jersey. Given Sharia prohibitions on free speech, that is to be expected. So is the violence that Bangladesh is experiencing -- it will come here, too.

An update on this story. "Ten dead and hundreds injured as police battle hardline Islamist group demanding death penalty for those who insult Allah," by Amanda Williams for the Daily Mail, May 5:

Ten people were killed and hundreds more injured in Bangladesh today in fierce street fighting between police and Islamic hardliners demanding the death penalty for blasphemy.

Rioters chanting 'God is greatest!' torched shops and vehicles, blocked roads and fought bloody battles with police in the capital of Dhaka and its suburbs.

Seven people were killed in the early morning clashes in the city centre and another three died in Kanchpur on the city's outskirts, local media reported.

Tiny Minority of Extremists

"Do not insult Islam" -- or else

Teach your children well

Soon Sharia blasphemy laws will come to the West as well, if the clueless and/or complicit such as Eric Posner, Sarah Chayes, and Nathan Lean (aka "Garibaldi") get their way.

"Police say 1 killed as Islamic group demonstrates in Bangladesh for anti-blasphemy law," from the Associated Press, May 5:

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Police in Bangladesh’s capital fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing Islamic activists Sunday during a protest to demand that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law.

The activists were among thousands demonstrating around Dhaka, blocking roads and cutting off the city from the rest of the country.

Police said protesters also set many shops and at least 30 vehicles on fire. Authorities deployed more than 15,000 security forces in the capital.

Clashes broke out in central Dhaka as activists started pelting police with stones, a police official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity under local briefing rules.

An unidentified man was killed and at least 45 people were injured, the official said. He provided no further details.

Thousands of activists from Hefatjat-e-Islam, a newly formed group, gathered in Dhaka’s Motijheel commercial district to press for their demands.

The group says some Internet users have recently used their blogs to spread atheism and lies about Islam.

The government in this Muslim-majority nation has rejected the groups’ demands, saying Bangladesh is governed by secular liberal laws.

We'll see for how much longer.

Following another huge demonstration calling for the arrest of the atheist bloggers, now the Bangladeshi Islamic supremacists, 100,000 strong, are marching to call for the murder of the bloggers. Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: "'Death to bloggers': Bangladesh Islamists," by Shafiq Alam for AAP, April 6 (thanks to Steve):

HUNDREDS of thousands of Islamists rallied in Dhaka after an overnight "long march" to the Bangladeshi capital, demanding the execution of atheist bloggers for defaming Islam.

It is the latest protest to rack Bangladesh, deepening tensions between secularists and the largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, whose leaders are under trial for crimes committed during the country's 1971 war of independence.

The Islamists converged on Dhaka's main commercial hub to protest against what they say are blasphemous writings by atheist bloggers, defying a pro-government national strike by secular protesters - who staged a smaller rival protest in Dhaka Saturday - aimed at resisting the march.

Police said about 100,000 people attended the rally during which protesters chanted "God is great, hang the atheist bloggers".

Protest organisers, who called the rally the "long march" with many travelling from remote villages, put the number at more than half a million, as Dhaka's Motijheel commercial area turned into a sea of white robes.

"I've come here to fight for Islam. We won't allow any bloggers to blaspheme our religion and our beloved Prophet Mohammed," said Shahidul Islam, an imam at a mosque outside Dhaka who walked 20km.

Hefajat-e-Islam, an Islamic group which draws support from tens of thousands of seminaries, organised the rally in support of its 13-point demand including enactment of a blasphemy law to prosecute and hang atheist bloggers.

There has been vociferous debate between staunch atheists and fundamentalists in Bangladesh's social media for years, but it took a deadly turn in February when an anti-Islam blogger was murdered.

This week four online writers were arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiment through their Internet writings against Islam.

Following recent protests over the on-going war crimes tribunal the government has blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem the unrest.

It has also set up a panel, which includes intelligence chiefs, to monitor blasphemy on social media.

Under the country's cyber laws, a blogger or Internet writer can face up to 10 years in jail for defaming a religion.

Dhaka has been virtually cut off from the rest of the country since Friday afternoon - when secularists called a 22-hour nationwide strike to obstruct the march - as private transport operators stopped services fearing clashes between Islamists and secular protesters.

How could this have happened in a peaceful, tolerant Muslim nation such as Bangladesh? Did they appoint Eric Posner, Sarah Chayes, or Nathan Lean (aka "Garibaldi") as Internet czar?

"Bangladesh arrests three atheist bloggers," from AFP, April 2 (thanks to Lookmann):

DHAKA: Bangladesh police have arrested three atheist bloggers for allegedly defaming Islam and the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), police said Tuesday, amid calls from religious fundamentalists for an Internet crackdown.

The arrest of the three, who were paraded in handcuffs at a news conference, followed pressure from Islamic groups who have organised a march from all over the country to the capital to demand the death penalty for atheist bloggers.

“They have hurt the religious feelings of the people by writing against different religions and their prophets and founders including the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh),” said deputy commissioner of Dhaka police, Molla Nazrul Islam.

The three could face 10 years in jail if convicted under the country’s cyber laws which outlaw “defaming” a religion, Islam said.

He denied the arrests were linked to the planned march to Dhaka set for Saturday.

Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan said the three arrested men were among 84 “atheist bloggers” named in a list handed over by an Islamist group to a government panel probing alleged blasphemy against Islam on the Internet.

“The arrests were made on primary information” and further investigation is underway, Khan said, adding the government would act toughly to prevent any attempt to upset “communal harmony” via the Internet.

There has been vociferous debate between staunch atheists and fundamentalists in Bangladesh’s blogosphere and on social media for years, but it took a deadly turn in February when an atheist blogger was murdered.

The arrests came as Bangladesh has been hit by violent protests over a war crimes tribunal which is trying leading people who opposed the country’s independence from Pakistan during the 1971 liberation war.

Protests encouraged by secular bloggers have seen hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets demanding the execution of leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, the country’s largest Islamic party and key opposition.

Islamic groups have in turn held demonstrations demanding the trials be halted and have also begun targeting bloggers.

The government has blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem the unrest. It also set up a panel, which included intelligence chiefs, to snoop for blasphemy in the social media.

Last week the telecoms regulator ordered two sites to remove hundreds of posts of seven bloggers whose writings it said offended Muslims.

Meanwhile, a group of bloggers protested the overnight arrests of the three men and said their detention meant the government is caving in to pressure from Islamic groups.

“We demand their release. The future of Bangladesh is bleak if the freedom expression of the bloggers is curbed,” Fahmidul Haq, a blogger and Dhaka University professor, said at a news conference.

Indeed.

Haq said the lives of the 84 bloggers who were named in the list prepared by Islamic groups now were at risk....

Indeed.

Tiny minority of extremists

These Muslims are calling for the same kinds of restrictions on the freedom of speech that Leftist Sharia enablers such as Eric Posner, Sarah Chayes, and Nathan "Garibaldi" Lean have recently called for in the West -- and that are coming to the West, courtesy UN Resolution 16/18 and ongoing Organization of Islamic Cooperation efforts to intimidate Western states into criminalizing criticism of Islam.

"'Arrest the atheists who insulted Islam!' Tens of thousands of Muslim activists hold prayers on streets of Bangladesh capital to call for new blasphemy laws against bloggers," from the Daily Mail, March 29 (thanks to Pedro):

Tens of thousands of Islamic activists prayed on the streets of the Bangladeshi capital today during a rally calling for the introduction of blaspemy laws and the restoration of a caretaker government.

Members of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh are demanding the arrest of 'atheist bloggers who insulted Islam' and to pass laws punishing those who 'insulted Islam in the parliament'.

They have announced plans to 'lay siege' to the office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 25 if their demands are not met.

They include the restoration of the phrase 'absolute trust and faith upon Almighty Allah' in basic principles of the constitution; passing laws to punish atheists; holding of national elections under an impartial government; ensuring good governance and justice, uprooting terrorism and corruption; and establishing Islamic rule for a prosperous and welfare state.

According to www.thedailystar.net, the party's Amir Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karimalso told the rally: 'The incumbent and previous governments have nurtured corruption, violence, nepotism and other different evil practices during last few decades.

'Islami Andolan Bangladesh should be voted to power to get rid of this situation.'

Meanwhile, clashes between police and supporters of the country's biggest Islamic party left five dead on Friday during protests linked to ongoing war crimes trials, police and media said.

Jamaat-e-Islami activists have been staging countrywide strikes and rallies for months to protest against the trials which have placed nearly their entire party leadership in the dock, in cases dating back to the 1971 independence war.

Friday's first incident occurred when lawmakers entered a village in northwestern Chapainawabganj district to arrest party activists accused of torching a power plant in such a protest last month.

About 6,000 villagers gathered to try and prevent the arrests, leading police to open fire.

'We at first used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the mob, but they attacked us with hand bombs, sticks and bricks, forcing us to open fire,' deputy district police chief Motiur Rahman told AFP.

'We have heard the news of three men killed, but we have not seen any dead bodies,' he said.

Local media reports quoted villagers saying three Jamaat supporters were killed, two on the spot and one on the way to hospital.

In a separate but similar wave of protests in northwestern Sirajganj district, two Jamaat supporters died after being hit with bullets, local police chief Shamsul Huq told AFP.

Police officers went to arrest an activist also accused of violence last month while protesting against the war crimes trial, but they too faced defiance from several thousand villagers.

With the latest deaths, 94 people have now been killed in clashes linked to the trials since the war crimes court handed down the first of its verdicts in January over atrocities during Bangladesh's independence struggle from Pakistan.

Two Jamaat leaders have already been convicted by the tribunal, which critics accuse of trumping up charges in a bid by the government to settle political scores, rather than deliver justice.

The government says the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the 1971 war in which it says three million people were killed and 200,000 women raped.

Independent estimates put the death toll between 300,000 and 500,000.

If this committee operates along the lines that Islamic supremacists have been operating on for years now, it will classify as "derogatory" even accurate and truthful remarks about Islam and Muhammad that it would prefer Infidels not to know. And some Western "journalists" rush to accommodate this Muslim rage and hate by joining the Islamic supremacists in calling for restrictions on the freedom of speech; here are three recent examples from mainstream media enemies of the freedom of speech: Eric Posner, Sarah Chayes, and Nathan "Garibaldi" Lean.

"Panel to check comments on Islam, Prophet," from bdnews24.com, March 13:

The government on Wednesday formed a nine-member committee to identify and take action against those making derogatory remarks against Islam and Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) using Facebook and blogs.

Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad said Mainuddin Khandakar, an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home, has been made the head of the committee on the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He added that the home ministry would take necessary action on the basis of the recommendations of the committee.

The committee could take help from experts and give secretarial support to the ministry, he said.

The committee would apprise the Prime Minister’s Office of the progress of its assignment.

Members of the committee would be drawn from the PMO, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Law and Judicial Department, Information Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry, while directors-general of the NSI and the DGFI, and the Additional DIG of Special Branch would also be included.

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Muslim anger explodes against Bangladesh's Hindu community," by Sumon Francis Gomes for Asia News, March 6 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Scores of homes have been set on fire, women and girls have been assaulted, temples have been desecrated and statues of the goddess Kali have been destroyed.

For days, Hindu communities in some areas of Bangladesh have been targeted by supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic party, after its leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee was sentenced to death for war crimes.

Acts of violence against the Hindu minority got worse yesterday during a hartal or strike called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat's main ally, to protest against the verdict.

In Khulna (a town in the country's southwest), various activists from the Jamaat-Shibir (Jamaat-e-Islami's youth wing) and the BNP led protesters towards Dhopapara, a poor area largely inhabited by Hindus. Rapidly, the Muslim extremists set fire to eight homes and looted ten stores before they were dispersed by police.

"Jamaat members entered my house and beat my mother, my wife and my three daughters," said Amio Das, one of the victims of the attack. "They took our stuff and then set fire to the rest."

In the village of Aditmari (in the northern district of Lalmonirhat), some fundamentalists stormed and looted the Hindu temple of Sree Sree Shoshan Kali Mandir, dedicated to Kali, destroying statues of the goddess.

The same occurred to a temple in the village of Lakhirpar and another in Satkania (Chittagong).

The murderous outrage that any Islamic supremacist could be held accountable for his own wrongdoing continues in Bangladesh. "46 killed as violence over Islamist leader's death sentence continues in Bangladesh," from PTI, March 2 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Dhaka: Violence continued unabated in Bangladesh on Friday as at least 46 people were killed in clashes that erupted after a top leader of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami was handed down death penalty for "crimes against humanity" during the 1971 liberation war.

The violence broke out after 73-year-old Delwar Hossain Sayedee, vice-president of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), was sentenced to death by International Crimes Tribunal.

At least 42 people were killed on Thursday in rioting triggered by the death sentence to Sayedee, who was found guilty of eight counts out of 20, involving rape, mass killings and atrocities during the 1971 freedom war against Pakistan.

Fresh violence erupted on Friday killing three people in Gaibandha and Chapainawabganj districts and one policeman succumbed to his wounds sustained in clashes on Thursday.

Officials said that law enforcement agencies appeared to be the prime target of the right-wing JI activists....

For the mainstream media, "right-wing" doesn't really mean anything anymore; it is just a synonym for "evil." Thus jihadists and Sharia supremacists are "right-wing," as above, and so are those who oppose jihad and Sharia.

Don't the Bangladeshi authorities realize that Islamic supremacists are never, ever guilty of wrongdoing? "21 dead in Bangladesh after Islamist death sentence," from AFP, February 28 (thanks to Lookmann):

DHAKA — A wave of violence killed at least 21 people in Bangladesh Thursday as Islamists reacted furiously to a ruling that one of their leaders must hang for war crimes during the 1971 independence conflict.

At least 17 of them were shot in clashes between police and protesters that erupted after Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the Jamaat-e-Islami party's vice president, was found guilty of war crimes, including murder, arson and rape.

He is the third person to be convicted by the much-criticised domestic tribunal whose previous verdicts have also been met with outrage from Islamists who say the process is more about score settling than delivering justice.

The latest clashes brought the overall death toll to 37 since the first verdict was delivered on January 21.

Also among the dead were two policemen who were beaten to death after thousands of Jamaat supporters attacked a base in the northern district of Gaibandha, local police chief Monjur Rahman told AFP.

"At least 10,000 Jamaat supporters attacked us with weapons. We were forced to open fire," Rahman said, adding two protesters were shot dead.

Seventeen other people were also killed as violence spread all over the country, police said.

About 300 people including scores of policemen were also injured, doctors and police and local media said.

Police also reported attacks on several Hindu homes and temples by Islamists in the southern Noakhali district.

Security forces had been braced for trouble ahead of the verdict against Sayedee, who reacted to the judgment by saying it had been influenced by "atheists" and pro-government protesters who have been demanding his execution.

Sayedee, best known in Bangladesh these days as a firebrand preacher, was convicted for setting ablaze 25 houses in a Hindu village and abetting the murders of two people including Hindu man, according to a copy of the verdict.

He led a pro-Pakistani militia who abducted three Hindu sisters and raped them for three days at a Pakistani camp. He also forced at least 100 Hindus to convert to Islam and made them say Islamic prayers.

His lawyer Tajul Islam described the verdict as "a gross miscarriage of justice", adding that Sayedee did not live in the town where the alleged crimes took place.

"It's a case of mistaken identity. We're stunned," he told AFP.

However protesters at a central Dhaka intersection erupted in jubilation as news of Sayedee's sentence filtered through. "We've been waiting for this day for the last four decades," a protester told Somoy TV.

There was no immediate reaction from Jamaat to the verdict, but the party has enforced a nationwide strike demanding a halt to the trials. The cases against eight more Jamaat leaders are still being heard.

Earlier this month the tribunal, a local court with no international oversight, sentenced Jamaat's assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla to life imprisonment.

While angering Jamaat supporters, that verdict also enraged secular protesters, tens of thousands of whom have since poured onto the Shahbag intersection in central Dhaka to demand the execution of Jamaat leaders.

In January the tribunal handed down its first verdict when it sentenced fugitive Muslim TV preacher Maolana Abul Kalam Azad to death....

These Islamic supremacist thugs could have tried to refute his assertions, or attempt to best him in debate. But this was easier for them, and more in line with their general inclinations. "Popular Atheist Blogger Stabbed Repeatedly by Suspected Islamist Fundamentalists in Bangladesh," by Stoyan Zaimov for the Christian Post, January 17 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

An atheist blogger in Bangladesh has been stabbed repeatedly by three suspected Islamist fundamentalists and is currently in critical condition in a local hospital.

Asif Mohiuddin, 29, was attacked earlier this week as he was leaving work at night in Dhaka, when a group of unidentified men jumped him and stabbed him repeatedly. Mohiuddin is one of the nation's most well-known atheists, and runs a Bengali blog titled "Almighty only in name, but impotent in reality," which is one of Bangladesh's most visited websites.

"We operated on him for more than three hours. He is improving but still not out of danger. He has six deep cuts including two grave ones in the shoulder," Haridas Saha, a surgeon at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told AFP News agency.

The news has been met with widespread condemnation especially among secularists, who are demanding that the Muslim-dominated country, where Islam is a state religion, do more to protect the human rights of its citizens. Although the perpetrators have not yet been found, many suspect that Mohiuddin's atheist posts and his commentaries on free speech and human right issues are most likely the reason for the attack.

"The nature of the cuts proved that the attackers wanted to murder him," Saha added, revealing that friends of Mohiuddin who were with him at the time of the attack said that Islamic "fundamentalists" were behind the incident....

The Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) reported that this is not the first time the Bengali blogger has been targeted. In Oct. 2011, Mohiuddin was arrested and reportedly abused by police who accused him of inciting a student protest through his blog. The activist was allegedly blindfolded, starved, and kept awake as a form of torture, while authorities tried to have him sign a statement pledging never to use social media again.

"We condemn this attack on Asif Mohiuddin and call on authorities to fully investigate and ensure the perpetrators brought to justice," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.

Bangladesh has often faced condemnation for human right abuses and suppression of free speech. In another infamous case, Humayun Azad, a poet, novelist and literature professor who wrote a number of satirical novels against religious fundamentalism, was attacked by Islamic militants in 2004, and later died in Germany.

"He is very gentle and devoted to his studies," says papa. And even though the university spokesman contradicted him, it could be true: he could be a gentle, studious soul. His studies of Islam could have led him to the conviction that he needed to wage jihad against Infidels.

He could be a decent fellow. According to former Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Eddie Green, Kifah Jayyousi was “a great guy, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” While Green was superintendent, Jayyousi oversaw the Detroit school district’s capital improvement program. Later, Jayyousi was charged, according to the Detroit Free Press, with “conspiring to kidnap, maim and murder by providing money, recruits and equipment for Islamic struggles in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya from 1993 to 2001.”

Christopher Paul, a martial arts instructor at a mosque in Columbus, Ohio, was also a terrific guy. Ahmad Al-Akhras, vice chairman of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in Columbus, said: “From the things I know, he is a loving husband and he has a wife and parents in town. They are a good family together.”

Yet Paul, a Muslim, was charged, according to Associated Press, with “providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to provide support to terrorists and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.” He was accused of training with Al-Qaeda in the early 1990s, training people for violent jihad attacks on targets in Europe and the United States, and more.

According to a Southern California friend of Raed Albanna, who killed 132 people in a suicide attack outside a medical clinic in Iraq in 2005, “He was into partying. We hit some pretty wild clubs in Hollywood.” Frank Lindh, the father of John Walker Lindh, a.k.a. Suleyman Al-Faris, the convert to Islam from Marin County who joined the Taliban and was captured in Afghanistan fighting against American troops, has said: “In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man embarked on a spiritual quest.”

Great guys all. Some partied and some embarked on a spiritual search, but they all ended up in the same place, committing acts dedicated to furthering the cause of jihad, or facing charges of having done so.

But they may be genuinely decent fellows. It was the Nazi genocide mastermind Heinrich Himmler who told a group of SS leaders: “Most of you know what it means to see a hundred corpses lying together, five hundred, or a thousand. To have gone through this and yet -- apart from a few exceptions, examples of human weakness -- to have remained decent fellows, this is what has made us hard…”

Were these SS mass murderers really decent fellows? To their friends and family, they probably were. After all, they weren’t interested in undifferentiated mayhem. They were adherents of a totalitarian, genocidal ideology that convinced them that the murders they were committing were for a good purpose. As far as they were concerned, their goals were rational. It was a necessity for them to remain “decent fellows,” for they were busy trying to build what they saw as a decent society. That their vision of a decent society included genocide and torture did not trouble them, for it was all for -- in their view -- a goal that remained good.

Today’s jihad terrorists are likewise the adherents of a totalitarian, genocidal ideology that teaches them that murders committed under certain circumstances are a good thing. And those murders, here again, are not committed for their own sake, but for the sake of a societal vision hardly less draconian and evil than that of Adolf Hitler, but one also that portrays itself as the exponent of all that is good -- as the Taliban showed us. But the continued reference to such people as “terrorists” pure and simple, and the refusal of the media and most law enforcement officials to examine their ideology at all, only reinforces the idea that these people are raving maniacs, interested solely in chaos for its own sake. The society they want to build, and the means besides guns and bombs that they are using to build it, so far remain below the radar screen of most analysts. These people are just “terrorists,” interested only in “terror.” And so we’re continually surprised when they turn out to be nice guys after all. Decent fellows. Like the SS.

"Father of Bangladeshi man who allegedly tried to blow up Fed building in NYC says son incapable of such actions," from Fox News, October 18 (thanks to Kenneth):

DHAKA, Bangladesh – A Bangladeshi man accused of trying to bomb the Federal Reserve building in New York City is a banker's son from a middle class neighborhood whose family members said Thursday that they were stunned by his arrest.

The FBI arrested 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis on Wednesday after he tried to detonate a fake 1,000-pound car bomb, according to a criminal complaint.

Prosecutors said Nafis traveled to the U.S. on a student visa in January to carry out an attack.

His family said Thursday that Nafis was incapable of such actions.

"My son can't do it," his father, Quazi Ahsanullah, said as he wept in his home in the Jatrabari neighborhood in north Dhaka.

"He is very gentle and devoted to his studies," he said, pointing to Nafis' time at the private North South University in Dhaka.

However, Belal Ahmed, a spokesman for the university, said Nafis was a terrible student who was put on probation and threatened with expulsion if he didn't bring his grades up. Nafis eventually just stopped coming to school, Ahmed said.

Ahsanullah said his son convinced him to send him to America to study, arguing that with a U.S. degree he had a better chance at success in Bangladesh.

"I spent all my savings to send him to America," he said. He called on the government to "get my son back home."...

At one point, according to criminal complaint, Nafis told undercover agents: "I don't want something that's like, small. I just want something big. Something very big ... that will shake the whole country, that will make America, not one step ahead, change of policy, and make one step ahead, for the Muslims ... that will make us one step closer to run the whole world."...

The grateful exchange student

There is, of course, no screening whatsoever of young Muslims who come here on student visas. Even to attempt to determine if they have jihadist sympathies, which would be well-nigh impossible in any case, although those with actual ties to jihad groups could at least be kept out, would be "Islamophobic." And so we will see more people like Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis.

"Suspected Terrorist Arrested for Alleged Plot to Bomb Federal Reserve in NYC," by Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz for NBC New York, October 17 (thanks to Archer):

A suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb next to the Federal Reserve building in Lower Manhattan and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested in a terror sting operation, authorities said.

The suspect, 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, is a Bangladeshi national who came to the U.S. on a student visa in January for the specific purpose of launching a terror attack here, authorities said. He allegedly told an undercover agent last month that he hoped the attack would disrupt the presidential election, saying "You know what, this election might even stop," according to the criminal complaint against him.

The complaint said Nafis wrote a statement claiming responsibility for what he thought would be the Fed attack, saying he wanted to "destroy America" by going after its economy. He referred to "our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden" in the statement.

He also proposed various other targets beyond the Fed building at 33 Liberty St., just blocks from the World Trade Center site, prosecutors said. He also considered targeting a "high-ranking U.S. official" as well as the New York Stock Exchange, prosecutors said.

Nafis, who lives in Jamaica, Queens, allegedly sought out al-Qaida contacts to help him, unknowingly recruiting an FBI source in the process. At that point, the FBI and NYPD began monitoring him as he developed the plot, prosecutors said.

An undercover FBI agent posed as an al-Qaida facilitator, supplying him with 20 50-pound bags of what he thought were explosives to use in building his bomb. He also visited the Lower Manhattan site multiple times as he planned the attack, officials said....

Nafis is expected in court later Wednesday. He is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida....

"It was the spreading of those images by Moktadir and his friend Omar Faruk that apparently provoked Muslims to torch a dozen Buddhist temples and pagodas and damage six others in Ramu that night." No one is responsible for those torchings except the torchers. There was nothing forcing them to react that way to these pictures. This is an elementary point, yet it is rapidly being lost in the West.

An update on this story. "Key 'instigator' detained," by Julfikar Ali Manik for The Daily Star, October 11 (thanks to Heliogabalus):

Police on Tuesday night detained Abdul Moktadir, a key player in displaying and distributing among locals some Facebook images insulting the Quran on the evening of September 29 in Ramu.

It was the spreading of those images by Moktadir and his friend Omar Faruk that apparently provoked Muslims to torch a dozen Buddhist temples and pagodas and damage six others in Ramu that night.

The mayhem begun soon after the two showed those images, tagged in a Buddhist youth Uttam Kumar Barua's Facebook account, to locals at Faruk's mobile servicing shop at Fakirabazar in Ramu.

Eighteen-year-old Moktadir, also known as Alif, is a student of Shyamoli Ideal Polytechnic in Chittagong.

His friend Faruk, also 18, was detained on October 6, and is now being interrogated by law enforcers over the duo's role in distributing the photos, police said.

Three days before his detention, Faruk described to this correspondent at the shop how he and Moktadir showed and distributed among people a number of images derogatory to Islam.

They also supplied soft copies of the picture to some local journalists, which soon got spread in and around Ramu within a few hours, Faruk had said.

This paper on October 4 published a report headlined "It all started form [sic] a tiny phone repair shop" based on Faruk's account.

However, Moktadir's mother Sajeda Begum Shimul said on Sunday that her son came across the photo when he went to the shop for having a mobile phone fixed.

This correspondent wanted from her Moktadir's contact address and phone number, but she refused to give either. She also would not show any photo of her son, saying there was none....

Meanwhile, Nazibul Islam, the former officer-in-charge of Ramu Police Station, has already been closed to Chittagong Deputy Inspector General of Police's office in Ramu after his withdrawal from Ramu over his mysterious inaction in containing the mayhem.

Stoning adulterers is not "extremist"; it is Islamic law. The caliph Umar, one of Muhammad's closest companions, even maintained that it was originally in the Qur'an:

'Umar said, "I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, "We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book," and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession." Sufyan added, "I have memorized this narration in this way." 'Umar added, "Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him." (Bukhari, vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 816)

"Allah's Apostle" is, of course, Muhammad, who did indeed carry out stonings. Here is the hadith in which he challenges the rabbis about stoning, and in which there is amidst the barbarism and brutality a final act of love and compassion:

The Jews came to Allah's Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah's Apostle said to them, "What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?" They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them." Abdullah bin Salam said, "You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm." They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, "Lift your hand." When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, "Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. ('Abdullah bin 'Umar said, "I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones." (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829)

Even the monkeys practiced stoning, according to another hadith:

During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them. (Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 188)

Muhammad's example is, of course, normative for Islamic behavior, since "verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allah much" (Qur'an 33:21).

"Bangladeshi clergies recommend stoning for Hina-Bilawal," from the Weekly Blitz, October 1 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Eminent Islamic scholars, leaders and clergies in Bangladesh are recommending punishment under Sharia law for Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and co-chairman of Pakistan People's Party [PPP] Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for the adultery. According to Bangladeshi daily newspaper the Amader Orthoneeti [Our Economy], eminent Islamic scholar and leader of the Islami Oikya Jote [Islamic Unity Movement] Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, commenting on allegation of adultery of Hina and Bilawal told the daily, "If this report is true, it cannot be accepted under the Islamic laws. If Bilawal Bhutto is truly a bisexual and alcoholic; he does not have right to become the head of the state of any Muslim nation. The laws in Pakistan, does not permit such illicit activities."

He said, punishment of adultery under Islamic code is stoning to death or whipping. Hina Rabbani Khar and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari now must stand for trial under the Islamic law, if they are found guilty.

Mizbahur Rahman, Islamic scholar and politician commenting on allegation of adultery between Hina Rabbani Khar and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Islam forbids adultery and extra-marital relations.

"This is a severe offense under the Islamic laws. Bilawal Bhutto is a criminal in the eyes of Islamic law and such people can never be allowed to continue as a leader or head of the state in any Muslim nation", he said.

It may be mentioned here that, constitutionally Pakistan is an Islamic republic, where Islamic laws must be strictly applied to any such cases of adultery irrespective of the social or otherwise positions of the committers.

But remember: if you stand up against this madness and call it what it is, you're a "racist" and an "Islamophobe."

"Officials: Angry Muslims torch Buddhist temples, homes in Bangladesh over burned Quran photo," from the Associated Press, September 30 (thanks to all who sent this in):

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims angry over an alleged derogatory photo of the Islamic holy book Quran on Facebook set fires in at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes near the southern border with Myanmar, authorities said Sunday.

The violence began late Saturday and continued until early Sunday, said Nojibul Islam, a police chief in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar.

He said the situation was under control Sunday afternoon after extra security officials were deployed and the government banned public gatherings in the troubled area.

He said at least 20 people were injured in the attacks that followed the posting of a Facebook photo of a burned copy of the Quran. The rioters blamed the photo on a local Buddhist boy, though it was not immediately clear if the boy actually posted the photo.

Bangladesh’s popular English-language Daily Star newspaper quoted the boy as saying that the photo was mistakenly tagged on his Facebook profile. The newspaper reported that soon after the violence broke out, the boy’s Facebook account was closed and police escorted him and his mother to safety.

Joinul Bari, chief government administrator in Cox’s Bazar district, said authorities detained the boy’s parents and were investigating.

Buddhists make up less than 1 percent of Muslim-majority Bangladesh’s 150 million people....

"The majority of schools, offices and shops are closed for the strike." Oh yes, this is just what Bangladesh needs. "Islam: national strike in Bangladesh in film protest," from AGI, September 23 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

(AGI) Dhaka - A national strike has been called in Bangladesh in protest against the amateur film mocking the Prophet Muhammad. The majority of schools, offices and shops are closed for the strike called by opposition parties. Thousands of police flooded the streets of the capital of a country with a population of 153 million, a large majority of whom are Muslims. Forty activists were briefly detained after trying to set up a barricade in one of the city's central streets. . .

When will this all end? When the West abandons the freedom of speech and adopts Sharia blasphemy laws. And that is coming down fast, especially after Obama's reelection. "Thousands of Bangladeshis join Dhaka anti-Innocence protest," from AGI, September 21 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

(AGI) - Dhaka, 21 Sep - Anti-Innocence movie protests usher in today's Friday prayers in 90pc Muslim Bangladesh. Some ten thousand demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Dhaka in protest at the US release of the Innocence of Muslims and at the publication of satirical cartoons by French weekly Charlie Hebdo. Demonstrators also gathered in front of the Bangladeshi capital's biggest mosque, the Baitul Mokarram, burning effigies of US president Barack Obama as well as French flags. Security has been heightened in the lead-up to Friday prayers.