Recently in Ireland Category

Even a tenth of the level of hatred, violence, and open sedition that the West tolerates from Muslim spokesmen would never be countenanced from spokesmen from any other group. "Irish Muslim radical says Americans should be grateful more people didn’t die in Boston Convert Khalid Kelly compares 9/11 bombers to Michael Collins," by Patrick Counihan for Irish Central, April 28 (thanks to Padraig):

An Irish Muslim who once threatened to kill Barack Obama has refused to condemn the Boston bombers and claimed they gave Americans ‘a taste of their own medicine’.

Khalid Kelly, a 46-year-old from Dublin, made the controversial remarks in an exclusive interview with the Irish Sun newspaper.

In the course of the interview, he refused to condemn Chechen terror brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the attack which killed three people including an eight-year-old boy.

Nicknamed Taliban Terry, Kelly told the paper that he was not surprised by the attack, the first on US soil since 9/11.

And he told Americans to be glad nobody else had died in the marathon bomb.

Kelly said: “Thousands of Muslims are being killed every day from Syria to Afghanistan.

“A lot of them are being murdered at the hands of the Americans, and they never have a minute’s silence.

“Where are the tears for these people? Three people get killed and they have a big day of remembrance. They should remember the people they are killing.

“This is a war and they should be thankful that it wasn’t more.”

Of course, Obama won't admit that it is a war.

Formerly known as Terence Kelly, the converted Muslim warned of more attacks on American soil.

He said: “Sheikh Osama Bin Laden said that until the last soldier leaves our land, you will never enjoy one day of security. And his words are coming through now.

“They are worried all the time and they should be worried. As long as you are killing people, then you will be killed.

“This is a taste of the same medicine that America is dishing out around the world.”

The report says that Dubliner Kelly converted to Islam while serving a jail sentence in Saudi Arabia for illegally distilling and selling alcohol.

He claims that he trained with tribal warlords with the intention of going to Afghanistan during time in Pakistan.

Irish police arrested Kelly in May 2011 following a newspaper interview when he said al-Qaeda had chosen Ireland as a perfect place to launch an attack on Obama. The paper says he has since denied those claims.

Kelly has insisted that Ireland would not be a legitimate al-Qaeda target.

And he even compared the 9/11 bombers to Irish rebel leader Michael Collins.

He claimed: “Michael Collins was celebrated on the Late Late Show on TV a few years ago as a hero, but 100 years ago he was a terrorist.

“At a later stage, the IRA said it would have a bigger effect on the English if we bombed them at home. And it did.

“They went to London and it was very effective. I think that is what is happening at the moment. You have come to our homeland and are bombing and killing Muslims.

“If people cannot get to the Jihad, what are they going to do? They are going to fight the enemy where they can find them....

Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah: "Slay the polytheists wherever you find them" (Qur'an 9:5).

Ireland, of course, has been in financial trouble, and appears willing to chase after the "next big thing" at the expense of principles to see some income. In all likelihood, Sharia finance will eventually bubble and burst like every other wave of irrational exuberance in the financial sector, and economies that pursued it will be left to deal with the mess left behind. That includes an unpredictable range of potential consequences resulting from having given Sharia a foot in the door. "Ireland may be first EU state to sell Islamic bond," for Elffie Chew for the Irish Examiner, January 20:

IRELAND plans to become the first European nation to sell sovereign sukuk — Islam-approved financial certificates — as its equal tax treatment for Islamic-finance products attracts investors. The Government has agreements with more than 60 countries to avoid double taxation on Islamic transactions, Micheál Smith, the south-east Asia director of IDA Ireland, said.

Islamic finance assets around the world may rise about 16% to €1,240 billion this year, Raj Mohamad, managing director at Five Pillars, a consulting firm based in Singapore, told Bloomberg Television yesterday.

While plans to sell sukuk by Britain, France and Luxembourg have stalled, Mr Smith said Ireland will push ahead with a sale.

"Ireland will be going back to the bond market and a sukuk is an option when conditions are right. We also hope to form more working groups with Muslim countries such as Malaysia to build up a critical mass of expertise as the objective is for Dublin to become a centre of excellence for Islamic finance."

Ireland introduced tax legislation for products that comply with Islam’s ban on interest in 2010, Mr Smith, who is based in Singapore, said.

The Central Bank has a Shariah team overseeing its Islamic funds, which total about €390m under management.

The Irish Stock Exchange listed its first sukuk in 2005 and Ireland is a popular choice for sales because the nation offers a "relatively inexpensive" and timely listing process, he said.

The Government last sold bonds in September 2010, the year it had a deficit that was the highest as a percentage of gross domestic product in the developed world. The Department of Finance estimates the ratio dropped to 10.1% of GDP in 2011 from 31% the previous year.

CIMB Group Holdings, the world’s biggest sukuk arranger, said this week that it got approval to set up the first Shariah-compliant equity funds from Malaysia in Ireland.

Ireland’s bid to become an Islamic finance hub received a boost in October when Goldman Sachs Group got approval from the nation’s central bank to list its $2bn (€1.55bn) sukuk programme. The planned sale has attracted criticism among Islamic scholars, with some saying the proceeds may not be used according to Shariah law.

CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management, based in Kuala Lumpur, chose Ireland for its Islamic equity funds because there’s no double taxation and no withholding tax on interest payments, Jim McCaughan, chief executive of US-based venture partner Principal Global Investors, said on Monday.

An initial investment of $20m (€15.5m) will be put into three funds that will open for subscription next month, he said.

"We expect interest from Europe, Malaysia and more importantly the Persian Gulf and other Muslim countries," Mr McCaughan said. "People are getting wealthier and want to diversify their funds."

Global sales of sukuk, which pay asset returns instead of interest, total €4.7bn this year, compared with €500m in the same period in 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Offerings reached a record $36.3bn last year, surpassing the $31bn raised in 2007.

The difference between the average yield for sukuk and the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, narrowed two basis points to 299 basis points yesterday, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index.

The average yield has climbed nine basis points, or 0.09% point, this year to 4.08%.

Shariah-compliant bonds have dropped 0.1% in 2012, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq index, while debt in developing markets declined 0.2%, JPMorgan Chase & Co’s EMBI Global Composite Index shows.

The Bloomberg Malaysian Sukuk Ex-MYR Index of foreign currency Islamic debt sold by companies in Malaysia rose 0.5% this year to 104.919 yesterday. The gauge increased 5.9% in 2011.

Britain cancelled what would have been the first sukuk sale by a Western government last February, saying the debt didn’t offer value for money. Luxembourg ruled out a plan to sell Islamic bonds in 2011 because the government saw no need to raise additional funding. France has legislation in place to facilitate a sale and has yet to proceed with an issue.

Ireland has a Muslim population of 30,000, according to a Department of Finance document covering the nation’s Islamic industry issued in March 2010. Roman Catholics make up 87% of Ireland’s population.

The Islamic Cultural Centre for Ireland and the Immigrant Council of Ireland have all called for more Shariah-compliant initiatives, the report said.

"There’s been no objection to Islamic products being sold in Ireland," said Mr Smith, who is also a director in charge of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations at the IDA.

The European debt crisis provides an opportunity for Islamic finance to grow given it is rooted in ethics and religion, according to Nik Norzrul Thani, the chairman of Malaysian law firm Zaid Ibrahim & Co.

"What Ireland is doing is a step in the right direction," Nik Norzrul said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.

"Ireland’s ambition to be a Shariah-compliant hub is a recognition that Islamic finance isn’t only for Muslims."

American and Irish misunderstanders of Islam came together over Motoon rage, and plotted murder to defend their religion and prophet. Here again, it is odd how those who consider themselves to be most devout and active in the defense of Islam are those who tend to violence; this is never, ever explained by those who claim that they're misunderstanding the Religion of Peace. "Irish journalist reveals details of Jihad Jane plot: New details of Islamic terrorists in Ireland revealed," by Antoinette Kelly for Irish Central, October 31:

Last year, four men and three women were arrested in Waterford and Cork in relation to an alleged plot to kill Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist who had depicted the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Two of the female converts linked to the plot were from the United States, including Colleen R LaRose, otherwise known as 'Jihad Jane', the pseudonym she used for the internet.

For the first time, an Irish journalist rovided many details that have been missing from the bizarre story. Writing for the Irish Times, Mary Fitzgerald writes that a 14-page indictment obtained by the paper details 55 "overt acts" in relation to the conspiracy.

"The indictment alleges that, from about 2008 to July 2011, Damache and Khalid conspired with LaRose, Paulin-Ramirez and others to provide material support and resources, including logistical support, recruitment services, funds, identification documents and personnel, to a conspiracy to kill overseas," she writes.

She adds that, according to the indictment, "Damache, Khalid and others 'devised and co-ordinated a violent jihad organisation consisting of men and women from Europe and the US divided into a planning team, a research team, an action team, a recruitment team and a finance team; some of whom would travel to south Asia for explosives training and return to Europe to wage violent jihad.'

"The indictment alleges that Damache, Khalid, LaRose and others recruited men online to “wage violent jihad” in south Asia and Europe. In addition, Damache, Khalid, LaRose and others allegedly recruited women who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of such activity.

The indictment further alleges that LaRose, Paulin-Ramirez and others travelled to and around Europe to “participate in and support violent jihad”, and that Khalid and LaRose and others solicited funds online for terrorists."...

"Top Muslim clerics" will be there as well. One would think that "top Muslim clerics" would shun this hateful inciter of mass murder if what the governments of the West, law enforcement and the mainstream media tell us about Islam were true. But once again, no.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been praised by Saudi-funded dhimmi pseudo-academic John Esposito as a champion of a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights.” But numerous statements of Qaradawi demonstrate that he anything but a “reformist” or a genuine champion of “democracy, pluralism and human rights” – and is, in fact, positively Hitlerian in his Jew-hatred and bloodlust.

During the uprising against the Mubarak regime, a Muslim website published a chapter from Qaradawi’s book Laws of Jihad, including this passage: “One of the forms of jihad in Islam is jihad against evil and corruption within [the Islamic lands]. This jihad is crucial in order to protect society from collapse, disintegration, and perdition — for Muslim society has unique characteristics, and if these are lost, forgotten or destroyed, there will be no Muslim society.”

Qaradawi also enjoys a reputation as a moderate beyond just Esposito: the former Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is himself widely assumed to be a “moderate” despite evidence to the contrary, has hailed Qaradawi as a “very very well known Islamic jurist, highly regarded all over the Muslim world.” And another Muslim leader whose moderate bona fides have been questioned, the vaunted “Muslim Martin Luther” Tariq Ramadan, wrote a foreword to one of his books in 1998, and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone welcomed him to the city in 2004 and praised him repeatedly, despite the fact that during that visit Qaradawi explained to the BBC that suicide attacks against Israelis were not actually suicide at all, but “martyrdom in the name of God.” (Qaradawi has since been banned from Britain, as well as from the U.S.)

And the things that Qaradawi tells the millions of Muslims that he reaches are anything but moderate. In January 2009, during a Friday sermon broadcast on Al-Jazeera, he prayed that Allah would kill all the Jews: “Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.” He also declared: “Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler.”

Why is such a man being allowed into Ireland?

"Controversial Muslim leader to hold conference in Ireland," by Cormac O’Keeffe for the Irish Examiner, June 29 (thanks to Twostellas):

A CONTROVERSIAL and highly influential Muslim religious leader, banned from Britain and US, is holding a five-day conference in Ireland with top Muslim clerics from here and abroad.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the head of the European Council for Fatwah and Research (ECFR), which is based in Dublin at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI)....

Speaking at an international conference on extremism and terrorism in Dublin, Usama Hasan, an Imam and lecturer in Britain, said Sheikh al-Qaradawi was "massively influential and probably the number one scholar in the Arab world".

That is an extraordinarily important statement, given the prevailing assumption in the West that jihadists and Islamic supremacists are only a Tiny Minority of Extremists™.

He said that the annual session of the ECFR was being covered by Arab press as it was a "very influential body".

He said Sheikh al-Qaradawi was a "very complex" character and described him as a "fundamentalist, but a progressive fundamentalist".

Mr Hasan, who is a senior lecturer in Middlesex University and a former militant, said Sheikh al-Qaradawi was banned from several countries because of his view on suicide bombings in Israel....

He calls Obama an "enemy of Islam," which indicates that he hasn't been paying very close attention. "Irish Muslim arrested in Dublin over Obama threats," by Shawn Pogatchnik for AP, May 12 (thanks to Block Ness):

DUBLIN (AP) - Police arrested Ireland's most notorious Muslim convert Thursday over his reported death threats against President Barack Obama.

Police said Khalid Kelly, a 44-year-old dubbed "Taliban Terry" by Dubliners, was arrested at his Dublin residence on suspicion of threatening to kill the U.S. leader. He could be held for up to three days before being charged or released....

Kelly was quoted as telling the newspaper that he expected al-Qaida to kill Obama during his visit to Ireland in part because the country's police force is poorly armed. The article said Kelly would like to kill Obama himself but was too well-known to police here.

"Personally I would feel happy if Obama was killed. How could I not feel happy when a big enemy of Islam is gone?" Kelly was quoted as saying....

Kelly, a former Catholic altar boy from inner-city Dublin, converted to Islam while imprisoned in Saudi Arabia in 2000 for selling illegal alcohol.

He since has praised al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden on Irish TV, trained with the Taliban in northwest Pakistan and married a Pakistani woman, and has named one of their two sons Osama....

Upon his return to Dublin he declared his interest in founding an al-Qaida support group called Islam for Ireland, an idea denounced by the city's Muslim community leaders.

Kelly says he seeks the imposition of strict Sharia law in Ireland, with public beheadings of drug dealers on Dublin's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street.

When is the Embassy seminar on Jewish entrepreneurs and business in Ireland? When is the Embassy seminar on Christian entrepreneurs and business in Ireland? When is the Embassy seminar on Hindu entrepreneurs and business in Ireland? When is the Embassy seminar on Buddhist entrepreneurs and business in Ireland?

There would seem to be a Constitutional issue involved here -- isn't the U.S. Government involving itself in promoting a religion via such a seminar? And what a surprise that that religion would turn out to be Islam. "U.S. Embassy sponsors Irish Muslim business conference: Imam calls for Sharia Law in all business dealings," by Patrick Cooper for IrishCentral.com, October 7 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

The U.S. Embassy in Dublin has sponsored a seminar on Muslim entrepreneurs and business in Ireland. A main point of the conference was the need for Sharia law compliant financial products to be used.

The U.S. Embassy supported the conference as part of President Obama's outreach to Muslims around the world.

Ambassador Dan Rooney congratulated the organizers on Wednesday and said that the U.S was "solid partners" in the venture. He gave a copy of President Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope " to Imam Hussein Halawa, of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, who opened the event.

At the conference, Thomas Cooney, academic director of the Dublin Institute of Technology, stated that 76 per cent of Muslim business people in Ireland say securing finance is their biggest problem and 90 per cent said there is a need for financial products to be compliant with Islamic law.

There are 45,000 Muslims in Ireland and Islam is the third largest religion reported on census forms.

Imam Hussein Halawa said the Muslim culture was deeply dependent on ethics in business and that the paying or charging of interest on loans was forbidden.

"The Islamic objective is to avoid all transactions leading to disharmony among people," he said....

The dhimmis will experience plenty of harmony as long as they submit.

"It's really shocking to us. Islam means peace. Can you make peace with terrorism?"

No, Islam means submission. Can you make peace with dissembling and half-truths? And are you trying to convince jihadists that their version of Islam is wrong, or is your ire reserved for non-Muslims who dare to notice that Muslims are plotting blood and death against the Infidels in the name of Islam?

"Rev. John B. Rochford, a Baptist minister and administrator of the South East Refugee Information Center, compared the situation to the plight of the Irish decades ago, when they were frequently suspected of terrorism."

Yes, and some Irishmen were terrorists. Thus non-terrorist Irish should have understood the suspicion and cooperated fully with law enforcement efforts -- particularly if they really opposed the terrorism, no?

"U.S. Woman Released in Terror Case," by Neil Shah, Vanessa O'Connell and Evan Perez in the Wall Street Journal, March 15:

Irish police released without charge an American woman who was among seven people arrested last week in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old Colorado mother and recent convert to Islam who was among those detained, is no longer in the custody of the Irish police, said a person familiar with the matter. Both Irish and U.S. authorities declined to provide further details. [...]

Others worry about the impact of the arrests. Rev. John B. Rochford, a Baptist minister and administrator of the South East Refugee Information Center, compared the situation to the plight of the Irish decades ago, when they were frequently suspected of terrorism.

Some residents also said they were upset about the media's portrayal of the Islamic religion in recent coverage of the terror-related arrests.

Sheikh Ahmed, 45, a law student at the Waterford Institute of Technology, said some coverage in the tabloids--including images of Osama bin Laden--hurts the Muslim community by stirring up tensions.

"It's really shocking to us," he said. "Islam means peace. Can you make peace with terrorism?"

Jihad Watch News Editor Patrick Devenny exposes CIA training of Palestinian Arab jihad terrorists in FrontPage:

Last month, NBC News correspondent Lisa Myers tracked down one Jihad Jaara, a veteran Palestinian militant who currently resides in Ireland. Jaara’s career as a terrorist has been a remarkably effective one. As a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – a violent militia tied to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party – Jaara supervised and planned dozens of assassinations and bombings against a wide-range of American and Israeli targets. One of the more reprehensible actions authorized by Jaara was the kidnapping of Avi Boaz, a 72-year-old American architect who was abducted by Al-Aqsa terrorists while he waited at a Palestinian police checkpoint. His bullet-riddled body was found a few hours later, dumped just outside of Bethlehem. Upon being questioned by Myers, Jaara swore that he had renounced such terrorism, a claim that was dismissed by former associates, who identified him as an important interlocutor between Hezbollah and various Palestinian terrorist groups.

What distinguishes Jaara from many of his fellow Palestinian terrorist leaders is that he plied his bloody trade while simultaneously serving as an officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, a body assigned with combating militants. His official status gave Jaara the ability to travel freely throughout the territories, enabling him to plan his attacks while enjoying the protection afforded to Palestinian officials by the Israelis. While his position gave him some advantages, Jaara was unhesitant when asked what single factor had most contributed to his transformation into a successful terrorist: small-arms training supervised by officers of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The fact that the CIA trained a man such as Jihad Jaara is hardly surprising. For almost ten years, the American government has been engaged in a series of hopelessly misguided endeavors designed to train and fund the Palestinian security services, an initiative which can be deemed, politely, as a dismal failure. Tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars have simply disappeared into the covert bank accounts of corrupt Palestinian officials, while CIA-trainers recklessly lent their considerable combat expertise to fanatics such as Jaara.

Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern wants to send a signal to "Islam and moderate countries" that the EU is not just a "Christian club." Because, horror of horrors, the worst thing one could possibly do is form a Christian club, or even one dedicated in a broader sense to Western civilization and values. Islamic clubs -- the Arab League, the OIC -- those are OK. But a Christian club? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe?

"Ahern Welcomes Turkey," from Irish Abroad, with thanks to Jihad Watch News Editor Eric Schwappach:

Foreign Minister, Dermot Ahern has welcomed the deal reached in Luxembourg this week which will see the start of negotiations with Turkey to allow the predominantly Muslim country to join the European Union.

The negotiations, which will take at least 10 years to conclude, could see Turkey with its population of 70 million people becoming the largest state in the EU.

But there has been widespread skepticism about the move, and it was only after 30 hours of intense negotiations that foreign ministers finally overcome objections to start the negotiation process.

Ahern said he welcomed the deal to start talks with Turkey.

“Turkey is a bridge between the Middle East and Europe,” he said.

“This will send a strong signal to Islam and moderate countries and people (that) the EU is not just a Christian club.”

Why?

"Proud terrorist walking free: A Palestinian terrorist— living free in Ireland— continues to plot attacks," from Lisa Myers at Dateline NBC, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:

DUBLIN, Ireland - It was in Bethlehem in January 2002 that militants controlled the biblical city. Avi Boaz, a 72-year-old American architect fluent in Arabic, is driving through the town where he’s worked for more than three decades. He’s stopped by armed men demanding to see identification. After examining his U.S. Passport, they shout “Jew” in Arabic, raise their weapons, then hijack his car.

According to western intelligence and law enforcement sources, the militants then drive Boaz to an abandoned soccer field, put him back behind the wheel, and open fire, killing him instantly.

It was a calculated and cold-blooded attack. And U.S. and Israeli officials say they’ve identified the alleged mastermind. But, today, that individual is not behind bars. He’s walking the streets a free man.

Lisa Myers, correspondent: How much freedom do you have here in Ireland?

Jihad Ja'ara: 100 percent.

Myers: 100 percent freedom?

Ja'ara: Yeah.

Jihad Ja’ara is a legendary Palestinian terrorist. For years, he’s led a double life. As an officer in the Palestinian equivalent of the FBI, Ja’ara was responsible for preventing terrorist attacks. Yet, at the same time, he was committing acts of violence. In 2002, he was a top operative for a terrorist group known as the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has killed hundreds of Israelis and at least five Americans.

Myers: How many people did you kill or did you order killed?

Ja'ara: It’s not important for me how many I kill, one or ten or 100.

Myers: Do you still consider yourself a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade?

Ja'ara: Yes, and I’m proud.

And he's unrepentent.

Myers: Did you engage in bombings?

Ja'ara: We do everything. What we can do.

Myers: So, we should assume that you engaged in bombings.

Ja'ara: I not tell you exactly. But I was a freedom fighter.

Read it all.

Leprechaun jihad from the Belfast Telegraph, with thanks to Ruth King:

Anjem Choudary, who has close links to the infamous hate preacher, Omar Bakri Mohammed, said the use of Shannon Airport as a stop-off for US warplanes justifies Ireland being attacked.

The solicitor (38) said: "If your government wants to support the atrocities in Afghanistan they can expect some repercussions," and added that Ireland had "opened itself" to attacks from radical Muslims linked to al-Qa'ida.

Sounds like a threat to me.

Choudary even said that terrorists have the right to kill indiscriminately since American bombers did not pick and choose military targets in Iraq.

CONDEMNING

He said he was "not in the business" of condemning terrorist attacks in Britain and Ireland and added: "What you need to do is you need to be responsible and you need to look after your national security.

"If people slipped into Ireland from Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, where the Irish are standing side by side with the butcher of Baghdad, George Bush, then they would have a legitimacy for that type of thing.

"That's not my personal opinion but your asking me what it says in the Koran."

Choudary believes that Ireland has risked being targeted by opening up Shannon to planes transporting US troops to Iraq.

"Obviously if Ireland is allowing their land to be used for planes to fly and to bomb Muslims, then those Muslims will obviously have a right to retaliate, it goes without saying."

He also criticises Irish Muslims, saying they've been "stripped of their Islamic personality through secular education. On the one hand they're not willing to speak up and on the other hand they're intimidated into being docile."

What happened to their commitment to multiculturalism? How can they pass such a racist law?

(Folks, don't get excited. That's an example of what you Americans call "sarcasm.")

From The Telegraph, with thanks to Twostellas:

The Irish government confirmed yesterday that it has ordered all men from Islamic countries seeking residency to sign a sworn affidavit rejecting polygamy.

Muslim men also have to agree they will not seek residency for a second wife if granted Irish citizenship. A man must swear he has "one spouse only" and "has no intention of entering into a simultaneous marriage".

A spokesman for the Department of Justice in Dublin said: "Obviously, we don't recognise polygamy under Irish law."

The Irish Council of Civil Liberties said the enforcement was "despicable".

Did you catch that? The Irish Council of Civil Liberties. Will the ACLU start plumping for polygamy soon? Where will the human rights groups come down on this issue? And it would seem that feminists would have something to say about treating women as commodities. We'll see, I'm sure.

CORRECTION: We already have seen. The ACLU already supports polygamists in the USA. Thanks to GL for the link.

This Observer story on the Al-Qaeda suspect in Belfast reveals that jihadists may be entering Britain through Northern Ireland. .

Jaybe Ofrasio, who has been charged with raising money for Jemaa Islamiya, stands accused of being a senior lieutenant in the al-Qaeda-linked terror group. He and his family have denied they have any connections to the Islamist movement. . . .

The presence of an alleged Islamist terror activist in Northern Ireland has raised fears among the security services on both sides of the Irish border that the island is becoming a convenient 'back door' to the UK.

In Dublin, the Garda Siochana have kept several Islamic radicals under surveillance. A number of Algerian men have been questioned in connection with an investigation into al-Qaeda's financing throughout Western Europe. In October 2002 two Libyans and one Algerian were arrested on charges of fundraising and providing fake passports to al-Qaeda.

Ofrasio was arrested at his house in Hawthorn Street, West Belfast, last Friday. He has been living there since moving from Mindanao in the southern Philippines last July.

This from Gulf Daily News, with thanks to Nicolei:

BELFAST: A Filipino man was arraigned yesterday on charges of aiding Southeast Asian terrorists linked to Al Qaeda. Jaybe Ofrasio, 31, offered no plea in Belfast Crown Court to two counts of making funds and property available over the Internet to a Southeast Asian terrorist group "knowing they would be used for terrorist purposes" sometime between January 1 and October 19, 2003.

Detective Inspector Mark Brown testified that the charges concerned support for Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group that seeks to create an Islamic state encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

The US and Australia have accused the group of forging ties with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network and conducting several bombings in Indonesia.

Brown said police had seized telephone and financial records as part of their investigation, which focused on an e-mail sent from Malaysia.

"We conducted a number of searches in Belfast and a number of searches in the Philippines," Brown said. . . .

The couple are originally from Cotabato, in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, where the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front operates.