Recently in Spain Category

I just received this message from Imran Firasat:

Hi friends. As you all know that a few months ago my refugee status was revoked by the Spanish government over producing a movie on Islam´s prophet Muhammad´s life.

After that I was also accused of hate crime (hurting religious sentiments of Muslims) and was being prosecuted. There was a huge pressure on me to leave Spain or to be prepared for deportation or detention. But I decided to stay here and fight for my right to freedom of expression.

The appeal I have lodged against the decision of the ministry to revoke my refugee status is still in the process in the Spanish high court. But today I have got great news which is a landmark victory for the freedom of expression in Spain and in Europe.

The public prosecutor and the acting judge have acquitted me of the hate crime. They have said that there are no indications of having committed a crime. They said that after having a look at my declaration and all the documentation, they have found that I always had informed the government about my actions on Islam and that I never had any wrong intention to hurt someone´s feelings or threat the national security of Spain.

Friends, do you know what does this mean? This means that our western politicians can be afraid of Islamism and ignore the rights of a western citizen in order to appease radical Islam but the justice never favors anyone and always goes with the truth. I am happy that my country´s judicial system has respected my right of freedom of expression. I am thankful to the Spanish judges for giving me justice and leaving a great message that the justice can never be oppressed by the politicians, radical Islamic organizations or by the Islamic violence.

I hope that I will also recover my refugee status soon as I have been acquitted by the Spanish court of the hate crime. If by expressing my opinion, I haven´t committed any crime according to the Spanish law, then why should my refugee status be revoked.

Thanks to those who have opposed me and a very special thanks to those who have helped and supported me during the hard moments of my life. I specially want to appreciate the help which I got from “The Legal Project”, “Discourse Institute UK”, “Mr. M.A.Khan” and many other individuals and organizations. A very special thanks to Dr. Daniel Pipes for his love, care and attention towards me.

But I think I still should not be too happy as I still have to fight to get back my refugee status. I still have to set an example in Spain and in Europe that in the western democracies anything can be criticized including Islam as Islam is not an exception and that we are not going to shut our mouths because of the fear of unnecessarily Islamic violence.

I request all of you to please sign the following petition to the Minister of interior of Spain, asking him to reinstate my refugee status.

Ministro del Interior del Gobierno de España, Jorge Fernández Díaz: Mantenga la condición de refugiado del ciudadano Imran Firasat
http://www.change.org/es/peticiones/ministro-del-interior-del-gobierno-de-espa%C3%B1a-jorge-fern%C3%A1ndez-d%C3%ADaz-mantenga-la-condici%C3%B3n-de-refugiado-del-ciudadano-imran-firasat

Thank you very much
Yours sincerely
Imran Firasat

The fact that what he is saying is true is no defense. Here is a message from Imran Firasat, who is to be prosecuted in Spain for speaking the truth about Muhammad´s life:

“Prosecuted or Persecuted?”

Dear friends,

While I am writing this letter today, I don’t know how to describe my feelings. I do not know if I am sad, afraid, surprised, shocked or confused.

As you all know that because of producing a movie, “The Innocent Prophet”, on what I thought was the reality of Prophet Muhammad’s life, I was deemed a threat to the national security of Spain. As a result, the Spanish government revoked my refugee status, and currently I am on the risk of being deported to an Islamic country, where I will definitely be killed for blaspheming Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

Thanks to the Legal Project, Middle East Forum, Discourse Institute UK, and many other individuals, who supported me, I have appealed to the Spanish High Court against the Spanish Ministry of Interior’s decision to revoke my refugee status, and expect to get the justice from one of the most transparent and political-influence-free judicial system in the world.

But revoking my status and leaving me in a legal limbo, it seems, was not enough for the Spanish government. So, they have decided to prosecute me further for speaking out against the sexual tainted and violent warrior life of Prophet Muhammad.

Yesterday, I received a shocking news that the Madrid´s court nº 50 has formally accused me of inciting or provoking hatred and violence according to Article 510 of Spanish Penal Code, and have decided to prosecute me for the crime of criticizing Islam and hurting the feelings of Muslims living in Spain. This is the same judge, who had asked me to present myself in the court before him four months ago in a highly confidential declaration and interrogation, which was recorded, but neither me nor my lawyer was given a copy of that declaration, as it was done in secret by the orders of higher authorities. At that time, after hearing my version, the judge decided to not charge me with anything. I was only ordered to remove my YouTube account, which I did. But now the same judge has decided to accuse me and the case has been forwarded to the Public Prosecutor, so that there can be the formal charges against me and prosecution may proceed.

The funniest part of this, as has been revealed to me, is the fact that a Madrid-based Islamic organization is behind all this. A man named Helal Jamal Abboshi Khaledi, who is the General Secretary of “Union de Comunidades Islamicas en España” (Union of Islamic Communities in Spain), lodged complaints against my website, my movie and my activities concerning Islam. It is actually the complaint of this Islamic organization that has brought all these troubles for me.

It may be pointed out that for past 8 years, I have given more than a hundred interviews in the Spanish media, criticizing Islam because of its violent ideology and discriminatory social system, I have written a biography on Prophet Muhammad’s life in Spanish, I have made several cartoons of Muhammad, I have formally petitioned the Spanish government for banning the Quran, which the Spanish parliament even admitted for consideration. And despite of all these, I was never prosecuted nor asked to stop doing the same. Even if it is about the movie “The Innocent Prophet”, I formally informed all important institutions of the government about my plan prior to its production. And I never received a response to my letters, presumably because they had not found anything in the project that would violate the law. They were fully aware that what I was doing was within my right to freedom of expression.

But after this Islamic organization complained about my opinions on Islam, the entire government jumped on its feet. This shows how powerful or menacing Muslims have become in Spain and in the wider western world. Just a complaint from them against someone seems to spur major government departments of western countries into action. Those ministers, who were previously busy with their fiestas and never cared about my movie or opinions on Islam, suddenly jumped into action for prosecuting me, despite the fact that I have done everything within my right to freedom of expression without breaking any Spanish law. They are ready to abuse their power to influence the judicial system against me just to make Muslims happy.

Friends, governments in western countries do not care about our right of freedom of expression anymore, when comes to Islam. For appeasing Muslims, they seem prepared to do anything at whatever sacrifice of our western values and human rights.

After it was revealed that the complaint of this Islamic organization has spurred the Spanish authorities to get on its toes for prosecuting me, I have arrived at the conclusion that the government is trying to attack on me from every angle they can for the following possible reasons:

To ensure the revoking of my residency status and deporting me from Spain, so that no one in this country dare to criticize Islam. This way the government will be able to keep Muslims happy, who want to convert Spain into Al Andalus of the Middle Ages.

If their plan to deport me fails, they will at least be able to detain me under the pretext of Article 510 of the Spanish Penal Code. This way they will be able to keep my mouth shut, at least for a few years, from speaking about the truth on Muhammad and Islam.

To put maximum pressure on me so that I leave this country voluntarily.

The latest legal notice issued against me by the Madrid court says in clear words that I am accused of threatening to burn the Quran on my website, and of producing a movie on Prophet Muhammad’s life, which has caused great discomfort to the Muslim community of Spain. The point to be noted here is that my movie may have caused discomfort to Muslims, but the judge certainly didn’t try to investigate whether or not my claims on Muhammad were true. He doesn’t care about my constitutionally preserved right to freedom of expression, a principal value of western societies. All that the judge seems to care is to make Muslims happy and comfortable.

On the other hand, the first complaint lodged by Mr. Khaledi on behalf of Islamic organization on 27 November 2012 says: A Pakistani (Me) is doing propaganda against Islam and its prophet. Muslims have objection on the content of my website and that my activities against Islam and Quran can bring a violent reaction by Muslims in Spain. He is trying to calm Muslim anger which is already boiling up and that reaction can be a very dangerous one.

The second complaint lodged on 29th of December 2012 says that: my plans of releasing the movie on Islam’s prophet which shows Prophet Muhammad as womanizer, homosexual and child abuser which is completely false, defamatory and very offensive for the believers of Islam. He said that my movie plan is provoking the Muslim community which can result in a violent reaction.

Through these complaints, Mr. Khaledi clearly threatened the Spanish authorities of an upcoming violence by Muslims. And the Spanish authorities got duly intimidated and took all the actions what he wanted.

Right now, I am facing double persecution. On one hand, my refugee status has been revoked and my residence card has been seized, which has put me in a dubious legal situation. On the other hand, they want to prosecute me for causing discomfort to Muslims, which may result in my detention for criticizing Islam, despite it is within my right to freedom of expression.

The Spanish government has just not revoked my status or wants to prosecute me, they are also doing a sting operation on me. My phone calls are being tapped; I am being spied upon and photographs are taken of every place I go. All these show how determined they are to come hard on me in order to appease Muslims. This is a treatment a hardcore terrorist is supposed to get. I am being treated like a terrorist, just because of speaking against terrorism. My only fault is that I have dared to speak the truth that the Quran spreads Jihad, terrorism, discrimination and hatred. My crime is that I have put Muhammad’s life in true light—that he initiated many aggressive wars, killed innocent people, married several women, and yes, he was a child molester because he married a six-year-old girl. All these are truths, I will stay firm on my opinion on Islam and Muhammad, come what may.

However hard the Spanish government comes at me, I will not deter from telling that you may submit to Islam for any reason you want, but I will never get intimidated by Islam or its cunning conspiracies. I will fight hard against whatever prosecution the Spanish government brings against me in order to prove that I haven’t committed any crime by speaking the truth about Islam and its war-mongering and sexually deviant prophet.

Most of all, I will stand my ground on defending my freedom of expression and western values, which must not be sacrificed in the face of threats of violence from Muslims. Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely
Imran Firasat (Spain)
www.mundosinislam.com

Don't they realize that jihad is really just all about getting the kids to school? Ahmed Rehab, call your office!

"3 suspected Islamist terrorists arrested in France," by Al Goodman and Paul Cruickshank for CNN, March 1 (thanks to Suneil):

Madrid (CNN) -- Three Chechens suspected of Islamist terrorist activity were arrested in France this week in a joint French-Spanish operation, Spain's Interior Ministry said Friday.

The arrests Tuesday were a follow-up to raids last August in southern Spain when police broke up a suspected three-man terrorist cell that planned attacks in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, the ministry statement said.

The August 2012 raids, in the town of Linea de la Concepcion, on the Spanish border with the British colony Gibraltar, turned up evidence that the suspected terror cell had links in France and other European countries, the ministry said.

That eventually led to the arrests Tuesday. The suspects were identified as Ali Dokaev, arrested in Noyon, 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of Paris; Elsy Issakov, arrested in Les Lilas on the east side of Paris; and Mourad Idrissov, arrested in Genevieve des Bois, on the south side of Paris, the ministry said.

The alleged ringleader of the group charged with terrorist offenses in Spain, Eldar Magomedov, is from the Russian republic of Dagestan. Western intelligence services had located him in France along with a Chechen associate in the first half of 2012, according to Fernando Reinares, a senior terrorism analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid.

Magomedov, a former Russian special forces commando, had attended training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Reinares said, citing intelligence passed to Spain by other intelligence services. Between 2008 and 2011, he had operated in Dagestan and the Pakistani tribal territories of North and South Waziristan, transiting between them, Reinares said.

Western intelligence had established that Magomedov had ties to both al Qaeda and the Islamic Jihad Union, an Uzbek group affiliated to al Qaeda that in 2007 orchestrated a plot to kill U.S. soldiers in Germany, Reinares told CNN.

French security services tipped off their Spanish counterparts about the probable arrival of Magomedov and the Chechen associate, Muhammad Adamov, in May, according to Reinares. The French had been tracking the duo and monitoring their phone calls. At one point, they intercepted a phone call in which the two men described Spain as a "more easy country to get explosives," the analyst said.

While on French soil, Magomedov established a connection with individuals of North Caucasus origin who were under police surveillance for their involvement in a network of suspected Chechen jihadists, Reinares told CNN. He said the arrests in France this week were likely to be related to the connections Magomedov made while in France.

Magomedov and Adamov were arrested by Spanish police in August on a bus traveling toward France. Both deny the charges against them and await trial....

The Navarran artist Abel Azcona, international exponent of performance art, is receiving threats because of his work "Eating a Koran", in which he eats pages from the book sacred to Muslims.

The piece forms part of an invetigation [sic] project initiated during a residency on the topic of religious fundamentalism and the need to "nourish ourselves with fiction, lies and fear". Specifically, this project consists of an installation, a performance and a video work, in which the artist eats a copy of the Koran over eight hours as a critique of religious radicalism. "I believe in freedom of expression, provocation and artistic freedom, and I will certainly continue doing so today, tomorrow and always," comments Abel Azcona, who has been threated by anonymous letters, emails and SMS.

"I believe in art as a critical tool and to create debate about the politics of identity", adds the Navarran artist, who has received criticism ever since he started in performance art, "but they will never change my way of thinking and working; what's more, the threats clarify my path, and I know that I am in the right." For that reason he will go on using art "as a critical weapon for whoever wants to feel it and listen to it." Source: Deia.com H/T: Maria José

No information on the arrestees, so we don't know if they are true believers hoping to hasten the return of the Imam Mahdi, or kuffar hoping to make a buck off the jihad. "Spain Arrests 2 Over Suspected Iran Nuclear Export," by Harold Heckle for the Associated Press, January 11 (thanks to Lookmann):

Spanish police have arrested two people and seized equipment made by a Spanish company that was to be illegally shipped to Iran for use in its nuclear program, officials said Friday.

Police officers stopped a tractor trailer at a highway toll booth in the northern town of Durango on Wednesday and after an inspection arrested the two people and seized the cargo, an Interior Ministry statement said. It said the police "dismantled a ring trafficking material for the development of the Iranian nuclear program."

The seized objects included 44 valves made of an alloy "containing more than 25 percent nickel and 20 percent chromium by weight, which ... makes them particularly suitable for use in the nuclear industry," the ministry said. It said police also confiscated mounting accessories, export documents to Iran, bank statements and computer information....

Islamic theology holds that whenever a land belongs to the House of Islam at any time, it belongs by right to the house of Islam forever. "And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter." -- Qur'an 2:191

"Egyptians Protest the Fall of Islamic Andalusia and Vow to Liberate It," from MEMRI, January 2 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Following are excerpts from a video clip of a demonstration in Egypt held to mark the fall of the Muslim rule in Andalusia, posted on the Internet on January 2, 2013.

Footage of demonstrators holding signs in Arabic and Spanish:

Sign: “We have not forgotten Andalusia. We will definitely return.”

Sign: “The conquest of countries will not be erased by oblivion.”

Demonstrator: As we speak, in Islamic Andalusia, in Spain, they are marching to celebrate the fall of the Islamic state of Andalusia, or Spain. While they are celebrating, we here are upset, because the Muslims used to rule in those European countries.

Over there, they are celebrating the fact that they killed Muslims and drove out the Muslims rulers, who ruled them with justice.

[...]

Demonstrator: This is a good opportunity to remind people of the history of their Islamic nation, because a nation that forgets its history is, I’m sad to say, doomed to failure.

Demonstrator: My name is Muhammad Gamal.

Reporter: Muhammad, why are you demonstrating?

b>Demonstrator: At this very moment, there are celebrations in Spain, to mark the expulsion of the Muslims from Andalusia. We are here to respond to them, and say that Allah willing, we will return to Andalusia. We are here to remind people of this day of commemoration.

[...]

Demonstrator: We are trying to remind people of the history of Andalusia. It was toppled over 500 years ago by the Spaniards, who are occupying it to this day. We want to remind people that no matter how long the Spanish occupation of Andalusia continues, the day will come, Allah willing, when we liberate it and Islam will return.

It's "inflammatory" to ask whether Muhammad "was a child molester and a murderer" -- inflammatory enough to get you deported from Spain. Does that mean Spain will ban Sahih Bukhari, the hadith collection that Muslims consider most reliable?

Child molester: "The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)." (Bukhari 7.62.88)

Murderer: Regarding the poet Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf, who had mocked him in his verses, Muhammad asked: "Who is willing to kill Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?" One of the Muslims, Muhammad bin Maslama answered, "O Allah's Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?" When Muhammad said that he would, Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Kab)." Muhammad responded: "You may say it." Muhammad bin Maslama duly lied to Ka'b, luring him into his trap, and murdered him. (Bukhari 5.59.369)

Free Speech Death Watch Alert from Eurabia: "Spain revokes asylum status of anti-Islam filmmaker," from El Pais, December 27 (thanks to Twostellas):

The Interior Ministry has decided to revoke the asylum status of Imran Firasat, a Pakistani national living in Spain since 2010 who on December 14 announced his intention to release a video in which, among other things, he asks whether Mohammed "was a child molester and a murderer."

Spanish authorities contacted those in the USA to alert them over Firasat's association with Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who excited the rage of the Islamic world when he laid out his plans to burn copies of the Koran and circulate a video of the event.

A Madrid court banned the release of Firasat's inflammatory work and elected to rescind his asylum status on grounds of a threat to the security of the state. Firasat can appeal the decision but if it is upheld by the judge, he will have to leave the country. The governments of Belgium, France and the US had expressed their concern over the ramifications the release of the video could produce. Belgium raised its security alert level after Firasat announced his intention to upload it to the internet. He had already released a trailer filmed in Madrid's Plaza de Colón with the Spanish flag in full view.

Firasat, who describes himself as an "ex-Muslim," has a weighty police record including an Indonesian warrant for kidnap and murder and has been arrested in Spain for alleged involvement in a robbery. In interviews Firasat has claimed that he is being persecuted for his religious ideology and has said that he has received several death threats. He believes that Islam should be made illegal.

Maybe he really does have that "weighty police record," but if it really includes murder and robbery, why did he have asylum status up to now? Why did it take his making a video about Muhammad to get it revoked?

Now in Spain it appears that Muslims don't even have to riot and kill in order for dhimmi authorities to shut down speech that is critical of Islam. The authorities will shut down such speech in anticipation of violence that might ensue. It is, as Pamela Geller notes, preemptive Sharia enforcement.

"Spain: Imran Firasat Arrested, Charged and Released on Condition he Does not Publish the 'Innocent Prophet' Film," by Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, December 15 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Absolutely astonishing. This is prior restraint. Normally, prosecution for a crime is done "post facto". But when it involves Islam, apparently, you can be arrested before the "crime" is even committed.

A judge in the Plaza de Castilla in Madrid charges a Pakistani refugee, who announced the publication of an anti-Islam film a few weeks ago, with incitement to religious violence. The judge prohibits the publication of the video on the network and makes his liberty condition on the distribution of the video.

The Pakistani and political resident of Spain Imran Firasat appeared this morning in front of the judge in the Court of First Instance number 50 in Plaza Castilla for two hours. The magistrate ordered him to be freed on condition that he does not publish even a single still image from this video which today was shown in the office of the judge and whose publication authority he has again been made responsible for.

According to legal sources, the magistrate maintains the charge against Imran Fisarat for the crime 510 of the Penal Code, a crime that punishes incitation to hatred and violence for racial, ideological or religious reasons. Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior has initiated a process to revoke his asylum status for "threatening national security with the production of this video".

Source: Cadenaser [Thursday 13th]

Imran Firasat assures SER [broadcasting company] that he "doesn't understand the alarm created by his trailer" about Mohammed. "I already notified - he says - the Ministry of the Interior, Exterior, the Ministry of the Presidency and also Moncloa [Moncloa Palace, residence of Spanish Prime Minister]. Nobody said anything to me until Belgium declared a state of alert because of this video which in principle was going to be distributed from Spain." Firasat explains to SER that the video is a sequence of cartoons of Mohammed lasting 70 minutes, cartoons similar to those published by the magazine 'El Jueves'.

When asked about whether he fears that the USA [Not sure why it mentions the USA here. Surely it's not that far gone?] would initiate a judicial process against him which could result in his extradition if, in the end, the video is distributed on the network, Firasat says no, that in any case the problem would be Terry Jones'. The preacher Jones is the person who burned a Koran in one of his sermons, unleashing the anger of the Muslim world. Firasat says he maintains contacts with this preacher and that now he has informed him that he has problems publishing the video.

"I am not going to distribute the video. I have postponed my decision because it has created alarm in Europe But the video is going to be distributed in the next few hours by the preacher Terry Jones".

Source: Cadenaser [Friday 14th]

There is an interview with Imran here:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/414634/20121213/innocent-prophet-muhammad-anti-islam-muslims-firasat.htm

Pre-emptive capitulation to Sharia. Message: please don't bomb us again as you did in Madrid in 2004 -- in other words, terrorism works. "Spanish Government Tries to Remove Refugee Status From Maker of Anti-Islam Film," by Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, December 8 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

I've written a few articles about Imran Firasat, the Pakistani refugee resident in Spain who runs the "World Without Islam" website (click on the tags at the bottom to see them), including one yesterday about the increased terror alert level in Belgium due to the imminent release of his film, The Innocent Prophet.

Now, it seems, the Spanish government has been so panicked by the "Muslim rage" reactions to previous anti-Islam films that they are seeking to distance themselves from Firasat before his film has even been released, even to the extent of examining whether his refugee status can be withdrawn from him.

Firasat has published a trailer of the film in which he appears speaking in the Plaza de Colón in Madrid with the Spanish flag in the background, and in which he asks, among other things, is the prophet of Islam was "a holy man sent by Allah or a rapist of children and a murderer". In the last year he issued a series of caricatures of Mohammed. [The Ministry of] Interior has initiated an inquiry to see if the status of refugee can be withdrawn from him, according to sources within the ministry, although the legal grounds for this decision have not been specified - indicating that an order for search and capture may be issued against him, a point which has not been confirmed.

Source: El País H/T: Maria José

Islam Versus Europe has more.

"Yalcin is also said to have asked his paragliding instructor for aerial photographs of a Gibraltar shopping mall 'whatever the cost'. He said it was for works that his construction firm, for whom he had worked for several years, was about to embark on." But actually it was for his destruction firm.

"Al Qaeda trio arrested in Spain 'wanted to attack busy Gibraltar shopping centre from the air during the Olympics,'" by Lee Moran for the Daily Mail, August 6 (thanks to David):

Three suspected Al Qaeda terrorists arrested in Spain last week could have been planning to launch a devastating attack on a busy Gibraltar shopping centre from the air.

Spanish security services suspect the trio - two Chechen Russians and a Turk - were planning to assault the British colony to the south of Spain from above.

The exact date of the alleged planned attack is unknown - but Spanish media today suggested launching it during the Olympics would have guaranteed maximum publicity for the terror organisation.

And El País newspaper has reported how the Turkish 'facilitator of the cell' Cengiz Yalcin was a keen paraglider and model aeroplane enthusiast and was learning how to fly.

He was also paying for the two Russians of Chechen descent - Eldar Magomedov and Mohamed Ankari Adamov - to learn how to pilot a small plane.

Yalcin is also said to have asked his paragliding instructor for aerial photographs of a Gibraltar shopping mall 'whatever the cost'.

He said it was for works that his construction firm, for whom he had worked for several years, was about to embark on.

And Spanish investigators today also said they had found a video where Yalvin was flying a remote-controlled aeroplane.

At a prepared moment, the plane, one or two metres long, manouevres into a descent and lets a packet drop from inside. On the ground, El País reports, Yalcin is seen celebrating the feat....

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Armed 'al-Qaeda' trio arrested in southern Spain," from the BBC, August 2 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Police in southern Spain have arrested three suspected al-Qaeda members in possession of explosives and poison, Spanish media say.

They say the suspects are a Turk and two men possibly of Chechen origin, and were held in two Spanish towns.

They are thought to have been planning an attack in Spain. It is reported to be the first time such suspects have been found with explosives.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz is expected to give details soon.

Police suspect at least one of those arrested has attended training camps in Pakistan, reports say....

Adopting "infidel behavior": haram. Murdering those who adopt "infidel behavior": peasing to Allah.

"Melilla arrests of alleged jihadist recruiters," from Gibraltar Chronicle, June 28 (thanks to Lachlan):

Spanish police in Melilla arrested two men accused of recruiting youngsters for jihad in foreign countries and of torturing and murdering two others who changed their minds.

The two men are Spanish nationals of Moroccan origin and are said to head a group with international connections.

They are accused of torturing and killing two members of the group whose bodies were found in July 2008 in the Moroccan city of Nador.

“The victims had adopted western or ‘infidel’ behaviour and had decided to separate themselves from the group,” said Spain’s Ministry of the Interior in a statement yesterday.

Rachid Abdellah Mohamed, 25, and Nabil Mohamed Chaib, 30, were arrested by police officers investigating Islamic terror networks.

They are alleged to have recruited young men to train them and send them to fight in Muslim conflict zones....

The authorities in Morocco issued international arrest warrants for Rachid Abdellah Mohamed and Nabil Mohamed Chaib, who have been on the run “in various European countries” since then....

Remember: when in Muslim countries, abide by Islamic laws and mores. And when in non-Muslim countries, abide by Islamic laws and mores. "Catalonia: Muslim Pupils Force Other Pupils to Stop Eating Ham Sandwiches," by Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, June 22 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Four Spanish mothers have written a letter denouncing the goings-on at a school in Tarrasa, Catalonia, where, they say, indigenous pupils are routinely harassed by their Muslim classmates and the school authorities always seem to take the side of the aliens.

According to the letter, the nursery school does not meet the legally-mandated minimum of having at least 20% of the class speaking the native language as their mother tongue! Arabic has become the dominant language in the corridors and playgrounds. The school is now sending out official notices in Arabic and Catalan only, not Spanish. In one class, 83.33% of the pupils speak Arabic. There is even a letter in Arabic posted on one of the school doors, in violation of the law.

The outraged mothers also claim that Muslim pupils prevent their own children eating sandwiches if the sandwiches contain ham or other meat derived from pigs. The offending sandwiches will simply be plucked from their hands and thrown in the bin by the Muslims.

Islamic doctrine teaches that any land once ruled by Muslims belongs by right to Muslims forever. So first Israel goes, then Spain is next. Amin Al-Kurdi is overly optimistic, but he is no original thinker; many other Islamic supremacists have declared their intention to reconquer Spain for Islam once Israel is destroyed.

"Lebanese Cleric Amin Al-Kurdi: The Liberation of Jerusalem and Palestine in Its Entirety Is a Done Deal; Palestinians Are Talking about 'the Liberation of Andalusia,'" from MEMRI, June 3:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese cleric Amin Al-Kurdi, which aired on Al-Quds TV on June 3, 2012.

Interviewer: Some people in our Arab countries do not feel as optimistic as the people in Gaza. Somebody from Gaza told you that Jerusalem has become within reach.

Amin Al-Kurdi: They are now talking about the liberation of Andalusia, because they consider the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and of Jerusalem to be a done deal, Allah willing. They know have their sights set on Andalusia, which the Muslims lost. They are convinced, because of their faith in Allah – and we are with them – that the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a done deal. It will be liberated, and Jerusalem and Palestine in its entirety will be in the possession of the Muslims.

Before dhimmitude (left) and after (right): cross on top of crown removed

Anything for a buck. Islamic law forbids dhimmi Christians to display crosses. "Real Madrid make small but deliberate change to their crest for UAE resort island partnership," by Brooks Peck for Yahoo Sports, March 30 (thanks to David):

In the initial response to the announcement that work would soon begin on a ridiculous $1 billion Real Madrid-themed resort island in the United Arab Emirates, the focus was obviously on talk of brand growth and jokes about Pepe. But now that the plan has progressed and the foundation stone has been laid, Marca has noticed a tiny but interesting change Real Madrid made for this project.

As the Spanish paper points out, the club removed the little cross from the crown atop their logo on the project's promotional materials (you can see the modified crest at the start of this video). Marca describes the change as a means "to avoid any confusion or misinterpretation" in relation to a project being built in a largely Muslim region....

Oh, this creates no confusion at all. What Real Madrid is is obvious. No confusion whatsoever.

Gee. He must not get his religious guidance from the HuffPo tafsir department. "Spanish imam under investigation after calling on Muslims to ‘discipline’ misbehaving wives," from Al Arabiya, March 6:

A Spanish imam near Barcelona is under investigation after allegedly calling on the faithful to “discipline” errant wives using physical and psychological violence, police said on Tuesday.

Living under the threat of physical violence is psychological violence.

The imam in the city of Terrassa is under investigation for “disseminating discriminatory messages and violating the principle of equality and of women’s right to physical and moral integrity,” police said in a statement.

Police have not received the imam’s name.

During Friday prayer services, the imam “called on the faithful to ‘discipline’ the errant behavior of their spouses by acts of physical and psychological violence,” said the police statement.

“He provided concrete examples of the manner in which wives should be beaten, how to isolate them inside the family home and how to deny them sexual relations,” said the police, saying they had received testimony to the effect from numerous witnesses.

Following Qur'an 4:34 to the letter: "admonish them, send them to their beds apart, and scourge them."

Some 1,500 people usually attend Friday sermons by this particular imam in Terrassa, a city of some 200,000 residents in Spain’s northeast, which is home to a large Muslim community.

Muhammad, the supreme example of human conduct according to Qur'an 33:21, didn't like dogs and ordered their killing:

"Once Gabriel promised the Prophet (that he would visit him, but Gabriel did not come) and later on he said, 'We, angels, do not enter a house which contains a picture or a dog.'" -- Sahih Bukhari 4.54.50

"Abdullah (b. Umar) (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) ordered the killing of dogs and we would send (men) in Medina and its corners and we did not spare any dog that we did not kill, so much so that we killed the dog that accompanied the wet she-camel belonging to the people of the desert." -- Sahih Muslim 10.3811

Black dogs ruin your prayers:

"Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of 'Allah (may peace be upon him) said: When any one of you stands for prayer and there is a thing before him equal to the back of the saddle that covers him and in case there is not before him (a thing) equal to the back of the saddle, his prayer would be cut off by (passing of an) ass, woman, and black Dog. I said: O Abu Dharr, what feature is there in a black dog which distinguish it from the red dog and the yellow dog? He said: O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil." - Sahih Muslim 4.1032

And here we are. Also noteworthy in this story is that Catalonia now has self-styled "religious police." "Muslims in Spain Declare Jihad on Dogs," by Soeren Kern for Hudson NY, October 6 (thanks to DC Watson):

Spanish authorities are investigating the recent deaths by poisoning of more than a dozen dogs in Lérida, a city in the northeastern region of Catalonia that has become ground zero in an intensifying debate over the role of Islam in Spain.

Local media reports linked at the original:

All of the dogs were poisoned in September [...] in Lérida's working class neighbourhoods of Cappont and La Bordeta, districts that are heavily populated by Muslim immigrants and where many dogs have been killed in recent years.

Local residents say Muslim immigrants killed the dogs because according to Islamic teaching dogs are "unclean" animals.

Over the past several months, residents taking their dogs for walks have been harassed by Muslim immigrants opposed to seeing the animals in public. Muslims have also launched a number of anti-dog campaigns on Islamic websites and blogs based in Spain.

In response to the "lack of sufficient police to protect the neighbourhood," 50 local residents have established alternating six-person citizen patrols to escort people walking their dogs.

In July, two Islamic groups based in Lérida asked city officials to regulate the presence of dogs in public spaces so they do not "offend Muslims." Muslims are demanding that dogs be banned from all forms of public transportation including all city buses as well as from all areas frequented by Muslim immigrants.

Muslims in Lérida say the presence of dogs violates their religious freedom and their right to live according to Islamic principles.

Dogs are not the only Islam-related controversy in Lérida, where 29,000 Muslims now make up around 20 percent of the city's total population.

In December 2010, Lérida became the first municipality in Spain to ban the burqa head covering in all public spaces. Women found violating the ban will be fined up to €600 ($750). One day before the ban took effect, the Catalonian Supreme Court turned down an appeal from the Watani Association for Freedom and Justice, a local Muslim group, which had argued that the ban constitutes religious discrimination.

In September 2010, Watani president Mourad El-Boudouhi submitted a letter to the Lérida city council in which he asked the mayor to provide him with free land so that he can build a mosque in downtown Lérida. The mosque would be financed by Morocco.

The Moroccan mosque would compete with another mosque project in Lérida that is being financed by Saudi Arabia. The imam at the Saudi mosque is Abdelwahab Houzi, a Salafi jihadist preacher who adheres to the radical Wahhabi sect of Islam.

Salafism is a branch of revivalist Islam that calls for restoring past Muslim glory by forcibly establishing a universal Islamic empire (Caliphate) across the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Europe such as Spain, which Salafists view as a Muslim state that must be re-conquered for Islam.

Much of Spain was ruled by Muslim conquerors from 711 and 1492; Salafists believe that the territories the Muslims lost during the Spanish Reconquista still belong to them, and that they have a right to return and establish their rule there – a belief based on the Islamic precept that territories once occupied by Muslims must forever remain under Muslim domination.

The Salafist Houzi has called on Muslims who are eligible to vote in Spain to support Catalan separatist parties as a means to firmly establish Islamism in Catalonia.

"Muslims should vote for pro-independence parties, as they need our votes. But what they do not know is that, when they allow us to vote, we will all vote for Islamic parties because we do not believe in left and right. This will make us win local councils and as we begin to accumulate power in the Catalan autonomous region, Islam will begin to be implemented," Houzi said.

The Catalan independence movement supports the independence of Catalonia from Spain. Catalan separatism is based on the idea that Catalonia is a nation with its own unique history, culture and language.

Own-goal:

In an effort to promote the Catalan language, Catalonian pro-independence parties have traditionally favored immigration from non-Spanish-speaking countries, especially from Arabic-speaking Muslim countries, in the belief that these people would speak Catalan rather than Spanish.

They might get independence at some point, but at the expense of Catalonia as they knew it.

The end result of this decades-old policy is that Catalonia is now home to a huge concentration of hard-line Islamist groups including Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami and the Salafists.

Salafi preachers in Catalonia do not believe in democracy and teach that Islamic Sharia law is above Spanish civil law. They also promote the establishment of a parallel Muslim society in Spain.

Salafi imams have set up Sharia tribunals in Catalonia to judge the conduct of both practicing and non-practicing Muslims in Spain. They also deploy Islamic "religious police" in Lérida and other Catalan municipalities to monitor and punish Muslims who do not comply....

In August, France's top counter-terror judge opined: "It's been shown that AQIM is only able to strike in its own zone, by wanting to kill tourists — and we have seen nothing emerge as a significant foreign operation in Europe that was really organized by AQIM." But U.S. General Carter Ham and other European authorities disagree, warning of a pan-African jihadist network that will be better equipped and connected to carry out attacks across the Mediterranean as well as on the African continent.

The presence of financiers is a foot in the door. "Police in Spain arrest 5 suspected of financing terrorists," by Al Goodman for CNN, September 27 (thanks to Alexandre):

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- Civil Guards arrested five Algerian men early Tuesday in northern Spain on suspicion of providing logistical and financial support for Islamic terrorist activities, Spain's interior ministry said.

The suspects, aged 36 to 49, allegedly supported "terrorist groups that operate in the Algerian area of the Maghreb, specifically for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," a ministry statement said.

They also had suspected links to Islamic militants in Italy, France and Switzerland.

Some 150 Civil Guards took part in the operation, making nearly simultaneous arrests and conducting searches of homes and premises linked to the suspects in two towns of northern Guipuzcoa province and two others in neighboring Navarra province, the statement said.

Computer hardware and software was seized and will be analyzed. Spain's National Court, which handles cases of terrorism, is supervising the operation, the statement said.

Spanish authorities have said repeatedly in the past few years that the group known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is of key concern, because of its operational base in northern Africa, just across the Mediterranean Sea from Spain and southern Europe.

Last week, Civil Guards arrested a Cuban man on Spain's Mallorca Island in the Mediterranean for allegedly recruiting and indoctrinating others for Islamic terrorist activities.

A judge released the suspect from custody Friday, but he must report daily to police while authorities investigate computer documentation seized when he was detained.

Since the Madrid train bombings of 2004 that killed 191 people and wounded 1,800 others, Spanish police have arrested more than 400 suspected al Qaeda militants or collaborators, the Interior Ministry website says. Most have been of North African or Middle Eastern origin, with a few from Latin America.

The Spanish ambassador said the statements by the foreign minister, Trinidad Jimenez, were "taken out of context." Jimenez had said that "there's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become reality ... We have to give them some signal, because if we don't it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people."

Again, "hope" does not make a governable state, and policy-making geared toward speculation on people's emotions is presumptuous and ultimately a gamble, hoping for hope.

The new Spanish stance is that the country's support depends on the nature of the Palestinian request. They are still unwilling, unlike their former prime minister, to say "no" outright. "Jerusalem rebukes Spanish envoy over PA statement," by Ronen Medzini for YNet News, August 22:

The Foreign Ministry summoned Spain's ambassador to Israel on Monday, following a statement by Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez suggesting that Madrid will support the Palestinian Authority UN bid for statehood in September.

Naor Gilon, head of the Foreign Ministry's European Division, expressed disappointment in Jimenez's statement, saying Madrid's stance was surprising "especially given the excellent bilateral relations between the two nations."

Spanish Ambassador Alvaro Iranzo explained that Foreign Minister Jimenez' statements were taken somewhat out of context, adding that Spain's position on the matter was contingent on both the EU's stance and the phrasing of the Palestinians' request.

Iranzo stressed that Madrid would not be able to support the PA's bid unless it was "phrased in a balanced way and addresses the need the resume negotiations between the parties, and maintain Israel's security. Without these parameters, Spain will not be able to support the request."...

There is also the matter of the PA's reconciliation with Hamas, which makes no secret of its intentions to destroy Israel. The PA cannot commit to "maintain Israel's security" and commit to share governance with Hamas.

Hope doesn't make a governable state. Here again, as with all the blood and treasure squandered on "hearts and minds" in Iraq and Afghanistan (often translating into millions of dollars lost in the wrong hands) we see foreign policy based on wishful thinking and a fixation on other people's "feelings." We have already witnessed the disaster of policy-making that is based at heart on such speculation and the self-congratulating, hubris-laden expectation that the way things "ought" to work out is the way they will work out because the action taken was rooted in good intentions.

The global war on "underlying causes" that we find ourselves in turns a blind eye to the reality that countries and territories are not emotional entities that would straighten up and fly right if they just felt better. It is indeed condescending not to take into account that a given territory's governing entity is as rational, shrewd and calculating as the next one, and has its own agenda to advance.

The PA wants the UN to do its dirty work for it, to be handed a state in an exception to the usual expectations of international law. Speaking of "hope," the PA likely hopes the need to define the new state's borders will set up a UN-mandated land grab on behalf of "Palestine," granting a do-over and reversal of so many lost wars with Israel.

And what the UN gives "Palestine," the PA expects the UN will feel obligated not to allow to fail, even though the entity that would result would be unable to govern itself, and utterly dependent on outside help for material sustenance, and to keep the peace between Palestinian rivals.

"Spain says it supports the Palestinian bid for statehood," from Reuters, August 21:

MADRID - Spain hopes a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Sept. 2 will bring progress towards the recognition of a Palestinian state, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Trinidad Jimenez said on Sunday.

"There's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become reality," she said in an interview with El Pais newspaper published on Sunday.

"We have to give them some signal, because if we don't it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people."

The meeting of EU foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland comes ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting later in September where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to upgrade the Palestinians' status, but is unlikely to emerge with full UN membership for his country.

More likely is an upgrade of the Palestinian territories to become a non-member state from its current status as an observer. That would not need Security Council approval and would elevate the Palestinians' UN status to equal that of the Vatican.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) postponed on Saturday the presentation of findings on the possible repercussions of a Palestinian declaration of statehood at the UN in September.

Mofaz has criticized the government numerous times in recent months, accusing it of being unprepared for the consequences of the expected UN vote.

“If the diplomatic process for September had been significant, most of the army’s preparations would not have been necessary,” he said after IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz briefed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last month.