Here yet again we see dhimmi authorities responding to Islamic supremacist demands by effectively imposing Sharia restrictions upon non-Muslims. An update on this story. “Ohio’s response to Muslim lawsuit over prison meal preparation riles state pork industry,” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins for the Associated Press, October 5 (thanks to Twostellas):
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) “” A decision by Ohio officials to remove all pork products from prison menus in response to a lawsuit by Muslim inmates is not sitting well with the state’s pork producers and processors.
Both promise action of their own, including a possible counter lawsuit, to address what they consider an unfair and illogical decision.
“We really think it’s not in the best interest, frankly, of the whole prison system,” said Dick Isler, executive director of the Ohio Pork Producers Council. “It seems like we’re letting a small group make the rules when it really isn’t in the best interest of the rest of prisoners.”
Pork is inexpensive and nutritious and compares well with other lean meats, he said.
Ironically, the inmates’ lawsuit doesn’t involve pork at all; it demands that non-pork meats like beef come from animals slaughtered according to Islamic law. But the prisons system responded by simply removing pork as an option altogether.
Assistant prisons director Steven Huffman has spoken with Isler, but the system isn’t changing its mind, spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said Wednesday.
She said she couldn’t comment on the lawsuit specifically, but said removing pork assures that inmates’ religious practices aren’t jeopardized by pork coming into contact with other food during preparation….
In a federal lawsuit, death row inmate Abdul Awkal complains that the state is restraining his religious freedoms by not providing meals prepared according to Islamic law, known as halal, while at the same time supplying Jewish prisoners with kosher meals.
Awkal, joined by a second inmate not on death row, says the vegetarian and non-pork options aren’t good enough. The inmates say food must be prepared in specific fashion, such as ensuring that an animal is butchered by slitting its throat and draining its blood, to conform to Islamic beliefs.
Prison guidelines for Muslim inmates already provided that meals will be “free of all pork and products containing or derived from pork.”…