Pakistan: Temporary burial for Red Mosqueteer Ghazi. Mom takes 3 bullets.

Pakistani Supreme Court orders temporary burial for Lal Masjid deputy chief

I wonder why a "temporary burial"? For future enshrinement?

The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered a temporary burial for Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, deputy chief of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, local Pakistani TV channel DAWN NEWS reported Wednesday. Arrangements will also made for Ghazi's close relatives at the burial, according to DAWN NEWS.

Spokesman of the Ministry of Interior Brig (R) Javed Iqbal Cheema on Wednesday said that the body of Ghazi would be transported to his ancestral village for burial.

There's this info about Moslem burials from About.com. It's a stag party of course and ick - "no coffins if permitted"???? No embalming???? How about joining the 21st Century, guys?

The deceased is then taken to the cemetery for burial (al-dafin). While all members of the community attend the funeral prayers, only the men of the community accompany the body to the gravesite.

It is preferred for a Muslim to be buried where he or she died, and not be transported to another location or country (which may cause delays or require embalming the body).

If available, a cemetery (or section of one) set aside for Muslims is preferred. The deceased is laid in the grave (without a coffin if permitted by local law) on his or her right side, facing Mecca. At the gravesite, it is discouraged for people to erect tombstones, elaborate markers, or put flowers or other momentos. Rather, one should humbly remember Allah and His mercy, and pray for the deceased.

It looks like Ghazi's Mom took three bullets and bought the farm with her son at the Red Mosque. Looks like she should have tried to sneak out with her other son instead of hanging around. Body of Ghazi’s mother not identified yet.

Update: Hoo boy. It looks like they are bickering over the body now.... Family demands Ghazi's burial in Jamia Faridiya.

Well, that's a fine how do you do...

Who knew the Army of Islam had a Complete Etiquette Guide to Hostage Taking?

It seems that certain members of the Army of Islam have their kaffiyehs in a knot at Alan Johnston's for not being sufficiently grateful to them for being held captive at gunpoint for four months. "He didn't even say thanks," they grouse.

The kidnappers expressed bizarre resentment that Johnston, 45, had done nothing to thank them for their hospitality while they held him at gunpoint in a tiny cell.

“We used to give him everything he wanted,” Abu Zobayer, an aide to Dagmoush, said.

“We spent £70 on his food every week. The Matouk restaurant [one of the best eateries in Gaza] got rich because we had to feed him.”

Johnston has said that he fell ill from the food he was served. Zobayer commented: “It’s not our problem that we gave him everything and he only ate a little.”

Although they did not torture him physically, the kidnappers seemed to have no concept of the psychological torture they were inflicting on the BBC correspondent.

“We had people with him all the time to try to help him to relax,” said Zobayer.

“We gave him a radio so that he could listen to his own channel. I myself sat with him to try to make him feel comfortable and feel that he will be released.”

A Mighty Heart Farce...

Youssef Ibrahim on A Mighty Heart.

If I were a Muslim who had just watched "A Mighty Heart" in a theater in Dearborn, Mich., Karachi, or Cairo, the only impressions that I would probably be left with is that the man got what he deserved and that Karachi is really one hell of a messy place. Beyond that, I would not have a clue that my Muslim compatriots had anything to do with it.

Paki appeasers cave into Red Mosque demands

Pakistan appeases Red Mosqueteers. Will close down all mixed sex massage parlors. No lady on man acupuncture either.

A top cleric at the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) said they were freed after the authorities gave assurances they would shut down mixed-sex massage parlours.

"After the administration assured us they would close down the massage parlours in Islamabad, and in view of the Pakistan-China friendship, we are releasing all nine men and women," said Abdul Rashid Ghazi, deputy head of the Red Mosque.

He said the massage of men by women was "not allowed according to the values of Islam".
The Interior Ministry said the abduction was a "shocking and unlawful act".

The mosque has been openly defying the government for months, resulting in a tense stand-off.
Officials have tried to appease the mosque and its students with talks and concessions, saying they do not want to use force against the women and in a holy place.

But critics have attacked the government for failing to enforce its authority in the capital.

Iran admits detention of 4th (!) American.

US businessman jailed, Iran confirms.

A semi-official Iranian news agency reported yesterday that California businessman Ali Shakeri is in custody in Tehran and is under investigation for possible national security violations. It is the first confirmation by Iran of his detention after repeated statements from the Tehran regime that it had no information on Shakeri.

Shakeri, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and University of Texas graduate who has lived in the United States since the 1970s, disappeared from Tehran's international airport on May 8 as he was preparing to return to the United States after the death of his mother in Tehran. His wife told The Washington Post that he had called her at least three times from Iran's notorious Evin Prison.

The confirmation yesterday of his detention came from the ISNA news agency.

The state department expresses its dismay. Dinah would like to express her contempt for the State Department.

Finnish anglers released!

Remember these guys? Finnish Fisherman captured by Iran

Well, according to the Beeb - they've been released.

The three were arrested off the island of Abu Musa on Saturday. Three Finns detained by Iran while fishing in the Gulf last week have been released, officials say.

Their employer, mobile telecoms firm Nokia Siemens, said the men appeared to be in good health and were expected to return to Dubai soon.

I wonder how much jizya Nokia Siemens had to fork over to gain their release???

Finnish fishermen captured by Iran

Iran holds three Finnish Anglers.

IRAN is holding three Finns who allegedly drifted into Iranian waters while fishing off the United Arab Emirates, it was reported today.

The three had gone fishing off Dubai on Saturday and got lost in the Gulf near the island of Abu Musa, Finnish news agency STT reported. Finnish Foreign Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but STT quoted a Finnish diplomat as saying the three were well and in Iranian custody.

Iran closely guards its borders and regularly intercepts boats that it says have strayed into its waters.

Meanwhile, back in Finland: Late Imam Khomeini commemorated in Finland.

A ceremony was held in Helsinki, capital of Finland, on the occasion of the 18th demise anniversary of the late Imam Khomeini. In the ceremony, which was held in Islamic Cultural Center in Helsinki on Sunday evening a number of Muslim residing in Finland were present.

Iran's Ambassador to Finland Reza Nazar-Ahari addressed the crowd on different aspects of Imam's life.

In part of his speech, Nazar-Ahari said, "Imam's uprising was not against a special group or person, but it was against darkness." Imam reminded all Muslims, Shia and Sunni, of the necessity of awareness against cultural invasion, the ambassador added.

(ed. note: two guesses as to who the darkness is.)

Two other Muslims from Finland and Iraq also talked about Imam's life and an Iranian poet recited his poem about the late Imam. A documentary film was also shown in the ceremony concerning the last days of Imam Khomeini's life.

Iran claims discovery of "Spy Networks"

According to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry that is. I wonder if these so called "agent provocateurs" have had any contact with the following: Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Parnaz Azima, Kian Tajbakhsh, Individual X, or Mr. Ali Shakiri - the most recent Iranian Americans to go missing while visiting relatives in Iran.

Several spy networks serving the “occupiers of Iraq” have been discovered in Iran, the Public Relations Office of the Intelligence Ministry said in a statement released on Saturday.

According to the statement, these networks consisting of agents provocateurs serving the occupiers in Iraq, were active in the western, southwestern and central areas of the country.

The intelligence services of the occupiers were directing these networks, and certain Iraqi groups were supporting them.

The Intelligence Ministry stated that it will soon release more information about the case.

The latest on Dr. Haleh Esfandiari

The Iranian's start naming names and I fear for her friends, relatives and professional colleagues:

Iran's Soros spot.

Iran charged yesterday that a Washington-based academic arrested in Tehran this month was working for a George Soros-backed organization trying to undermine the Islamic state's ruling system. An Intelligence Ministry statement, published by Iran's ISNA news agency, said the program had financial backing from "the famous American Soros center."

It was referring to the Open Society Institute, founded by Soros, a Hungarian-born businessman and philanthropist and major left-wing Democratic donor in the United States. Soros, a fierce critic of President Bush, has given millions of dollars to the liberal Web site MoveOn.org and strongly opposes the Iraq war. Many of his views are controversial, including legalization of some drugs.

The Open Society organization has spent upward of $400 million a year on projects ranging from anti-poverty efforts in Africa to pro-democracy efforts in the former Soviet Union. The institute says it is dedicated to "fostering intellectual exchange between Iran and the outside world," and sponsors discussions in culture, education and public health.

But Tehran said Esfandiari admitted to a different role in Iran.

"In the preliminary interrogations, she said the Soros center in Iran had an unofficial communication network and was trying to develop and expand it to follow up its 'soft revolution' aims," the ministry statement said.

Iranian officials use the terms "soft" or "velvet revolution" to refer to a perceived U.S. plot to use intellectuals and others inside Iran to undermine the Islamic state. Officials say the intellectuals are often invited abroad for "training."

"The long-term and final goal of such centers is to try to enable this network . . . to confront the ruling powers. This model designed by the Americans . . . is following the 'soft revolution' in the country," the statement added.

Wilson Center director Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic Indiana congressman, told The Washington Post, "It's very disturbing. We deny all the charges. There is not one scintilla of evidence to support these allegations."

Iran said Esfandiari was cooperating with authorities to track down those working in the Soros center network.

Judiciary officials previously said the Intelligence Ministry was investigating Esfandiari for suspected "crimes against national security."

The Wilson Center acknowledged receiving some support from the Open Society Institute, but noted that the Soros Foundation, another philanthropy, had donated money to the Iranian government after an earthquake in 2003.

Iran charges Iranian-American academic of seeking to topple regime

From the IHT:



"Soft toppling of the country-by soft hostage."


Iran on Monday charged detained Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari of seeking to topple the ruling Islamic establishment, state-run television reported.

Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, has been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May. State TV said she and the Wilson Center were conspiring together to topple the government by setting up a network "against the sovereignty of the country.



This is an American designed model with an attractive appearance that seeks the soft-toppling of the country."

The announcement was the first time Iran said it had officially charged Esfandiari of seeking to overthrow the ruling establishment, a severe security crime. It was not immediately clear when Esfandiari will stand trial or if the trial will be public.

The "crimes" she has purportedly "confessed to"...

The broadcast said Esfandiari confirmed during interrogations that her center "invited Iranians to attend conferences, offered them research projects, scholarships ... and tried to lure influential elements and link them to decision-making centers in America."

She has been denied legal representation, perhaps you can help by sending a letter on her behalf.

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the lead attorney for imprisoned American scholar Haleh Esfandiari, charged yesterday that the Iranian government has turned down her request to represent the Potomac resident, refused information on the charges against Esfandiari and denied a legal team access to its client.



Payvand weighs in with an analysis of "root causes" of Dr. Esfandiari's arrest, the context of repression and what the regime could possibly be thinking here. Here's a sample:


The Iranian president has been creating crises - local and international - on a routine basis since he was elected to office in June 2005. Haleh Esfandiari, in the regime's twisted logic, may have seemed an appropriate target for its punishment: in her capacity as director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she had offered fellowships to young scholars from Iran (who are naturally inclined toward reform and democracy). This may have been enough for Tehran's hardliners to have plotted Esfandiari's arrest, enabling them to accuse her (bizarrely) of espionage and undermine their rivals in Iran by associating the latter with her.

Don't squeeze the hostages...

You know Dinah has been getting all exercised over the MSM labelling of the US citizens held hostage in Iran as "soft hostages" The only thing more disturbing IHO is the "soft approach" the US government has taken with regard to their seizure.

Yesterday, Iran finally acknowledged the detention of Dr Haleh Esfandiari for "crimes against national security." A charge that could carry the death sentence.

Information about what could have led to her detention continues to be thin on the ground but I did find this over at al-Guardian:

Human Rights Watch, which fears that the 67-year-old scholar may have been subjected to coercive interrogation. The human rights group also points out that Esfandiari's arrest took place during a particularly onerous week in Iran, one that saw "escalated repressive campaigns against Iranian women's right activists and student leaders".

But it isn't just the last week. In a climate that the writer Praful Bidwal aptly describes as having grown "palpably more unfree, tense, apprehensive and insecure" in the last year, the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced a purge of liberal and secular professors from Iran's universities, harassed and banned several student organisations, shut down scores of newspapers and magazines and clamped down on the country's women's rights movement, which has been gaining momentum in recent months.

This last front may be pivotal to understanding why Tehran has targeted Esfandiari, who is a former Deputy Secretary General of the Women's Organization of Iran and the author of Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran's Islamic Revolution (1997).

Another possible reason for her arrest is alluded to in a Wilson Center statement, which says that the questioning to which Esfandiari has been subjected has "focused almost entirely on the activities and programs of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. Repeatedly during the interrogation, Dr Esfandiari was pressured to make a false confession or to falsely implicate the Wilson Center in activities in which it had no part."

The US State Department has made $75m available for "democracy promotion" in Iran, and Tehran clearly believes that the center is involved in such activities.

The kicker:

As the Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji argues, those funds only "make the work of the pro-democracy movement more difficult. The government of Iran describes all of its opponents as agents of the United States [and] claims they are on the payroll of the Bush administration." And that's precisely what's happened to Esfandiari.

The real kicker:

You know something's not right when Glamor.com in a freaking MOTHER's DAY piece is the only major media outlet banging the drum for Dr. Esfandiari's release.

Visit Free Haleh and take part in their letter writing campaign...

And in other American soft hostage news...

There's not much in the news about detained Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari today. The third woman detained with them has not yet been identified.

Hillary Clinton is deeply concerned at the inexplicable detention.

Huh. WaPo is calling them 'soft hostages'. As did the LA Times.

I wonder if Robert Levinson the ex FBI guy that disappeared off the Isle of Kish is feeling like a "soft hostage" right about now? His fate remains a mystery. (Let me tell you - I get taken hostage and you refer to me as a "soft hostage"? When I get out? I'm coming after you and we're going to have a little talk.)

But back to our hostages. Is referring to them as soft hostages supposed to make us feel good about the situation? Good grief! Why would we want to have dealings with a regime that institutionalizes kidnapping and makes it part of their strategic arsenal? A strategic arsenal that will soon include nuclear weapons.

That's nice, real nice.

All this talk of hostages makes me wonder how our missing GI's are doing over in Iraq. Will the WaPo and the LA Times will be referring to them as 'hard hostages'? Al Qaeda is calling them Crusader soldiers and hearing this did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling:

US commanders said that a nearby unit had heard the explosions and tried to communicate with the ambushed patrol, without success. An unmanned spotter drone flew overhead 15 minutes later and saw the burning vehicles but a coalition Quick Reaction Force did not reach the scene until 5.40am, nearly an hour later.

“In the United States military we have a thing called the soldier’s creed, and it says ‘I will never leave a fallen comrade’,” Major-General William Caldwell, a US military spokesman, said in Baghdad.

Undermanned, says Scott of Town Commons in his Bad news out of Iraq. Now we hear that the Quick Reaction Force didn't arrive for an hour. Not good.

Where is the rest of that surge?

Faster please.

Jill Carroll's kidnapper, Tom Fox's murderer aka al Qaeda scumbag reported killed.

Man, they are dropping so fast over there in Iraq it's getting hard to keep track of them all.

He was caught in OPERATION RAT TRAP. Bwa-ha-ha!

A U.S. military commander said Thursday that an al Qaeda in Iraq militant believed to be involved in last year's kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll has been killed.

He is Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri and was identified as the senior minister of information for al Qaeda in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. Caldwell said al-Jubouri was killed in a fight about four miles (six kilometers) west of the Taji air base north of Baghdad; the body initially was identified by photos, then confirmed by DNA testing on Wednesday.

Caldwell said al-Jubouri was connected with the 2006 kidnapping of Carroll, an American freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor held captive for nearly three months.

"Based on multiple detainee briefings we know he was responsible for the transportation and movement of Jill Carroll from her various hiding places," Caldwell said.

Al-Jubouri also was involved in the abduction of Tom Fox, one of four men from the Chicago, Illinois-based peace group Christian Peacemaker Teams, who was found fatally shot in Baghdad in March 2006, Caldwell said. "Muharib was also the last one known to have had personal custody of Tom Fox before his death," Caldwell said.

The U.S. general said al-Jubouri was the only top-level militant whose recent death the U.S. military could confirm. (referring to al Masri and al Baghdadi)

This just off the wires: Terrorist boss killed in Iraq.

BAGHDAD: US and Iraqi forces had killed the leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qa'ida-led militant group, Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister said yesterday. Hussein Kamal said Abu Omar al-Baghdadi had been killed in a battle north of Baghdad. He declined to say when but said authorities had Baghdadi's body.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver last night announced US forces had killed al-Qa'ida in Iraq's "information minister", whom he identified as Muharib Abdulatif al-Juburi. He said reports by Iraqi officials eariler in the week that Coalition forces had killed al-Qa'ida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri may have been referring to the slaying of Juburi

Softly, softly...

BBC NEWS: UK shares Iran diplomacy desire. And now we know another reason why this is going to be a long war.

Ali Larijani, of the Supreme National Security Council, said Iran's priority was to use diplomatic channels, not putting the crew on trial. The Foreign Office said it was still studying his remarks, made to Channel 4 News, but shared his preference for bilateral discussions.
It said it would be following up his comments with Iran on Tuesday.

What the heck. The hostages have only been held 11 days!

Larijani: No trials for UK hostages

Iran now says no need to try Britons

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's chief international negotiator said Monday that the country wants to resolve the crisis over 15 captured British sailors through diplomacy and there is no need to put the crew on trial. In London, an official said earlier that Britain has agreed to consider discussing with Iran how to avoid future disputes over contested waters in the Persian Gulf.

Ali Larijani, the Iranian diplomat, said his country's priority "is to solve the problem through proper diplomatic channels." "We are not interested in letting this issue get further complicated," he told Britain's Channel 4 television news.

Sunday Steyn

Read it all.

The U.N. will do nothing for men seized on a U.N.-sanctioned mission. The European Union will do nothing for its "European citizens." But if liberal transnationalism is a post-modern joke, it's not the only school of transnationalism out there. Iran's Islamic Revolution has been explicitly extraterritorial since the beginning: It has created and funded murderous proxies in Hezbollah, Hamas and both Shia and Sunni factions of the Iraq "insurgency." It has spent a fortune in the stans of Central Asia radicalizing previously somnolent Muslim populations. When Ayatollah Khomeini announced the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, it was not Iranians but British, Indian, Turkish, European, Asian and American Muslims who called for his death, firebombed bookstores, shot his publisher, fatally stabbed his translator and murdered anybody who got in their way.

So we live today in a world of one-way sovereignty: American, British and Iraqi forces in Iraq respect the Syrian and Iranian borders; the Syrians and Iranians do not respect the Iraqi border. Patrolling the Shatt al-Arab at a time of war, the Royal Navy operates under rules of engagement designed by distant fainthearts with an eye to the polite fictions of "international law": If you're in a ''warship,'' you can't wage war. If you're in a ''destroyer,'' don't destroy anything. If you're in a "frigate," you're frigging done for.

Knock yourself out, Javier.

From IRNA:

European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana plans to phone Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a bid to resolve the current stand-off over the arrested 15 British sailors who illegally entered Iran's territorial waters on March 23, the online site of the weekly Der Spiegel news magazine reported Saturday.

The text of Iran's 3/30/07 note to the UK

My head explodes when I read this.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran presents its compliments to the British Embassy in Tehran and draws the attention of the latter to the following: According to the information received from relevant authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, two British naval vessels manned by 15 fully equipped crews trespassed on Iran's territorial waters on 3 Farvardin 1386 (March 23, 2007).

Since similar acts had taken place in the past and prior warning had been given against the repetition of such acts, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran protests strongly against this illegal act in violating Iranian territorial waters, emphasizes the respect for the rules and principles of international law concerning the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, underlines the responsibility of the British Government for the consequences of such violation, and calls for the guarantee to avoid the recurrence of such acts.

It will be appreciated if the esteemed embassy conveys this note to the relevant authorities of its government and informs this Ministry of any explanation in this regard. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the British Embassy the assurances of its highest considerations.

Liars.

Remember this guy?

Gaddafi criticizes UK reaction to Iran Captives.

Says only Islam is a universal religion

This is who La Pelosi should be visiting!

Brit GPS available on e-bay for 89.99 GBP

From Kamangir: Evidence of a face-off on sale for 89.99 GBP on E-bay.

Pic courtesy of BBC:

per Kamangir:
Apparently, the GPS which the British officials used to prove the fallacy of the Islamic Republic’s claims is not exactly how much sophisticated it might seem to be at the first sight. In fact, you can buy it on eBay for £89.99.

No offense, but I guess they should have used something a bit more military-looking for this big crisis. Not that I think that it matters at all whether or not the British soldiers have in fact “invaded” the Iranian territory.

The story is even more interesting than that. The Persian BBC translated the caption of the picture as “Satellite-based Tracking System for Sea Vessels”, while the description on eBay calls this device a “Stand-alone Navigation” system.