A jobless labourer has been reprimanded and banned from jury service after making racist remarks about defendants.
Paul Sullivan, 47, made his abusive comments to the jury officer at Southampton Crown Court in a bid to get out of a possible three-week trial. The jury officer reported him and Judge Peter Ralls QC remanded him to the cells for two hours before he was brought back into the dock for contempt of court.
Defence barrister Andy Houston revealed he had been twice sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
“He made the remarks to get out of jury service,” said Mr Houston. “He doesn’t hold those views, and being in the cells has been a sobering experience. He realises the folly of what he has done and apologises.”
Judge Ralls discharged Sullivan but warned him about his future conduct.
Daily Echo
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Law needed to tackle hate speech on Internet (Turkey)
Turkish civil society organizations are demanding a new law regulating hate crimes and hate speech, saying racism and xenophobia are spreading fast on the Internet.
At the beginning of this week, Ankara hosted a meeting of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a body within the Council of Europe (CoE). The meeting brought together national and international experts to discuss the implementation of the ECRI's recommendations to combat discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion or other characteristics, and one of the main topics was discrimination and racism on the Internet.
Turkey, like most countries of the world, is not free of crimes against minorities and disadvantaged groups. Among these, crimes motivated by a victim's background or identity are defined as hate crimes. The Turkish Penal Code (TCK), however, includes no such category, and civil society organizations are fighting to have it added.
Despite the lack of such a category in the TCK, Parliament ratified a bill this week that introduces new regulations for broadcasting. According to amendments to the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) law, broadcasts will not be allowed to instigate hate and broadcasts that discriminate on the basis of race, language, gender, class, sect or religion will not be allowed. However, regulations regarding the Internet are not included for the time being.
Yaman Akdeniz, an associate professor at Bilgi University's school of law, told Sunday's Zaman that Turkey has signed the Convention on Cybercrime but not the additional protocol “concerning the criminalization of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems.”
The additional protocol defines racist and xenophobic material as “any written material, any image or any other representation of ideas or theories, which advocates, promotes or incites hatred, discrimination or violence, against any individual or group of individuals, based on race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin, as well as religion if used as a pretext for any of these factors.”
Even a quick look at the social networking website Facebook is enough to show that there are many groups which spread hatred and even call for the mass killing of certain groups.
The additional protocol asks for its members “to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish [hate crimes] as criminal offences under its domestic law,” but, as Akdeniz, pointed out, this is no easy task. Akdeniz said it is easy to spot criminal material such as child pornography that is posted on the Internet, but not so with hate speech because it includes written material also.
He added that websites such as YouTube and Facebook are trying to implement controls and monitoring mechanisms and that it is possible for users to report discriminatory or racist content, but it is very easy to repost banned material on the digital platform after simply changing the name and/or content just a little.
Akdeniz also underlined that there is a very fine line between hate speech and political discourse, another fact that makes the fight against hate speech and hate crimes very difficult.
In interview with Sunday's Zaman earlier this week, ECRI Chairman Nils Muiznieks said discrimination and hate speech on the Internet is a very important issue they are trying to tackle; however, the general recommendations for fighting hate speech, racism and discrimination are outdated and technologically inadequate.
He said the countries most successful in fighting racism and intolerance on the Internet are those with the best cooperation between NGOs, Internet service providers and authorities; however, the level of cooperation is not at desirable levels everywhere and the fine line between freedom of expression and discrimination is very important.
“You need groups that monitor discrimination on the Internet. You need service providers who are willing to listen and engage in dialogue. And you need authorities to step in and punish the bad guys. It is clear that our own tools used to cope with this are outdated. This is a very rapidly developing field. Until very recently MySpace and Google were not willing to talk to organizations such as the ECRI. But they are now beginning to change a little,” he said.
Öztürk Türkdoğan, chairman of the Human Rights Association (İHD) underlined that there is a serious gap between regulations on hate crimes and hate speech in general but also on the Internet and that the fine line between freedom of expression and hate speech should be drawn very carefully.
“The measure should be the decisions and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR], but the Internet should not be used as a platform for any form of violence,” he told Sunday's Zaman.
Akdeniz also pointed out that the difficulty of tackling the issue should not prevent civil society from fighting against it, saying that some measures can be taken.
“In order to combat hate speech and discrimination, banning entire websites or networks is not the right solution. This is only pretending that some measures have been taken. Closing platforms should not be considered a solution. Racism and discrimination on the Internet is very much related to the level of racism and discrimination within society. To tackle it, we must raise awareness, though this is no easy task. Fighting racism is similar to fighting terrorism, and both need careful handling and a delicate approach,” he said.
Todays Zaman
At the beginning of this week, Ankara hosted a meeting of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a body within the Council of Europe (CoE). The meeting brought together national and international experts to discuss the implementation of the ECRI's recommendations to combat discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion or other characteristics, and one of the main topics was discrimination and racism on the Internet.
Turkey, like most countries of the world, is not free of crimes against minorities and disadvantaged groups. Among these, crimes motivated by a victim's background or identity are defined as hate crimes. The Turkish Penal Code (TCK), however, includes no such category, and civil society organizations are fighting to have it added.
Despite the lack of such a category in the TCK, Parliament ratified a bill this week that introduces new regulations for broadcasting. According to amendments to the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) law, broadcasts will not be allowed to instigate hate and broadcasts that discriminate on the basis of race, language, gender, class, sect or religion will not be allowed. However, regulations regarding the Internet are not included for the time being.
Yaman Akdeniz, an associate professor at Bilgi University's school of law, told Sunday's Zaman that Turkey has signed the Convention on Cybercrime but not the additional protocol “concerning the criminalization of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems.”
The additional protocol defines racist and xenophobic material as “any written material, any image or any other representation of ideas or theories, which advocates, promotes or incites hatred, discrimination or violence, against any individual or group of individuals, based on race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin, as well as religion if used as a pretext for any of these factors.”
Even a quick look at the social networking website Facebook is enough to show that there are many groups which spread hatred and even call for the mass killing of certain groups.
The additional protocol asks for its members “to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish [hate crimes] as criminal offences under its domestic law,” but, as Akdeniz, pointed out, this is no easy task. Akdeniz said it is easy to spot criminal material such as child pornography that is posted on the Internet, but not so with hate speech because it includes written material also.
He added that websites such as YouTube and Facebook are trying to implement controls and monitoring mechanisms and that it is possible for users to report discriminatory or racist content, but it is very easy to repost banned material on the digital platform after simply changing the name and/or content just a little.
Akdeniz also underlined that there is a very fine line between hate speech and political discourse, another fact that makes the fight against hate speech and hate crimes very difficult.
In interview with Sunday's Zaman earlier this week, ECRI Chairman Nils Muiznieks said discrimination and hate speech on the Internet is a very important issue they are trying to tackle; however, the general recommendations for fighting hate speech, racism and discrimination are outdated and technologically inadequate.
He said the countries most successful in fighting racism and intolerance on the Internet are those with the best cooperation between NGOs, Internet service providers and authorities; however, the level of cooperation is not at desirable levels everywhere and the fine line between freedom of expression and discrimination is very important.
“You need groups that monitor discrimination on the Internet. You need service providers who are willing to listen and engage in dialogue. And you need authorities to step in and punish the bad guys. It is clear that our own tools used to cope with this are outdated. This is a very rapidly developing field. Until very recently MySpace and Google were not willing to talk to organizations such as the ECRI. But they are now beginning to change a little,” he said.
Öztürk Türkdoğan, chairman of the Human Rights Association (İHD) underlined that there is a serious gap between regulations on hate crimes and hate speech in general but also on the Internet and that the fine line between freedom of expression and hate speech should be drawn very carefully.
“The measure should be the decisions and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR], but the Internet should not be used as a platform for any form of violence,” he told Sunday's Zaman.
Akdeniz also pointed out that the difficulty of tackling the issue should not prevent civil society from fighting against it, saying that some measures can be taken.
“In order to combat hate speech and discrimination, banning entire websites or networks is not the right solution. This is only pretending that some measures have been taken. Closing platforms should not be considered a solution. Racism and discrimination on the Internet is very much related to the level of racism and discrimination within society. To tackle it, we must raise awareness, though this is no easy task. Fighting racism is similar to fighting terrorism, and both need careful handling and a delicate approach,” he said.
Todays Zaman
Riots break out in Athens at anti-racism rally (Greece)
Riots broke out in Athens on Saturday at a protest against a planned wall between Turkey and Greece, local media reported.
Left-wing demonstrators clashed with right-wing protesters and police in the Agios Panteleimon area, which has a large immigrant population. Around 3,000 left-wing activists wanted to demonstrate against xenophobia and stage a concert, while extreme-right protesters also gathered to demonstrate.
Left-wing protesters threw stones at the police, while right-wing demonstrators chanted anti-immigrant slogans and threw stones to leftist protesters. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at the demonstrators to keep the two groups apart.
Hours before the rally, Greece daily Kathimerini published a call on supporters from residents of Aghios Panteleimonas to congregate in their local square to protest against the anti-racism rally. The residents condemned the organizers of the rally as "sold-out trade unionist traitors."
Greece is currently struggling to contain a wave of illegal immigration. Human rights organizations calculate that there are around 500,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the country.
Channel 6 News
Left-wing demonstrators clashed with right-wing protesters and police in the Agios Panteleimon area, which has a large immigrant population. Around 3,000 left-wing activists wanted to demonstrate against xenophobia and stage a concert, while extreme-right protesters also gathered to demonstrate.
Left-wing protesters threw stones at the police, while right-wing demonstrators chanted anti-immigrant slogans and threw stones to leftist protesters. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at the demonstrators to keep the two groups apart.
Hours before the rally, Greece daily Kathimerini published a call on supporters from residents of Aghios Panteleimonas to congregate in their local square to protest against the anti-racism rally. The residents condemned the organizers of the rally as "sold-out trade unionist traitors."
Greece is currently struggling to contain a wave of illegal immigration. Human rights organizations calculate that there are around 500,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the country.
Channel 6 News
Spelman: 'Balance needed' over travellers' camps (UK)
There should be a "balance" between the settled community and travellers, the environment secretary has said ahead of a meeting on unauthorised camps.
Caroline Spelman spoke before a meeting in her West Midlands constituency by demonstrators protesting against an encampment on green-belt land.
New legislation on travellers' camps will be tabled in Parliament on Monday.
Travellers' Times magazine's Jake Bowers accused protesters of "racism" and said travellers owned the land.
A round-the-clock demonstration has been staged for more than six months in the Warwickshire village of Meriden against a travellers' encampment.
The travellers, who moved on to the site over a Bank Holiday weekend, argue they have nowhere else to go and have a right to the land.
'Need more sites'
Ms Spelman, who attended the conference, said the new legislation introduced by the coalition government would bring "fairness between the settled and travelling communities".
She added it would make provision for more authorised sites, while closing a loophole that allows travellers to apply for and obtain retrospective planning permission after setting up camp.
"I don't think it is an issue of racism," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"There is an issue with planning law, there is a problem and the new government wants to try to address the problem, which is not new.
"There needs to be a balance between the settled community, like the villagers here in Meriden, and the travelling community.
"We need more authorised sites.
"The travelling community should be indeed travelling. The problem with our authorised site is people come and they stay, so it fills up the site."
Jake Bowers, editor of Travellers' Times magazine, asked why travellers had been excluded from the conference.
He told the programme: "Whilst there are some people in that village who are primarily concerned about the environment, the majority of people you speak to, when the mask slips, the real reason they are there is because there are gypsies in their village and they don't like it.
"I don't think anybody would say that moving on to green belt is an ideal solution, but the people on that site would say it is an issue of necessity."
BBC News
Caroline Spelman spoke before a meeting in her West Midlands constituency by demonstrators protesting against an encampment on green-belt land.
New legislation on travellers' camps will be tabled in Parliament on Monday.
Travellers' Times magazine's Jake Bowers accused protesters of "racism" and said travellers owned the land.
A round-the-clock demonstration has been staged for more than six months in the Warwickshire village of Meriden against a travellers' encampment.
The travellers, who moved on to the site over a Bank Holiday weekend, argue they have nowhere else to go and have a right to the land.
'Need more sites'
Ms Spelman, who attended the conference, said the new legislation introduced by the coalition government would bring "fairness between the settled and travelling communities".
She added it would make provision for more authorised sites, while closing a loophole that allows travellers to apply for and obtain retrospective planning permission after setting up camp.
"I don't think it is an issue of racism," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"There is an issue with planning law, there is a problem and the new government wants to try to address the problem, which is not new.
"There needs to be a balance between the settled community, like the villagers here in Meriden, and the travelling community.
"We need more authorised sites.
"The travelling community should be indeed travelling. The problem with our authorised site is people come and they stay, so it fills up the site."
Jake Bowers, editor of Travellers' Times magazine, asked why travellers had been excluded from the conference.
He told the programme: "Whilst there are some people in that village who are primarily concerned about the environment, the majority of people you speak to, when the mask slips, the real reason they are there is because there are gypsies in their village and they don't like it.
"I don't think anybody would say that moving on to green belt is an ideal solution, but the people on that site would say it is an issue of necessity."
BBC News
Saturday, 15 January 2011
St John's Church magazine under fire after anti-Islam article (UK)
An anti-Islamic article aiming to "liven up" a church magazine has sparked outrage after it branded the religion a "threat".
Muriel Clark's controversial piece on "Islamisation" in the monthly Hildenborough Keys has been slammed for urging residents to take a stand against Muslims coming into this country.
The 80-year-old divorcee claimed in her column for the St John's Church publication that young Christian schoolchildren were being brainwashed with Islamic ideology.
Both magazine editor Nick Hawkins – who admitted toning down the original submission because it was "too extreme" – and the Reverend John Chandler this week defended the piece, which was sent out to all homes in Hildenborough.
But residents and the West Kent Muslim Association (WKMA) have called it "unacceptable" and "harmful to the community".
WKMA president Nasir Jamil said: "We strongly condemn these views.
"Islamisation is a very sensitive issue. Her views are a bit extremist and it's a bit out of the blue. It really hurts us.
"How can they publish it, especially to a small community? It creates a bad impression that Muslims are extremists."
Tonbridge Green Party's Steve Dawe said he hoped the article – which sits alongside more benign offerings about coffee mornings and whist drives – was a one-off.
He said: "I hope those responsible indicate this was a mistake, and will never occur again.
"If not, then this is clearly a matter for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who may wish to bring a case on the grounds of incitement to religious hatred."
But the writer, editor and vicar have all stood by the piece.
Mr Hawkins said: "A couple of things were too extreme, so I took them out. But we should be awake to what's going on.
"We wanted to liven things up a bit. I thought it might be a bit thought-provoking."
Mrs Clark, of Bramble Close, said she stood by her views, saying: "This used to be a Christian country."
Mr Chandler said the church magazine should raise serious issues and he did not regret the article being published.
This is Kent
Muriel Clark's controversial piece on "Islamisation" in the monthly Hildenborough Keys has been slammed for urging residents to take a stand against Muslims coming into this country.
The 80-year-old divorcee claimed in her column for the St John's Church publication that young Christian schoolchildren were being brainwashed with Islamic ideology.
Both magazine editor Nick Hawkins – who admitted toning down the original submission because it was "too extreme" – and the Reverend John Chandler this week defended the piece, which was sent out to all homes in Hildenborough.
But residents and the West Kent Muslim Association (WKMA) have called it "unacceptable" and "harmful to the community".
WKMA president Nasir Jamil said: "We strongly condemn these views.
"Islamisation is a very sensitive issue. Her views are a bit extremist and it's a bit out of the blue. It really hurts us.
"How can they publish it, especially to a small community? It creates a bad impression that Muslims are extremists."
Tonbridge Green Party's Steve Dawe said he hoped the article – which sits alongside more benign offerings about coffee mornings and whist drives – was a one-off.
He said: "I hope those responsible indicate this was a mistake, and will never occur again.
"If not, then this is clearly a matter for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who may wish to bring a case on the grounds of incitement to religious hatred."
But the writer, editor and vicar have all stood by the piece.
Mr Hawkins said: "A couple of things were too extreme, so I took them out. But we should be awake to what's going on.
"We wanted to liven things up a bit. I thought it might be a bit thought-provoking."
Mrs Clark, of Bramble Close, said she stood by her views, saying: "This used to be a Christian country."
Mr Chandler said the church magazine should raise serious issues and he did not regret the article being published.
This is Kent
Petition accuses Tutu of anti-Semitism (South Africa)
An online petition has accused Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of anti-Semitism.
The petition was launched by three people, including a former South African Zionist Federation official.
The petition accused Tutu of being a bigot along with defaming Israel and the Jewish people.
In 2010 the renowned apartheid cleric urged the Cape Town Opera to cancel a trip to Israel.
He also supported another petition which called on one South African university to cut ties with the Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
The South African Zionist Federation’s Bev Goldman said Tutu’s views on the Jewish state are unfortunate.
“What we are concerned about is the fact that Archbishop Tutu tends to blame Israel solely for the issues that are happening in the Middle East,” she said.
Attempts to get comment from Tutu or his office have been unsuccessful.
Eye Witness News
The petition was launched by three people, including a former South African Zionist Federation official.
The petition accused Tutu of being a bigot along with defaming Israel and the Jewish people.
In 2010 the renowned apartheid cleric urged the Cape Town Opera to cancel a trip to Israel.
He also supported another petition which called on one South African university to cut ties with the Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
The South African Zionist Federation’s Bev Goldman said Tutu’s views on the Jewish state are unfortunate.
“What we are concerned about is the fact that Archbishop Tutu tends to blame Israel solely for the issues that are happening in the Middle East,” she said.
Attempts to get comment from Tutu or his office have been unsuccessful.
Eye Witness News
Nazi sympathizer and triple murderer Frank Spisak asks Ohio Parole Board to spare his life (USA)
Spisak's plea for mercy will be the first death penalty case before Republican Gov. John Kasich, who took office Monday and will make the final decision on whether to spare Spisak.
About a dozen family members of Spisak's victims showed up at Thursday's Parole Board hearing to say Spisak deserves to die. The board will make a recommendation to Kasich within a week on Spisak's request for clemency.
"He's here asking for mercy, and it's our family's position that he's had mercy for the last 28 years," said Brendan Sheehan, a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, whose father, Tim Sheehan, a CSU employee, was found shot dead in a university bathroom in August 1982.
Spisak also shot and killed the Rev. Horace Rickerson and 17-year-old CSU student Brian Warford, and tried to kill two others. He said he did it because he was a follower of Hitler and was in a war of survival "of the Aryan people," according to court records.
Aside from his Nazi devotion -- Spisak wore a Hitler-style mustache and gave a Nazi salute during his trial -- Spisak also was sexually confused. He sometimes cross-dressed and called himself Frances Anne Spisak. His lawyers referred to him as Frances on Thursday.
Rickerson and Warford were black, and prosecutors said Sheehan was a potential witness in Rickerson's murder.
His defense lawyers said Spisak murdered the three because he was mentally ill, and they asked the Parole Board to spare his life as an act of mercy.
"We're not making excuses for his behavior," Alan Rossman, Spisak's federal public defender, told the board. "If they kill him, they will be killing an extremely mentally ill individual."
Spisak, 59, is scheduled to be executed by injection on Feb. 17. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final legal defense one year ago.
State psychiatrists and a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University working with the defense agree that Spisak suffers from a severe bipolar disorder, which is characterized by extreme mood swings.
Daily doses of lithium have leveled Spisak out in prison, yet he still shows signs of delusion and remains fixated on Germany, World War II and the Holocaust, said Dr. Chester Schmidt, of Johns Hopkins.
Despite his death sentence, Spisak hopes to earn a college degree, work at a Holocaust museum and uncover Hitler's written orders to commit genocide, Schmidt told the Parole Board.
"It's completely off the wall," Schmidt said. "It's an expression of disordered thinking."
Spisak's mental illness, prosecutors countered, is simply the latest in a long line of excuses offered to explain the shootings.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason urged the Parole Board to deny clemency "for a Nazi who has never taken full responsibility for his heinous actions."
"Now he blames his alleged bipolar disorder as the reason he committed the crimes," Mason's office wrote in a report to the board. "Spisak has not shown remorse for his murderous spree which left a campus and a city paralyzed with fear."
Although he was evaluated by numerous mental health professionals prior to his 1983 trial, Spisak, who did not the attend Thursday's hearing, wasn't diagnosed as bipolar until 1997. His lawyers said an earlier diagnosis could have prevented the crimes and played a role in his due process -- but they stopped short of claiming a proper diagnosis would have given credence to an insanity defense.
Brendan Sheehan said the jury that convicted Spisak in 1983 was well aware of his mental problems. He said those problems are now simply being labeled as a bipolar disorder.
Both Sheehan's family and relatives of Warford seemed ready for Spisak's execution, nearly three decades after he began killing.
"Those years (in prison) are enough," said Tracy Arnold, Warford's sister. "It's time for justice to truly be served."
Clevland.com
EXTREME-RIGHT TEENS HELD FOR LATVIA JEWISH CEMETERY ATTACK
Latvian police said Thursday they had detained three extreme-right teenagers suspected of involvement in the vandalism of a Jewish cemetery in the Baltic state's capital Riga a month ago. "Together, they formed a skinhead group which may have planned additional racial crimes," Ints Kuzis, the head of the Riga regional state police department, told reporters. The trio, whose names were not released, are aged 19, 16 and 15. Only the 15-year-old is suspected of carrying out the December 8 attack in which 89 tombstones were desecrated with white-painted swastikas.
The swastika, the symbol of Nazi-era Germany, is a favoured motif for today's far right. The other two suspects are believed to have been aware of the crime, police said. Kuzis said the trio spoke Russian among themselves, but did not elaborate. Around 40 percent of Latvia's 2.2 million people claim Russian as their native language. “Judging from the information we've obtained, their plans were huge," police spokeswoman Sigita Pildava told AFP after the press conference, but again declined to give details. Police said the trio had come to their attention last summer not only due to their racism, but also because of an overall hatred of religion. Investigators said they do not suspect them of involvement in an incident five days after the cemetery attack in which a monument to a Latvian labourer who saved dozens of Jews during World War II was also splattered with white paint. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and other top-ranking officials condemned both attacks.
The Jewish cemetery was also vandalized in September 2003, and five teenage perpetrators were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison. Around 85,000 Jews lived in Latvia before World War II, but 70,000 were murdered in the country by Nazi Germany and local collaborators or perished after being deported to camps elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. Between 200 and 450 Jews survived the war in Latvia itself. Today, Latvia's Jewish community numbers fewer than 10,000.
EJ Press
The swastika, the symbol of Nazi-era Germany, is a favoured motif for today's far right. The other two suspects are believed to have been aware of the crime, police said. Kuzis said the trio spoke Russian among themselves, but did not elaborate. Around 40 percent of Latvia's 2.2 million people claim Russian as their native language. “Judging from the information we've obtained, their plans were huge," police spokeswoman Sigita Pildava told AFP after the press conference, but again declined to give details. Police said the trio had come to their attention last summer not only due to their racism, but also because of an overall hatred of religion. Investigators said they do not suspect them of involvement in an incident five days after the cemetery attack in which a monument to a Latvian labourer who saved dozens of Jews during World War II was also splattered with white paint. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and other top-ranking officials condemned both attacks.
The Jewish cemetery was also vandalized in September 2003, and five teenage perpetrators were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison. Around 85,000 Jews lived in Latvia before World War II, but 70,000 were murdered in the country by Nazi Germany and local collaborators or perished after being deported to camps elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. Between 200 and 450 Jews survived the war in Latvia itself. Today, Latvia's Jewish community numbers fewer than 10,000.
EJ Press
Friday, 14 January 2011
Florida. teens charged with Facebook bullying of girl (USA)
Two teenage girls have been charged under Florida's law against cyberbullying after authorities say they created a Facebook account in a classmate's name and posted a faked nude photograph of her.
The 16- and 15-year-old high school students were charged Wednesday after a lengthy investigation into two Facebook accounts created in April. They each face a felony charge of aggravated stalking under a 2008 law passed after a student suicide blamed on bullying.
Officials say the accounts included a photo of a nude female doctored to add the victim's head.
Authorities say the victim was ridiculed by classmates after the pages became active.
The teens have been ordered to serve 21 days of home confinement and will be arraigned on the charges Feb. 8.
Bellingham Herald
The 16- and 15-year-old high school students were charged Wednesday after a lengthy investigation into two Facebook accounts created in April. They each face a felony charge of aggravated stalking under a 2008 law passed after a student suicide blamed on bullying.
Officials say the accounts included a photo of a nude female doctored to add the victim's head.
Authorities say the victim was ridiculed by classmates after the pages became active.
The teens have been ordered to serve 21 days of home confinement and will be arraigned on the charges Feb. 8.
Bellingham Herald
ITALIAN LEADERS DECRY LIST OF ‘INFLUENTIAL’ ITALIAN JEWS
Italian leaders expressed anger and solidarity with the Jewish community after a neo-Nazi Internet forum published a list of "influential" Italian Jews on its website. The Italian media Wednesday called the list on the American white supremacist website Stormfront "a blacklist of hate." The list included journalists, businesspeople, politicians, artists and others.
Politicians denounced the Stormfront posting and called for action against online hatred. The list "reminds us of the most shameful page in our history when, based on similar lists, thousands of Italians were expelled from schools, universities and workplaces and were deprived of citizenship and persecuted," Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, said in a statement. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno expressed "shame and anger," and called those who posted the list "ignorant and racist cowards." Italian lawmaker Enrico Gasbarra called for urgent action by the European Union to implement legislation that would "put an end, once and for all, to the possibility of using the Net as a tool of violence and persecution."
According to figures cited by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center, Italy's leading research center on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, there are 1,200 Italian websites with some form of anti-Semitic content. "It is very difficult to intervene when the sites have their servers in other countries," as Stormfront does, the center's Michele Sarfatti said.
JTA News
Politicians denounced the Stormfront posting and called for action against online hatred. The list "reminds us of the most shameful page in our history when, based on similar lists, thousands of Italians were expelled from schools, universities and workplaces and were deprived of citizenship and persecuted," Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, said in a statement. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno expressed "shame and anger," and called those who posted the list "ignorant and racist cowards." Italian lawmaker Enrico Gasbarra called for urgent action by the European Union to implement legislation that would "put an end, once and for all, to the possibility of using the Net as a tool of violence and persecution."
According to figures cited by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center, Italy's leading research center on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, there are 1,200 Italian websites with some form of anti-Semitic content. "It is very difficult to intervene when the sites have their servers in other countries," as Stormfront does, the center's Michele Sarfatti said.
JTA News
POWER OUTAGE AT CZECH COURT HALTS TRIAL OF ATTACK ON HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST BY NEO-NAZIS (Czech Rep.)
Yesterday a court in Most had to suspend its hearing into an attack on Czech human rights activist Ondøej Cakl by several neo-Nazis. The attack was committed on 17 November 2008 during an attempted pogrom against Roma residents of the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov. František Brávek, a 27-year-old neo-Nazi, has been charged as one of the attackers who brutally beat Cakl and destroyed his video camera. A verdict was not handed down today due to a power failure at the courthouse. On 5 January, the court acquitted another suspected assailant, Martin Loskot, of related charges. Several minutes after the trial commenced, the lights went out in the courtroom; after 10 minutes of interruption, the power could not be restored. "We had to halt the trial for technical reasons. The lights in the courtroom were gradually turning off and then there was no power at all," Judge Benno Eichler said. The trial has been postponed until May.
The judge only managed to hear testimony from Ondøej Cakl today. "While I was filming the crowd of 800, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and slid down with me so that I flew sideways, and then all I could see were parts of the arms and legs that were striking me. I covered my head and did my best to get away. Luckily I succeeded," Cakl told the court. "Based on my memory of the scene of the crime, I am not able to identify the defendant as one of the attackers, but I am able to identify him on the basis of the photographs and video recordings made by the journalists who were present." "When I discovered that those who perpetrated the attack on Natálka had been captured on film standing next to the defendant during the march on Janov, I became concerned that they might commit a Molotov cocktail attack on our office or on my apartment . I concluded police would not be able to protect me, so I left the country," Cakl told the court.
Brávek, who is charged with rioting and could face a two-year sentence, refused to testify, referring the court to the statements he made in the preliminary hearing. After the trial was postponed, he told journalists he had not attacked Cakl, although he did admit to participating in the neo-Nazi march. "I participated in the march, but I was in the crowd. I did not see the incident described here until footage of it was released on the internet," Brávek said in response to journalists' questions. "The court should concern itself with more serious matters. That camera may have cost CZK 30 000 at the time, but today it probably only costs CZK 5 000," he added, trivializing the entire case.
Another defendant, Martin Loskot, was acquitted of all charges in the case by the court on 5 January. Loskot refused to testify in Brávek's case. Klára Kalibová, Cakl's attorney, has commissioned experts in biomechanics and biometrics to produce a professional evaluation of the evidence for the next phase of the trial. "This is a technical tool that facilitates the identification of those who perpetrate crimes," Kalibová told Czech Television. Petr Pánek of the state prosecutor's office in Most has confirmed that such evidence has not yet been considered. "However, it may be considered on appeal," he said.
Jiøí Straus, an expert witness in the field of biomechanics, says an attack of this sort cannot be ruled on without an expert evaluation. Experts are able to use visual images of an incident to precisely identify assailants. "A person's movements are relative and can be analyzed in very brief intervals to determine who was kicking and with what intensity," Straus told Czech Television.
Romea
The judge only managed to hear testimony from Ondøej Cakl today. "While I was filming the crowd of 800, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and slid down with me so that I flew sideways, and then all I could see were parts of the arms and legs that were striking me. I covered my head and did my best to get away. Luckily I succeeded," Cakl told the court. "Based on my memory of the scene of the crime, I am not able to identify the defendant as one of the attackers, but I am able to identify him on the basis of the photographs and video recordings made by the journalists who were present." "When I discovered that those who perpetrated the attack on Natálka had been captured on film standing next to the defendant during the march on Janov, I became concerned that they might commit a Molotov cocktail attack on our office or on my apartment . I concluded police would not be able to protect me, so I left the country," Cakl told the court.
Brávek, who is charged with rioting and could face a two-year sentence, refused to testify, referring the court to the statements he made in the preliminary hearing. After the trial was postponed, he told journalists he had not attacked Cakl, although he did admit to participating in the neo-Nazi march. "I participated in the march, but I was in the crowd. I did not see the incident described here until footage of it was released on the internet," Brávek said in response to journalists' questions. "The court should concern itself with more serious matters. That camera may have cost CZK 30 000 at the time, but today it probably only costs CZK 5 000," he added, trivializing the entire case.
Another defendant, Martin Loskot, was acquitted of all charges in the case by the court on 5 January. Loskot refused to testify in Brávek's case. Klára Kalibová, Cakl's attorney, has commissioned experts in biomechanics and biometrics to produce a professional evaluation of the evidence for the next phase of the trial. "This is a technical tool that facilitates the identification of those who perpetrate crimes," Kalibová told Czech Television. Petr Pánek of the state prosecutor's office in Most has confirmed that such evidence has not yet been considered. "However, it may be considered on appeal," he said.
Jiøí Straus, an expert witness in the field of biomechanics, says an attack of this sort cannot be ruled on without an expert evaluation. Experts are able to use visual images of an incident to precisely identify assailants. "A person's movements are relative and can be analyzed in very brief intervals to determine who was kicking and with what intensity," Straus told Czech Television.
Romea
SWEDEN LOOKS TO COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA
The suicide bombing in Stockholm risks resulting in suspicions being cast against hundreds of thousands of Swedish Muslims, Ullenhag writes in a debate article in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper. He argues that it is unacceptable to blame an entire group for one person’s actions. “We who believe in the Swedish values of openness and tolerance have a responsibility to fight the Islamophobia and prejudice which can follow in the wake of terror,” writes Ullenhag. “We should never allow one individual’s act to result in an entire religion being seen as suspect or having a group saddled with collective guilt.” He points out that "more than 99.9 percent" of Sweden's estimated 400,000 Muslims are not among the list of roughly 200 violent Islamic extremists in the country identified by Swedish security service Säpo. Ullenhag said he shared concerns expressed to him by Muslim students in the days following the December 11th suicide bombing in Stockholm that the blasts would affect perceptions of them and their families.
He also cites a recent study from Sweden's Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) which found that tolerance among Swedish youth for Muslim, Jews, and Roma had decreased in recent years. In an effort to counteract potential discrimination against Swedish Muslims that could result from the suicide bombing, Ullenhag is meeting on Thursday with a number of prominent leaders from Sweden’s Muslim community. “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss how the government can deepen its work to combat discrimination and an increasing Islamophobia,” writes Ullenhag. “I want to listen to the experiences of Swedish Muslims and talk about what we can do to reduce polarisation and stop barriers between groups and people from taking root.” Ullenhag further emphasised that Sweden should never abandon its ideals of openness and tolerance in the fight against terrorism. “If a suicide bomber succeeds in creating large divisions and increased intolerance – then terror has won,” he writes.
The Local Sweden
He also cites a recent study from Sweden's Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) which found that tolerance among Swedish youth for Muslim, Jews, and Roma had decreased in recent years. In an effort to counteract potential discrimination against Swedish Muslims that could result from the suicide bombing, Ullenhag is meeting on Thursday with a number of prominent leaders from Sweden’s Muslim community. “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss how the government can deepen its work to combat discrimination and an increasing Islamophobia,” writes Ullenhag. “I want to listen to the experiences of Swedish Muslims and talk about what we can do to reduce polarisation and stop barriers between groups and people from taking root.” Ullenhag further emphasised that Sweden should never abandon its ideals of openness and tolerance in the fight against terrorism. “If a suicide bomber succeeds in creating large divisions and increased intolerance – then terror has won,” he writes.
The Local Sweden
IN FRANCE, FAR RIGHT SEIZES ON MUSLIM STREET PRAYERS
A call to prayer goes up from a loudspeaker perched on the hood of a car, and all at once hundreds of Muslim worshippers touch their foreheads to the ground, forming a sea of backs down the road.
The scene is taking place not in downtown Cairo, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a short walk from the Sacre Coeur basilica. To locals, it's old news: some have been praying on the street, rain or shine, for decades. But for Marine Le Pen -- tipped to take over from her father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party -- it is proof that Muslims are taking over France and becoming an occupying force, according to remarks she made last month. Her comments caused a furore as she seized on the street prayers to drive home the idea that Islam is threatening the values of a secular country where anxiety over the role of Muslims in society has deepened in the past few years. More than two thirds of French and German people now consider the integration of Muslims into their societies a failure, pollster IFOP said in a survey published on Jan. 5. In France, where Islam is the second-largest religion after Catholicism, 42 percent saw it as a threat to national identity. "This has become a key political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Street prayers and the perceived growing influence of Islam are seen as impinging on French values of secularism, communal living."
Controversy over the street prayers has translated into growing confidence within the National Front, some 15 months before a presidential election likely to see a battle for votes between the far right and Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party. National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has said he expects the party to outdo its electoral performance in 2002, when it knocked out the mainstream Socialist candidate in the first round of voting, but then lost to Jacques Chirac. "These fears hang mostly on symbols: minarets in Switzerland, the niqab (full-face veil) in France, even the halal Quick menu," Dabi said, referring to a fast-food chain which recently opened a range of halal-only restaurants in France and Belgium. "The far right is playing on these fears." Le Pen's comments seem to be taking hold. A poll published by TNS Sofres this week, showed that support for National Front ideas has grown by 12 percentage points over the past year.
Mosque-o-phobia
Back on the market road, Friday prayers come to an end as quickly as they begin, with hundreds of worshippers packing up their mats and heading back to work. Many told Reuters that given the choice, they would avoid the cold and rain and pray indoors. The problem is that their warehouse-turned-prayer site, an unofficial mosque called al Fath, is too small to accommodate them all. "It's cold and filthy. Do you think we would be out here praying if we had the choice? The whole neighbourhood comes and prays in the street because there is not enough room inside, that's all," said Mohammed Delmi, 62. Such scenes are replicated at a dozen sites across France where worshippers kneel outside because prayer rooms are too full, according to a report by the centre-left daily Liberation.
"There are simply not enough of them," said Hakim El Karoui, head of the Islamic Culture Institute, which advises the City of Paris on faith issues. "It's no wonder there is an overflow." The problem has grown along with the country's Muslim population, which the French Council of Islamic Faith estimates at between 5-7 million, or 8 percent of the population -- a larger community than in any other European nation. Campaigners in favour of building new mosques said they faced two major difficulties, starting with financing: mosques in France must be funded privately due to restrictions against using public money for religious purposes. The second, pricklier issue is the public, which has grown increasingly intolerant of Islamic symbols. Research by pollster IFOP shows that support for building mosques fell to 20 percent in 2009 from 31 percent in 2000.
"We are walking on egg shells here," said Moussa Niambele, head of a group seeking new prayer space near the al Fath mosque. "There is the minaret issue in Switzerland and they do not want to import such problems to France." In Paris, where the Muslim population is denser than elsewhere in France, there is only one official mosque, La Grande Mosquee de Paris, located by a park on the posh Left Bank, far away from immigrant-heavy neighbourhoods. El Karoui said the problem had grown more acute since the closure of a large mosque in northern Paris two years ago forced more Muslims to pray in converted garages or vacant lots. A project to build two new prayer spaces which would be called "cultural" and "faith" centres lacks 5.9 million euros of private funding and building would not start before 2012. Worshippers were sceptical about the timetable. "You know, we have been praying on this street for years, long before Marine Le Pen made her remarks," said one man. "I am not going to throw away my raincoat quite yet."
Reuters
The scene is taking place not in downtown Cairo, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a short walk from the Sacre Coeur basilica. To locals, it's old news: some have been praying on the street, rain or shine, for decades. But for Marine Le Pen -- tipped to take over from her father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party -- it is proof that Muslims are taking over France and becoming an occupying force, according to remarks she made last month. Her comments caused a furore as she seized on the street prayers to drive home the idea that Islam is threatening the values of a secular country where anxiety over the role of Muslims in society has deepened in the past few years. More than two thirds of French and German people now consider the integration of Muslims into their societies a failure, pollster IFOP said in a survey published on Jan. 5. In France, where Islam is the second-largest religion after Catholicism, 42 percent saw it as a threat to national identity. "This has become a key political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Street prayers and the perceived growing influence of Islam are seen as impinging on French values of secularism, communal living."
Controversy over the street prayers has translated into growing confidence within the National Front, some 15 months before a presidential election likely to see a battle for votes between the far right and Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party. National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has said he expects the party to outdo its electoral performance in 2002, when it knocked out the mainstream Socialist candidate in the first round of voting, but then lost to Jacques Chirac. "These fears hang mostly on symbols: minarets in Switzerland, the niqab (full-face veil) in France, even the halal Quick menu," Dabi said, referring to a fast-food chain which recently opened a range of halal-only restaurants in France and Belgium. "The far right is playing on these fears." Le Pen's comments seem to be taking hold. A poll published by TNS Sofres this week, showed that support for National Front ideas has grown by 12 percentage points over the past year.
Mosque-o-phobia
Back on the market road, Friday prayers come to an end as quickly as they begin, with hundreds of worshippers packing up their mats and heading back to work. Many told Reuters that given the choice, they would avoid the cold and rain and pray indoors. The problem is that their warehouse-turned-prayer site, an unofficial mosque called al Fath, is too small to accommodate them all. "It's cold and filthy. Do you think we would be out here praying if we had the choice? The whole neighbourhood comes and prays in the street because there is not enough room inside, that's all," said Mohammed Delmi, 62. Such scenes are replicated at a dozen sites across France where worshippers kneel outside because prayer rooms are too full, according to a report by the centre-left daily Liberation.
"There are simply not enough of them," said Hakim El Karoui, head of the Islamic Culture Institute, which advises the City of Paris on faith issues. "It's no wonder there is an overflow." The problem has grown along with the country's Muslim population, which the French Council of Islamic Faith estimates at between 5-7 million, or 8 percent of the population -- a larger community than in any other European nation. Campaigners in favour of building new mosques said they faced two major difficulties, starting with financing: mosques in France must be funded privately due to restrictions against using public money for religious purposes. The second, pricklier issue is the public, which has grown increasingly intolerant of Islamic symbols. Research by pollster IFOP shows that support for building mosques fell to 20 percent in 2009 from 31 percent in 2000.
"We are walking on egg shells here," said Moussa Niambele, head of a group seeking new prayer space near the al Fath mosque. "There is the minaret issue in Switzerland and they do not want to import such problems to France." In Paris, where the Muslim population is denser than elsewhere in France, there is only one official mosque, La Grande Mosquee de Paris, located by a park on the posh Left Bank, far away from immigrant-heavy neighbourhoods. El Karoui said the problem had grown more acute since the closure of a large mosque in northern Paris two years ago forced more Muslims to pray in converted garages or vacant lots. A project to build two new prayer spaces which would be called "cultural" and "faith" centres lacks 5.9 million euros of private funding and building would not start before 2012. Worshippers were sceptical about the timetable. "You know, we have been praying on this street for years, long before Marine Le Pen made her remarks," said one man. "I am not going to throw away my raincoat quite yet."
Reuters
Thursday, 13 January 2011
EDL leader's assault charge dropped
CPS withdraws charge against Stephen Lennon after new evidence emerges
The founder of the English Defence League was told that a charge of assaulting a police officer, during clashes with Islamist protesters, had been dropped.
Stephen Lennon, 27, of Luton, was due to go on trial this afternoon at West London magistrates court, but the Crown Prosecution Service said it had withdrawn the charge after new evidence emerged. However, Lennon may face a charge under the Public Order Act.
Lennon was arrested in west London on Armistice Day last year. He was among EDL demonstrators who clashed with Islamist protesters burning poppies during the two-minute silence.
The Guardian
The founder of the English Defence League was told that a charge of assaulting a police officer, during clashes with Islamist protesters, had been dropped.
Stephen Lennon, 27, of Luton, was due to go on trial this afternoon at West London magistrates court, but the Crown Prosecution Service said it had withdrawn the charge after new evidence emerged. However, Lennon may face a charge under the Public Order Act.
Lennon was arrested in west London on Armistice Day last year. He was among EDL demonstrators who clashed with Islamist protesters burning poppies during the two-minute silence.
The Guardian
Moscow police arrest dozens to avert racist riots
Russian police on Tuesday arrested dozens of people suspected of planning a racist rally near the Kremlin walls, as authorities looked to avert a repeat of last month's riots by ultra-nationalists who objected to the presence of non-Slavs in the country.
The arrests came after jittery police cordoned off part of a public square outside the Kremlin and evacuated a nearby shopping mall.
At least 30 police trucks lined up on Manezh Square in response to internet threats by ultra-nationalists to repeat the Dec. 11 riots, in which 5,000 people chanted "Russia for Russians" and beat dark-skinned passers-by. The riots were a reaction to the killing of a white Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the south of the country. The violence left more than 30 people wounded and raised doubts about the government's ability to stem a rising tide of xenophobia. Days later, police detained 800 people in the capital and other cities to prevent further violence.
An Associated Press television crew saw at least 20 people taken to police vans Tuesday after a police document check, including one person wearing clothes bearing the initials of a well-known nationalist organization, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Russian news agencies said up to 100 people were detained.
Kremlin critics accuse the authorities of fomenting social disorder to justify a crackdown on the opposition before presidential elections in 2012. Since the unrest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed restricting the movement of nonresidents into big cities and President Dmitry Medvedev has called for mandatory prison sentences for people participating in unauthorized rallies. Moscow's police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said liberal values come a distant second to public order.
Critics, including former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, have said the measures proposed by Putin and Medvedev could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
Putin and Medvedev have said one of them will run for president in 2012, but they won't compete. It continues to appear that Putin, thought to retain real control over Russia since his eight-year stint as president ended in 2008, will run again.
While ethnic Russians make up four-fifths of Russia's population of 142 million, the country is also home to about 180 ethnic groups. The Caucasus region, with its mountainous terrain and isolated valleys, hosts at least 100 ethnicities including Chechens, who have waged two separatist wars since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
AP reporter David Nowak contributed to this report.
Fox News
The arrests came after jittery police cordoned off part of a public square outside the Kremlin and evacuated a nearby shopping mall.
At least 30 police trucks lined up on Manezh Square in response to internet threats by ultra-nationalists to repeat the Dec. 11 riots, in which 5,000 people chanted "Russia for Russians" and beat dark-skinned passers-by. The riots were a reaction to the killing of a white Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the south of the country. The violence left more than 30 people wounded and raised doubts about the government's ability to stem a rising tide of xenophobia. Days later, police detained 800 people in the capital and other cities to prevent further violence.
An Associated Press television crew saw at least 20 people taken to police vans Tuesday after a police document check, including one person wearing clothes bearing the initials of a well-known nationalist organization, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Russian news agencies said up to 100 people were detained.
Kremlin critics accuse the authorities of fomenting social disorder to justify a crackdown on the opposition before presidential elections in 2012. Since the unrest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed restricting the movement of nonresidents into big cities and President Dmitry Medvedev has called for mandatory prison sentences for people participating in unauthorized rallies. Moscow's police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said liberal values come a distant second to public order.
Critics, including former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, have said the measures proposed by Putin and Medvedev could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
Putin and Medvedev have said one of them will run for president in 2012, but they won't compete. It continues to appear that Putin, thought to retain real control over Russia since his eight-year stint as president ended in 2008, will run again.
While ethnic Russians make up four-fifths of Russia's population of 142 million, the country is also home to about 180 ethnic groups. The Caucasus region, with its mountainous terrain and isolated valleys, hosts at least 100 ethnicities including Chechens, who have waged two separatist wars since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
AP reporter David Nowak contributed to this report.
Fox News
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
EDL founder faces police assault trial (UK)
English Defence League founder Stephen Lennon is due to stand trial accused of assaulting a police officer during clashes with Islamic protesters in west London.
Lennon, of Layham Drive, Luton, was arrested by police in Kensington as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day last year.
Five others associated with his group were also arrested, as members of Muslims Against Crusades, a group which purports to "expose the enemies of Islam", burned remembrance poppies.
Two Muslim protesters were arrested for public order offences.
One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during the clashes, as about 50 men linked to the EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.
Lennon pleaded not guilty during a hearing in November at West London Magistrates' Court to assaulting a police officer.
The trial is due to begin at the same court on Wednesday.
Google Hosted News
Lennon, of Layham Drive, Luton, was arrested by police in Kensington as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day last year.
Five others associated with his group were also arrested, as members of Muslims Against Crusades, a group which purports to "expose the enemies of Islam", burned remembrance poppies.
Two Muslim protesters were arrested for public order offences.
One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during the clashes, as about 50 men linked to the EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.
Lennon pleaded not guilty during a hearing in November at West London Magistrates' Court to assaulting a police officer.
The trial is due to begin at the same court on Wednesday.
Google Hosted News
NEVER AGAIN' ASSOCIATION WINS EUROPEAN FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS AWARD (Poland)
The annual European Football Supporters Award (EFSA) has been awarded to groups promoting positive attitudes in sports since 2005. The jury is composed of representatives of UEFA, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the City of Brussels, the European Association of Sports Magazines and the 'Sport & Citizenship' association. It is led by Philippe Housiaux, the EFSA's initiator and spokesman. This year the selection was made from among 14 nominations coming from Belgium, France, Scotland, Germany, Poland, Wales, Turkey, Austria, Israel, Holland, Spain and Switzerland. According to the official EFSA statement, the 'NEVER AGAIN' Association has been selected for the award because of its “amazing battle against racism and xenophobia for the past 15 years”. “We are delighted to see so many years' hard work has been appreciated” - said Marcin Kornak, the Chairman of the 'NEVER AGAIN' Association who initiated its 'Let's Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums' campaign. - “Currently we focus on EURO 2012 preparations. We conduct educational activities, we also document racist incidents in Poland, Ukraine and other countries in the region”. The 'NEVER AGAIN' Association is an anti-racist educational and monitoring organization established in Poland in 1996.
It runs the 'Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums' campaign and actively participates in the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. Since 2009, 'NEVER AGAIN' has coordinated the FARE East European Development Project supported by UEFA in the lead up to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. 'NEVER AGAIN' has set up the East Europe Monitoring Centre documenting racism and xenophobia across the region.
FAREnet
It runs the 'Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums' campaign and actively participates in the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. Since 2009, 'NEVER AGAIN' has coordinated the FARE East European Development Project supported by UEFA in the lead up to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. 'NEVER AGAIN' has set up the East Europe Monitoring Centre documenting racism and xenophobia across the region.
FAREnet
Jewish-British anti-Muslim event in Toronto draws protests, arrests (UK)
Canadian Kahanists host British-based English Defense League, drawing anti-racist demonstrations.
Dozens of anti-racist activists demonstrated in front of a Zionist community center in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday to protest a public event organized by Jewish and British anti-Muslims. Four protestors were arrested in the fracas, and at least one police officer suffered a broken rib, according to The Globe and Mail.
The local chapter of the Jewish Defense League, an extreme-right organization founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, broadcasted a live speech by English Defense League founder Stephen Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson, drawing the ire of demonstrators.
The two groups on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean have found common cause in nationalist pride and Islamophobic rhetoric. Both groups claim that they do not promote prejudice against others, only pride in their own respective ethnicities, but critics accuse them of spreading hate against Arabs and other Muslims.
One group of demonstrators maintained a vigil across the intersection from the Zionist building, while a separate group of demonstrators marched towards the community center to confront the JDL. Police on foot and on horseback intervened and corralled the protestors, The Globe and Mail reported.
Toronto police said that one of their officers was had been taken to hospital with a broken rib after he was hit with a flagpole. At the end of the demonstration, police noticed that one of their squad cars had been vandalized, its windows smashed.
Anti-Racist Action, which organized the second group of protestors, claim that police responded violently, kicking one demonstrator in the face. Officers confiscated the cameras of activists videotaping the arrests and wiped their memory cards clean, say the ARA.
The EDL website says that the group's aims are to oppose what it calls the application of Sharia law in the U.K. “The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it’s Islam,” Lennon told the BBC in November. “And no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will."
“The EDL has organized violent street marches that target Arab and Muslim people,” read an open letter signed by the organizers of Tuesday's protest. “They are part of an alarming rise in fascist, racist and neo-Nazi organizing in Europe over the last few years, including attacks on Muslims, immigrants and Roma people.”
“JDL supports the EDL,” says an announcement on the JDL Canadian website. “Now is the time to step forward and stop Political Islam. The British Establishment is following the appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain," it reads, a reference to the British prime minister who tried to placate Adolf Hitler, implying that Muslims represent a threat of Nazi proportions.
In Israel, the Kach political party established by JDL founder Rabbi Meir Kahane was banned from running for the Knesset in 1992, due to its racist platform, but in recent years Kahane's followers have entered the Knesset under different names, and some of Kahane's proposed policies are now unabashedly espoused by ministers in the current government.
Bernie Farber of the establishment Jewish organization Canadian Jewish Congress, said of the JDL on the CJN website, "As long as they maintain the peace, as long as they do not engage in racist language or hate or violate Canadian law, they have the right to exist."
Farber said he was disappointed that the JDL would support the EDL because of its record of violence. But, he told the National Post, "Islamic fundamentalism is a real threat."
Haartez
Dozens of anti-racist activists demonstrated in front of a Zionist community center in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday to protest a public event organized by Jewish and British anti-Muslims. Four protestors were arrested in the fracas, and at least one police officer suffered a broken rib, according to The Globe and Mail.
The local chapter of the Jewish Defense League, an extreme-right organization founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, broadcasted a live speech by English Defense League founder Stephen Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson, drawing the ire of demonstrators.
The two groups on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean have found common cause in nationalist pride and Islamophobic rhetoric. Both groups claim that they do not promote prejudice against others, only pride in their own respective ethnicities, but critics accuse them of spreading hate against Arabs and other Muslims.
One group of demonstrators maintained a vigil across the intersection from the Zionist building, while a separate group of demonstrators marched towards the community center to confront the JDL. Police on foot and on horseback intervened and corralled the protestors, The Globe and Mail reported.
Toronto police said that one of their officers was had been taken to hospital with a broken rib after he was hit with a flagpole. At the end of the demonstration, police noticed that one of their squad cars had been vandalized, its windows smashed.
Anti-Racist Action, which organized the second group of protestors, claim that police responded violently, kicking one demonstrator in the face. Officers confiscated the cameras of activists videotaping the arrests and wiped their memory cards clean, say the ARA.
The EDL website says that the group's aims are to oppose what it calls the application of Sharia law in the U.K. “The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it’s Islam,” Lennon told the BBC in November. “And no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will."
“The EDL has organized violent street marches that target Arab and Muslim people,” read an open letter signed by the organizers of Tuesday's protest. “They are part of an alarming rise in fascist, racist and neo-Nazi organizing in Europe over the last few years, including attacks on Muslims, immigrants and Roma people.”
“JDL supports the EDL,” says an announcement on the JDL Canadian website. “Now is the time to step forward and stop Political Islam. The British Establishment is following the appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain," it reads, a reference to the British prime minister who tried to placate Adolf Hitler, implying that Muslims represent a threat of Nazi proportions.
In Israel, the Kach political party established by JDL founder Rabbi Meir Kahane was banned from running for the Knesset in 1992, due to its racist platform, but in recent years Kahane's followers have entered the Knesset under different names, and some of Kahane's proposed policies are now unabashedly espoused by ministers in the current government.
Bernie Farber of the establishment Jewish organization Canadian Jewish Congress, said of the JDL on the CJN website, "As long as they maintain the peace, as long as they do not engage in racist language or hate or violate Canadian law, they have the right to exist."
Farber said he was disappointed that the JDL would support the EDL because of its record of violence. But, he told the National Post, "Islamic fundamentalism is a real threat."
Haartez
Six months in prison for racist thug (UK)
A racist thug has been jailed after attacking a female security guard.
Richard Cochrane, 31, was being held in a cell when he pushed the woman and hurled racist abuse at her.
Cochrane, of Wheatley Court, Mixenden, was being held in the cells at Calderdale Magistrates Court with his brother, William, after a court appearance on February 11, 2010.
GS4 security guard, Carolina Silviera, was bringing William back to the cell when there was an altercation at the cell door.
At that point Cochrane ran out of the cell towards Miss Silviera and pushed her backwards.
He called her racist names' before saying she was 'going to get her head kicked in'.
Bradford Crown Court heard how the attack had left Miss Silviera apprehensive and lacking confidence in the workplace and socially.
Cochrane initially denied the incident in police interview but later pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating.
He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Judge Peter Benson said: "If it had just been the assault you would have served three months but it seems to me the racially aggravation of this offence merits another three months."
Halifax Courier
Richard Cochrane, 31, was being held in a cell when he pushed the woman and hurled racist abuse at her.
Cochrane, of Wheatley Court, Mixenden, was being held in the cells at Calderdale Magistrates Court with his brother, William, after a court appearance on February 11, 2010.
GS4 security guard, Carolina Silviera, was bringing William back to the cell when there was an altercation at the cell door.
At that point Cochrane ran out of the cell towards Miss Silviera and pushed her backwards.
He called her racist names' before saying she was 'going to get her head kicked in'.
Bradford Crown Court heard how the attack had left Miss Silviera apprehensive and lacking confidence in the workplace and socially.
Cochrane initially denied the incident in police interview but later pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating.
He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Judge Peter Benson said: "If it had just been the assault you would have served three months but it seems to me the racially aggravation of this offence merits another three months."
Halifax Courier
Pupils' reward for anti-racism efforts (UK)
Children from three city schools are being rewarded for their work in tackling racism.
A total of £25,000 was awarded to Lincoln City FC's sport and education trust last year to run a two-year programme funded by Nike's Stand Up Speak Up campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2005 by French football star Thierry Henry following reports of racist incidents in football.
The money was raised by the sale of two interlocked wristbands, one black and one white.
Children from Monks Abbey, St Peter at Gowts and Bishop King primary schools in Lincoln are this week receiving awards for taking part in the project teaching them how discrimination has a negative affect on people's lives.
This is Lincolnshire
A total of £25,000 was awarded to Lincoln City FC's sport and education trust last year to run a two-year programme funded by Nike's Stand Up Speak Up campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2005 by French football star Thierry Henry following reports of racist incidents in football.
The money was raised by the sale of two interlocked wristbands, one black and one white.
Children from Monks Abbey, St Peter at Gowts and Bishop King primary schools in Lincoln are this week receiving awards for taking part in the project teaching them how discrimination has a negative affect on people's lives.
This is Lincolnshire
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Second N.S. brother to be sentenced for hate crime in cross-burning (Canada)
The second of two Nova Scotia brothers convicted of a hate crime for burning a cross on an interracial couple's lawn last winter will be sentenced today.
Justin Rehberg, 20, of Avondale was convicted last fall of inciting racial hatred and criminal harassment.
His 21-year-old brother, Nathan, was sentenced Monday to six months in jail, minus four months credit for time already served.
Prosecutor Darrell Carmichael said Monday he recommends a lesser sentence for the younger Rehberg.
Nathan Rehberg wept in court and apologized for setting a 2.5-metre wooden cross on fire last year outside the Poplar Grove home of Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon.
Howe, who is black, and Lyon, who is white, testified they awoke in the middle of the night last Feb. 21 to the sight of a blazing cross on their lawn.
Howe said after Monday's sentencing that he accepted Rehberg's apology.
Winnipeg Free Press
Justin Rehberg, 20, of Avondale was convicted last fall of inciting racial hatred and criminal harassment.
His 21-year-old brother, Nathan, was sentenced Monday to six months in jail, minus four months credit for time already served.
Prosecutor Darrell Carmichael said Monday he recommends a lesser sentence for the younger Rehberg.
Nathan Rehberg wept in court and apologized for setting a 2.5-metre wooden cross on fire last year outside the Poplar Grove home of Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon.
Howe, who is black, and Lyon, who is white, testified they awoke in the middle of the night last Feb. 21 to the sight of a blazing cross on their lawn.
Howe said after Monday's sentencing that he accepted Rehberg's apology.
Winnipeg Free Press
Borough Council wants EDL march in Luton banned (UK)
Luton Borough Council has written to the home secretary asking her to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League (EDL) in the town next month.
The EDL, which says it opposes Islamic extremism, wants to march through Luton on 5 February.
The council also wants Theresa May to extend the banning order to any proposed counter protests by groups such as Unite Against Fascism.
In a statement the council said there was a real risk of disorder.
'Spark tensions'
"We recognise that a banning order on the EDL and counter demonstrators would not prohibit them from holding a static demonstration," the statement said.
"However a march is, in our opinion, provocative and not conducive to the public good at this time and would risk serious disorder."
The council said that any march proposed by the EDL would need to travel through residential areas from the railway station and other access points into the town.
"The presence of high numbers of demonstrators supporting rival and diametrically opposing views is not conducive to the wellbeing of our community and has the potential to spark tensions and community impacts which as a council we have worked so hard to avoid in recent years," the statement went on to say.
The EDL, Unite Against Fascism and the TUC demonstrated in Peterborough on 11 December.
A 28-year-old was arrested and bailed in relation to those protest marches.
BBC News
The EDL, which says it opposes Islamic extremism, wants to march through Luton on 5 February.
The council also wants Theresa May to extend the banning order to any proposed counter protests by groups such as Unite Against Fascism.
In a statement the council said there was a real risk of disorder.
'Spark tensions'
"We recognise that a banning order on the EDL and counter demonstrators would not prohibit them from holding a static demonstration," the statement said.
"However a march is, in our opinion, provocative and not conducive to the public good at this time and would risk serious disorder."
The council said that any march proposed by the EDL would need to travel through residential areas from the railway station and other access points into the town.
"The presence of high numbers of demonstrators supporting rival and diametrically opposing views is not conducive to the wellbeing of our community and has the potential to spark tensions and community impacts which as a council we have worked so hard to avoid in recent years," the statement went on to say.
The EDL, Unite Against Fascism and the TUC demonstrated in Peterborough on 11 December.
A 28-year-old was arrested and bailed in relation to those protest marches.
BBC News
Police hunt racist thugs over attack in Manchester (UK)
Police are hunting a gang of racist thugs who attacked and robbed a door-to-door salesman in Greater Manchester.
The victim, a 20-year-old Asian man, was working on the Limeside Estate, in Oldham, selling digital television products, on the afternoon of Wednesday 5th January when he was assaulted.
He was working around Walkers Road, Oak Road and Firth Avenue but throughout the afternoon, a group of five white men were walking around the estate shouting racial abuse at the victim.
At about 6pm, on Hollins Road, the group approached the victim, grabbed him, racially abused him and demanded his mobile phone and cash.
They pushed him against a wall and patted his body for items. As they tried to grab his mobile the victim resisted and he was punched twice to the head by one of the offenders, who then intimated he had a knife.
The group ran off with the phone.
The main offender in the group was about 5ft 6in tall of medium build with dark hair. He was wearing a lime green hooded top.
Police Constable Andrew Swettenham said: "This was a horrendous experience for this man, who was simply trying to do his job. The abuse that he suffered culminated in an attack where he was robbed.
"Someone on this estate will know who these people are and may even have witnessed this incident."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9577 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Click Manchester
The victim, a 20-year-old Asian man, was working on the Limeside Estate, in Oldham, selling digital television products, on the afternoon of Wednesday 5th January when he was assaulted.
He was working around Walkers Road, Oak Road and Firth Avenue but throughout the afternoon, a group of five white men were walking around the estate shouting racial abuse at the victim.
At about 6pm, on Hollins Road, the group approached the victim, grabbed him, racially abused him and demanded his mobile phone and cash.
They pushed him against a wall and patted his body for items. As they tried to grab his mobile the victim resisted and he was punched twice to the head by one of the offenders, who then intimated he had a knife.
The group ran off with the phone.
The main offender in the group was about 5ft 6in tall of medium build with dark hair. He was wearing a lime green hooded top.
Police Constable Andrew Swettenham said: "This was a horrendous experience for this man, who was simply trying to do his job. The abuse that he suffered culminated in an attack where he was robbed.
"Someone on this estate will know who these people are and may even have witnessed this incident."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9577 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Click Manchester
Monday, 10 January 2011
Deputy state prosecutor target of far-right hate video (Israel)
Clip reportedly calls for Shai Nitzan's murder after he asked police to investigate anti-Arab Facebook groups; PM: Incitement hurts democracy.
The deputy state prosecutor Shai Nitzan has become the target of a video circulating the Internet which reportedly called for his murder, after he asked the Israel Police last week to launch an investigation into two Facebook groups that contained anti-Arab racist content on Wednesday.
Nitzan said the Facebook groups, which were were opened under the names "Death to all Arabs" and "Demonstration in Umm el-Fahm against the Islamic Movement," had violated anti-racism and anti-incitement laws.
RELATED:
Opinion: That we need a reminder to integrate Arabs is shameful
Police question Eliahu on anti-Arab posters from 2008
Israel Radio reported on Monday that the video, which ended with the slogan "Kahane was right," accused Nitzan of failing to investigate Arab incitement and focusing only on Jews.
The video has been distributed via email, and was sent by an individual posing as the Justice Minister, Yaackov Neeman.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on police to investigate the video and track down those who made it, saying, "criticism is legitimate but incitement and calls to murder... harm the values of democracy of the State of Israel and must be severed."
The "Death to all Arabs" Facebook group had 170 followers, and included clear calls for acts of violence against Arabs and support for such acts, Nitzan stated last week.
A police source told The Jerusalem Post that video "was being examined" by investigators.
Jerusalem Post
The deputy state prosecutor Shai Nitzan has become the target of a video circulating the Internet which reportedly called for his murder, after he asked the Israel Police last week to launch an investigation into two Facebook groups that contained anti-Arab racist content on Wednesday.
Nitzan said the Facebook groups, which were were opened under the names "Death to all Arabs" and "Demonstration in Umm el-Fahm against the Islamic Movement," had violated anti-racism and anti-incitement laws.
RELATED:
Opinion: That we need a reminder to integrate Arabs is shameful
Police question Eliahu on anti-Arab posters from 2008
Israel Radio reported on Monday that the video, which ended with the slogan "Kahane was right," accused Nitzan of failing to investigate Arab incitement and focusing only on Jews.
The video has been distributed via email, and was sent by an individual posing as the Justice Minister, Yaackov Neeman.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on police to investigate the video and track down those who made it, saying, "criticism is legitimate but incitement and calls to murder... harm the values of democracy of the State of Israel and must be severed."
The "Death to all Arabs" Facebook group had 170 followers, and included clear calls for acts of violence against Arabs and support for such acts, Nitzan stated last week.
A police source told The Jerusalem Post that video "was being examined" by investigators.
Jerusalem Post
Survey to uncover real extent of hate crime (UK)
An attempt to uncover the true extent of hate crime in South Wales is being made, with the launch of a new survey.
Experts fear the number of attacks they know about is just the tip of the iceberg, with up to 90% of offences not reported to police.
The survey, launched by the Cardiff and the Vale Equality and Human Rights Network, will investigate racial and religiously motivated crimes as well as those motivated by hostility against disability, gender and sexual orientation.
Disability rights campaigner Simon Green, confined to a wheelchair after suffering a series of benign tumours on his legs, said: “I might be on a night out in town, sitting in a cafe with my mother, or shopping in the supermarket, and someone will walk up to me and make a vile, derogatory comment about my disability.
“People have called me a cripple, have said they will wring my neck and have tried to tip me out of my wheelchair.”
The 35-year-old, from Bryntirion, Bridgend, said: “People will excuse it as friendly banter, but it’s a crime.
“The work that is being done to highlight this issue is massively important because there are people out there who don’t realise they can report these attacks.”
The survey is part of the three-year Big Lottery funded All Wales Hate Crime Research Project, led by Cardiff-based Race Equality First in partnership with Cardiff University.
Race Equality First’s Mair Rigby said: “I am of the opinion that hate crime is significantly under-reported in Wales.
“As we don’t know the actual amount of hate crime, it’s difficult to give a degree or percentage. But most surveys show that across strands between 50% to 90% of victims state not reporting hate crime to the police. The police estimate that about 90% of homophobic hate crime goes unreported, for example.
“We need more research to give us a better idea of the true levels of under-reporting.”
People can register their interest in participating in the survey by going to the website: www.waleshatecrimeresearch.com
Wales Online
Experts fear the number of attacks they know about is just the tip of the iceberg, with up to 90% of offences not reported to police.
The survey, launched by the Cardiff and the Vale Equality and Human Rights Network, will investigate racial and religiously motivated crimes as well as those motivated by hostility against disability, gender and sexual orientation.
Disability rights campaigner Simon Green, confined to a wheelchair after suffering a series of benign tumours on his legs, said: “I might be on a night out in town, sitting in a cafe with my mother, or shopping in the supermarket, and someone will walk up to me and make a vile, derogatory comment about my disability.
“People have called me a cripple, have said they will wring my neck and have tried to tip me out of my wheelchair.”
The 35-year-old, from Bryntirion, Bridgend, said: “People will excuse it as friendly banter, but it’s a crime.
“The work that is being done to highlight this issue is massively important because there are people out there who don’t realise they can report these attacks.”
The survey is part of the three-year Big Lottery funded All Wales Hate Crime Research Project, led by Cardiff-based Race Equality First in partnership with Cardiff University.
Race Equality First’s Mair Rigby said: “I am of the opinion that hate crime is significantly under-reported in Wales.
“As we don’t know the actual amount of hate crime, it’s difficult to give a degree or percentage. But most surveys show that across strands between 50% to 90% of victims state not reporting hate crime to the police. The police estimate that about 90% of homophobic hate crime goes unreported, for example.
“We need more research to give us a better idea of the true levels of under-reporting.”
People can register their interest in participating in the survey by going to the website: www.waleshatecrimeresearch.com
Wales Online
Liverpool players accused of racism in FA Youth Cup tie at Anfield (UK)
• Crystal Palace player 'disgusted with racism throughout game'
• We didn't receive any complaints, says Liverpool spokesman
• We didn't receive any complaints, says Liverpool spokesman
The Football Association intends to contact Palace today for a full account of what happened and to ascertain whether they intend to make an official complaint. Palace were not returning calls yesterday.
The FA may also ask to speak to Dan Pringle, one of the players involved in a 3-1 defeat for Palace. Pringle expressed his dismay on his Twitter account after the match, saying: "Disappointed with result but really disgusted with the racism from Liverpool throughout the game. Disgraceful."
When he was contacted by several Palace supporters he later clarified that he was talking about Liverpool's players rather than the crowd.
Liverpool reacted with surprise, not least as they had several black players in their team. A club spokesman said: "We didn't receive any complaints either during or after the game and nothing was mentioned by the referee."
Liverpool's academy side are managed by Rodolfo Borrell, who was appointed in July 2009 after a successful 13-year spell at Barcelona, where he managed every age group from under‑11 to under‑17.
The Guardian
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Arson attacks against Berlin mosques continue (Germany)
Detectives said on Saturday there was a message left at the site of the attack at the Ahmadiyya community in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, but did not reveal what it said.
Someone had set the entrance to the mosque on fire, but the passer-by noticed the flames at around 1:45 am on Saturday, and started putting out the blaze himself. When police officers arrived, they finished off the job with a fire extinguisher from their vehicle.
Criminal detectives are now on the case, trying to determine whether there is a link between this attack and arson attacks on other mosques during 2010.
The last six months of last year saw six such attacks – the Shitlik mosque on Columbiadamm was attacked in June, twice in August and again in November, while the Neukölln Al-Nur mosque was attacked in November and an Islamic cultural centre in Tempelhof was targeted in December.
No-one was hurt in any of the attacks, but damage was done in every case.
The Local Germany
THE AGONISING PACE OF THE LAST NAZI TRIAL (Germany)
The final chance to get justice for 27,900 Jews murdered at Sobibor has descended into farce
He used to cover his face with a grey baseball cap to try to escape the glare of publicity, but that was over a year ago. These days the judges have relented: the man alleged to be the last Nazi mass murderer to face justice is allowed to wear sunglasses in court all the time – even if the world's media now virtually ignores him. Ninety-year-old John Demjanjuk is suspected of having been a brutal prison guard at the infamous Sobibor extermination camp in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. He stands accused of complicity in the slaughter of 27,900 Jews, most of whom were Dutch. Yet, lying prone on a hospital bed wrapped up in a green prison coverlet, Mr Demjanjuk often falls asleep as evidence against him is read out in court. The Demjanjuk trial has been billed as Germany's, and quite possibly the world's, final attempt to bring one of the remaining suspected Nazi war criminals to justice. For elderly Holocaust survivors such as Jules Schelvis, whose entire family was murdered in Sobibor, a verdict is far more important than retribution: "Justice must be done and be seen to be done, the sentence is almost irrelevant," he declared as the trial opened. He is one of the very few to have survived Sobibor.
The Munich court case against Mr Demjanjuk began in November 2009 and was meant to end in early 2010 at the latest. No one is making predictions now. "We are not quite sure when it will end," said Michael Koch, one of the lawyers representing the families of Sobibor victims. "If things don't go in our favour, we could still be here in October." The scores of reporters from across the globe who attended the trial opening have gone. So have nearly all the relatives of those who were murdered in Sobibor. As a result, the case has been shifted to Munich Court B266, a smaller and dingier 1970s-built courtroom. Among the few journalists who now cover the proceedings is a reporter who works for a neo-Nazi website. Were it not for the gravity of the crimes that Ukranian-born defendant is alleged to have committed, his appearances in court, would qualify as material for a television farce. The trial often degenerates into stand-up shouting matches between Ralph Alt, the presiding judge, and Ulrich Busch, Mr Demjanjuk's defence lawyer – not least because the proceedings are agonisingly slow. Every shred of evidence read out in court has to be simultaneously translated into Ukranian by a court translator to enable Mr Demjanjuk to comprehend what is going on. Yet the accused says nothing and only ever opens his mouth to emit moans or strange gurgling sounds.
The proceedings have been slowed to a snail's pace by the aged and apparently ailing defendant's state of health. Doctors have ruled that bone marrow disease and the fact that he suffers from anaemia, attacks of gout, and chronic hip pain mean that he is only fit to appear in court for two days a week for a maximum of three hours a day. They are by no means certain that he will live long enough to witness the end of his own trial. Proceedings often grind to a halt as soon as they start with doctors proclaiming that their patient is "not well enough to attend court today". Mr Demjanjuk is then driven back to his cell in Stadelheim prison, Munich, where he has been incarcerated since his extradition from the US in May 2009. But Mr Demjanjuk's health is far from being the only barrier in the way of justice being done and being seen to be done. The prosecution case is severely hampered by the fact that there is not a single witness still alive who remembers having seen Mr Demjanjuk in Sobibor. One of the few witnesses who had been expected to help solve this problem was a former Nazi death camp guard called Samuel Kunz who had been due to give evidence last month. But Kunz, who also faced the prospect of being tried himself for the alleged murder of thousands of Jews, died quietly at his home near Bonn in the middle of November aged 89.
The main piece of evidence against Mr Demjanjuk is what is alleged to be his SS identity card, No 1393, which has been released to the court from former Soviet archives. The other is a statement by a former and now deceased camp guard called Ignat Danilchenko, who testified under Soviet interrogation that he had seen Mr Demjanjuk driving Jews into the gas chambers of Sobibor. However, Mr Demjanjuk's defence lawyer argues that the ID card is a fake document manufactured by the KGB in order to deliberately incriminate Mr Demjanjuk. He has also found other statements by Danilchenko which contradict his claims about having seen Mr Demjanjuk in Sobibor. In 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned a previous conviction of Demjanjuk saying it had reasonable doubts about his identification as another Nazi prison guard nicknamed Ivan the Terrible. The court must also decide whether to accept an argument put forward by the prosecution, which has no legal precedent in post-war death camp trials. This proposition, backed by historians' research, maintains that simply by being employed as an SS guard in Sobibor, Mr Demjanjuk would automatically have taken part in the mass murder of prisoners. The defence argues that such claims are ridiculous, and that the prosecution must prove not only that he was there but that he also murdered.
Mr Demjanjuk may never have addressed the court in person, but on the first anniversary of the opening of his court case in Germany last November, his lawyer read out a statement from him. In it, Mr Demjanjuk claimed to be a "simple prisoner of war" who was being unjustly prosecuted by a German judiciary which in the past had not only acquitted war criminals but also not even bothered to prosecute them. History bears out his latter claim. Germany's post-war legal system was often massively short on justice. Back in 1966, 11 former Nazi SS men were tried by a West German court for the genocide at Sobibor. Only Karl Frenzel, the camp commandant, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes. The court heard accounts of how Frenzel whipped a dying prisoner and then pulled out a pistol and shot him dead. Five other defendants were given jail terms of between three and eight years. The other five were acquitted. At scores of similar trials during the same era, defendants had charges against them dropped simply because they could argue that they were only obeying orders and that not to have done so would have meant their own certain deaths.
The Demjanjuk trial, as today's fortysomething state prosecutors and lawyers put it, is an attempt by a "new generation within the German judicial system" to make amends for the gross shortcomings of the past. German historian Norbert Frei sums it up as follows: "The Germans owe it not only to the victims and the survivors to put Mr Demjanjuk on trial, they also owe it to themselves."
The Independant
He used to cover his face with a grey baseball cap to try to escape the glare of publicity, but that was over a year ago. These days the judges have relented: the man alleged to be the last Nazi mass murderer to face justice is allowed to wear sunglasses in court all the time – even if the world's media now virtually ignores him. Ninety-year-old John Demjanjuk is suspected of having been a brutal prison guard at the infamous Sobibor extermination camp in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. He stands accused of complicity in the slaughter of 27,900 Jews, most of whom were Dutch. Yet, lying prone on a hospital bed wrapped up in a green prison coverlet, Mr Demjanjuk often falls asleep as evidence against him is read out in court. The Demjanjuk trial has been billed as Germany's, and quite possibly the world's, final attempt to bring one of the remaining suspected Nazi war criminals to justice. For elderly Holocaust survivors such as Jules Schelvis, whose entire family was murdered in Sobibor, a verdict is far more important than retribution: "Justice must be done and be seen to be done, the sentence is almost irrelevant," he declared as the trial opened. He is one of the very few to have survived Sobibor.
The Munich court case against Mr Demjanjuk began in November 2009 and was meant to end in early 2010 at the latest. No one is making predictions now. "We are not quite sure when it will end," said Michael Koch, one of the lawyers representing the families of Sobibor victims. "If things don't go in our favour, we could still be here in October." The scores of reporters from across the globe who attended the trial opening have gone. So have nearly all the relatives of those who were murdered in Sobibor. As a result, the case has been shifted to Munich Court B266, a smaller and dingier 1970s-built courtroom. Among the few journalists who now cover the proceedings is a reporter who works for a neo-Nazi website. Were it not for the gravity of the crimes that Ukranian-born defendant is alleged to have committed, his appearances in court, would qualify as material for a television farce. The trial often degenerates into stand-up shouting matches between Ralph Alt, the presiding judge, and Ulrich Busch, Mr Demjanjuk's defence lawyer – not least because the proceedings are agonisingly slow. Every shred of evidence read out in court has to be simultaneously translated into Ukranian by a court translator to enable Mr Demjanjuk to comprehend what is going on. Yet the accused says nothing and only ever opens his mouth to emit moans or strange gurgling sounds.
The proceedings have been slowed to a snail's pace by the aged and apparently ailing defendant's state of health. Doctors have ruled that bone marrow disease and the fact that he suffers from anaemia, attacks of gout, and chronic hip pain mean that he is only fit to appear in court for two days a week for a maximum of three hours a day. They are by no means certain that he will live long enough to witness the end of his own trial. Proceedings often grind to a halt as soon as they start with doctors proclaiming that their patient is "not well enough to attend court today". Mr Demjanjuk is then driven back to his cell in Stadelheim prison, Munich, where he has been incarcerated since his extradition from the US in May 2009. But Mr Demjanjuk's health is far from being the only barrier in the way of justice being done and being seen to be done. The prosecution case is severely hampered by the fact that there is not a single witness still alive who remembers having seen Mr Demjanjuk in Sobibor. One of the few witnesses who had been expected to help solve this problem was a former Nazi death camp guard called Samuel Kunz who had been due to give evidence last month. But Kunz, who also faced the prospect of being tried himself for the alleged murder of thousands of Jews, died quietly at his home near Bonn in the middle of November aged 89.
The main piece of evidence against Mr Demjanjuk is what is alleged to be his SS identity card, No 1393, which has been released to the court from former Soviet archives. The other is a statement by a former and now deceased camp guard called Ignat Danilchenko, who testified under Soviet interrogation that he had seen Mr Demjanjuk driving Jews into the gas chambers of Sobibor. However, Mr Demjanjuk's defence lawyer argues that the ID card is a fake document manufactured by the KGB in order to deliberately incriminate Mr Demjanjuk. He has also found other statements by Danilchenko which contradict his claims about having seen Mr Demjanjuk in Sobibor. In 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned a previous conviction of Demjanjuk saying it had reasonable doubts about his identification as another Nazi prison guard nicknamed Ivan the Terrible. The court must also decide whether to accept an argument put forward by the prosecution, which has no legal precedent in post-war death camp trials. This proposition, backed by historians' research, maintains that simply by being employed as an SS guard in Sobibor, Mr Demjanjuk would automatically have taken part in the mass murder of prisoners. The defence argues that such claims are ridiculous, and that the prosecution must prove not only that he was there but that he also murdered.
Mr Demjanjuk may never have addressed the court in person, but on the first anniversary of the opening of his court case in Germany last November, his lawyer read out a statement from him. In it, Mr Demjanjuk claimed to be a "simple prisoner of war" who was being unjustly prosecuted by a German judiciary which in the past had not only acquitted war criminals but also not even bothered to prosecute them. History bears out his latter claim. Germany's post-war legal system was often massively short on justice. Back in 1966, 11 former Nazi SS men were tried by a West German court for the genocide at Sobibor. Only Karl Frenzel, the camp commandant, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes. The court heard accounts of how Frenzel whipped a dying prisoner and then pulled out a pistol and shot him dead. Five other defendants were given jail terms of between three and eight years. The other five were acquitted. At scores of similar trials during the same era, defendants had charges against them dropped simply because they could argue that they were only obeying orders and that not to have done so would have meant their own certain deaths.
The Demjanjuk trial, as today's fortysomething state prosecutors and lawyers put it, is an attempt by a "new generation within the German judicial system" to make amends for the gross shortcomings of the past. German historian Norbert Frei sums it up as follows: "The Germans owe it not only to the victims and the survivors to put Mr Demjanjuk on trial, they also owe it to themselves."
The Independant
Boss racially harassed manager, tribunal rules (UK)
A company boss harassed a London-based office manager by making a "highly offensive racist remark", an employment tribunal has ruled.
David Wood asked in the presence of Valerie Moxam, "Why is it that white girls like black men?" then laughed, the panel found.
Ms Moxam was later fired by text message by Mr Wood, managing director of landscaping contractor Visible Changes, though that was not racially motivated, the tribunal in Watford said.
However at a subsequent grievance meeting, Mr Wood made another racist remark, saying: "Yeah, I often joked about 'Why do black men have big c****?'," which also amounted to harassment, it found.
Other claims of discrimination, including against the company's health and safety co-ordinator Susan Ward, failed.
British-born Ms Moxam's parents are from Jamaica. She is fair-skinned like her parents, and has ginger hair and blue/green eyes.
Ms Moxam, 42, of Dolphin Road, Northolt, west London, said after the hearing: "The past 18 months have been extremely challenging and stressful, but I felt so strongly that I wouldn't give up.
"What I have learned from this victory is that it is important for each one of us to take a stand and fight for respect and dignity. It is our civil liberty. People must be held accountable for their actions in the workplace."
Employment judge John Hobson said of Mr Wood's remark about white girls liking black men, which the panel found had been said: "This was a highly offensive racist remark in the presence of the claimant and amounted to harassment."
Claims against the company, of South Harrow, north-west London, and Mr Wood of race discrimination by harassment were upheld. It was understood that the parties reached a financial settlement after the findings.
Milngavie Herald
David Wood asked in the presence of Valerie Moxam, "Why is it that white girls like black men?" then laughed, the panel found.
Ms Moxam was later fired by text message by Mr Wood, managing director of landscaping contractor Visible Changes, though that was not racially motivated, the tribunal in Watford said.
However at a subsequent grievance meeting, Mr Wood made another racist remark, saying: "Yeah, I often joked about 'Why do black men have big c****?'," which also amounted to harassment, it found.
Other claims of discrimination, including against the company's health and safety co-ordinator Susan Ward, failed.
British-born Ms Moxam's parents are from Jamaica. She is fair-skinned like her parents, and has ginger hair and blue/green eyes.
Ms Moxam, 42, of Dolphin Road, Northolt, west London, said after the hearing: "The past 18 months have been extremely challenging and stressful, but I felt so strongly that I wouldn't give up.
"What I have learned from this victory is that it is important for each one of us to take a stand and fight for respect and dignity. It is our civil liberty. People must be held accountable for their actions in the workplace."
Employment judge John Hobson said of Mr Wood's remark about white girls liking black men, which the panel found had been said: "This was a highly offensive racist remark in the presence of the claimant and amounted to harassment."
Claims against the company, of South Harrow, north-west London, and Mr Wood of race discrimination by harassment were upheld. It was understood that the parties reached a financial settlement after the findings.
Milngavie Herald
Road rage racist gets five months (UK)
A road rage driver who punched a motorist through the open window of his car on a South Tyneside road after hurling racist abuse has been jailed.
Robert Crane pulled up his car behind Emrah Cifti's motor at traffic lights on John Reid Road, South Shields, got out and launched the terrifying attack.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Mr Cifti, a British national who is of Turkish origin, suffered a "glancing blow" to his face, but was not seriously injured.
Crane, who had used racist abuse towards to Cifti, drove away from the scene but was followed by another motorist, who passed on his registration number to the police.
Crane was tracked down and arrested within days.
During police interview, Crane admitted he had become angry and said it was because of Mr Cifti's bad driving.
Judge Roger Thorn jailed Crane for five months.
The judge said: "You left your vehicle and used words of racial hostility then decided you would become judge, jury and sentencer.
"These incidents of road rage are something that happen almost daily and have a terrifying impact on upon victims. Sentences will be passed that mark the courts' severe disapproval of this kind of behaviour."
Crane, of Split Crow Road, Gateshead, had pleaded guilty to racially aggravated common assault.
Ron Mitchell said the dad-of-two is a family man, who works as a panel beater, who had succumbed to a loss of temper. Mr Mitchell added: "It was a moment of complete stupidity."
Shields Gazette
Robert Crane pulled up his car behind Emrah Cifti's motor at traffic lights on John Reid Road, South Shields, got out and launched the terrifying attack.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Mr Cifti, a British national who is of Turkish origin, suffered a "glancing blow" to his face, but was not seriously injured.
Crane, who had used racist abuse towards to Cifti, drove away from the scene but was followed by another motorist, who passed on his registration number to the police.
Crane was tracked down and arrested within days.
During police interview, Crane admitted he had become angry and said it was because of Mr Cifti's bad driving.
Judge Roger Thorn jailed Crane for five months.
The judge said: "You left your vehicle and used words of racial hostility then decided you would become judge, jury and sentencer.
"These incidents of road rage are something that happen almost daily and have a terrifying impact on upon victims. Sentences will be passed that mark the courts' severe disapproval of this kind of behaviour."
Crane, of Split Crow Road, Gateshead, had pleaded guilty to racially aggravated common assault.
Ron Mitchell said the dad-of-two is a family man, who works as a panel beater, who had succumbed to a loss of temper. Mr Mitchell added: "It was a moment of complete stupidity."
Shields Gazette
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Imprisoned Neo-Nazi claims he’s the victim of religious discrimination
Michael Heaton, 43, who is a former leader of the British Freedom Fighters, was jailed last year for posting more than 3,000 hate-filled comments on far-right websites.
But the Aryan Strike Force member has complained to prison chiefs at HMP Wymott, Lancs., after he was banned from wearing a Thor’s Hammer pendant.
He claims his rights are being infringed but prison bosses have ruled that the necklace has a ”fascist meaning” and ”Neo-Nazi overtones”.
In a letter sent to inmates’ magazine Inside Time, the ex-English Defence League activist complained he was being singled out for religious discrimination.
He said: ”Moslems (sic) can wear hats in prison when nobody else can, Christians are allowed their crosses, so imagine my shock when I enquired about wearing my religious pendant and was refused.
”I am what is called an Odinist. So that I can feel nearer my god I requested to be allowed to wear my pendant.
”The reply I got was that my application had been refused on the grounds that the pendant ‘looks a little like a Maltese cross, which has a fascist meaning and neo-Nazi overtones’.
”To say I was shocked at this would be an understatement! Other religious groups are afforded the respect for their religious symbols in prison, so why not me?
”His (the governor) response was that Thor’s hammer is on the prison ‘banned list’. Surely this cannot be right? Is there anything I can do about it?”
Heaton, serving 30 months in jail for using threatening and abusive language likely to stir up racial hatred, claims that his pendant is an Odinist rather than a Nazi symbol.
However, prison staff refused his request to wear it after learning that far-right groups have adopted the symbol as a depiction of aryan supremacy.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court in June last year heard food packer Heaton, who has a scorpion tattoo on his neck, wanted to ”clear the country of all ethnic minorities”.
He posted a series of racist comments on the Aryan Strike Force website including: ”Jews will always be scum and must be destroyed.”
He added: ”I would encourage any religion or race which wants to destroy the Jews, I hate them with a passion.”
When cops raided his home in Greater Manchester they found large quantities of Nazi and Hitler memorabilia, a semi–automatic BB gun and a samurai sword.
Judge Stephen Irwin said: ”You wanted to start a race war. You were clearly filled with racial hatred.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said it would not discuss complaints made by individual inmates.
He said: ”The provision of religious artefacts in prison is at the discretion of the governor following a thorough risk assessment.”
Norse gods Thor and Odin are worshipped by Odinists and Pagans but their symbols have been hijacked by many white supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups.
Heaton’s co-defendant Trevor Hannington, 58, of Cardiff, was sentenced to two years for six offences.
Small World News Service
Racist abuse hurled at woman (UK)
A racist yob who hurled abuse at a Bolton woman is being hunted by police.
The 30-year-old woman was subjected to a barrage of name-calling while waiting at Darwen railway station.
She was standing on the Manchester bound platform to catch a train to Bolton when a man on the opposite platform began shouting racist abuse at her.
He called her names and asked where she came from, which British Transport Police Officers said made her feel “extremely uncomfortable”.
The incident happened on Monday, November 29 PC Lorraine Faulkner, at British Transport Police, said: “The abuse levelled at the woman was completely unacceptable and we are trying to trace the man responsible.”
He is described as being white, about 5’ 8” tall with a reddish complexion and short sandy coloured spiky hair.
He was wearing dark grey tracksuit bottoms and a similar coloured top and the victim believes he had no top teeth.
Anyone with information should call British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting background log B8/NWA of 7/1/11.
This is Lancashire
The 30-year-old woman was subjected to a barrage of name-calling while waiting at Darwen railway station.
She was standing on the Manchester bound platform to catch a train to Bolton when a man on the opposite platform began shouting racist abuse at her.
He called her names and asked where she came from, which British Transport Police Officers said made her feel “extremely uncomfortable”.
The incident happened on Monday, November 29 PC Lorraine Faulkner, at British Transport Police, said: “The abuse levelled at the woman was completely unacceptable and we are trying to trace the man responsible.”
He is described as being white, about 5’ 8” tall with a reddish complexion and short sandy coloured spiky hair.
He was wearing dark grey tracksuit bottoms and a similar coloured top and the victim believes he had no top teeth.
Anyone with information should call British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting background log B8/NWA of 7/1/11.
This is Lancashire
Friday, 7 January 2011
Leading rabbi in Berlin warns Jews to hide their identity as fears of neo-Nazi attacks rise
Jews living near Berlin are being warned to shed clothing that identifies their religion as fears of neo-Nazi attacks rise.
A leading rabbi in the German state of Brandenburg, made the plea, 65 years after the end of the Second World War and the Holocaust. He is urging Jews not to wear skullcaps, long coats or other “identifying symbols” of Judaism, unless they know self-defence.
Shaul Nekrich, the new chief rabbi of Brandenburg, said: “I think the state has a problem with anti-Semitism.
“I hear the stories from the communities. They are wary of being recognised as Jews on the streets. In the town of Bernau, the synagogue has been defaced with swastikas several times.
“As a Jew it is dangerous to wear things that identify you as such unless you are well versed in martial arts.”
He said that he had been accosted on a train in Brandenburg three years ago by drunks who threw his Hebrew prayer book to the ground.
Formerly from Russia, Rabbi Nekrich is responsible for teaching in an area where there are 1,300 Jews.
After reunification, Brandenburg became the centre of skinhead activity in Germany.
But it was thought that the problem was under control after the introduction of local initiatives to face down Hitler worshippers.
The Mirror
A leading rabbi in the German state of Brandenburg, made the plea, 65 years after the end of the Second World War and the Holocaust. He is urging Jews not to wear skullcaps, long coats or other “identifying symbols” of Judaism, unless they know self-defence.
Shaul Nekrich, the new chief rabbi of Brandenburg, said: “I think the state has a problem with anti-Semitism.
“I hear the stories from the communities. They are wary of being recognised as Jews on the streets. In the town of Bernau, the synagogue has been defaced with swastikas several times.
“As a Jew it is dangerous to wear things that identify you as such unless you are well versed in martial arts.”
He said that he had been accosted on a train in Brandenburg three years ago by drunks who threw his Hebrew prayer book to the ground.
Formerly from Russia, Rabbi Nekrich is responsible for teaching in an area where there are 1,300 Jews.
After reunification, Brandenburg became the centre of skinhead activity in Germany.
But it was thought that the problem was under control after the introduction of local initiatives to face down Hitler worshippers.
The Mirror
GOVERNMENT VOWS TO ABOLISH DISCRIMINATORY LAW AGAINST ROMA (Turkey)/
A law that allows the Interior Ministry to expel Roma people from Turkey as it deems necessary, referring to this group as “gypsies” in its text, will be abolished, State Minister Faruk Çelik has announced. In a meeting he held with representatives of more than 20 Roma associations from all over Turkey at Justice and Development Party (AK Party) headquarters yesterday, Çelik said the Roma were highly dignified people who were also sensitive about Turkey’s unity. He said legislation that was first passed in the 1930s urgently needed to be amended. He recalled that the AK Party had removed an article from the Public Works Law of 1934 that stated: “Those who have not shown allegiance to Turkish culture, anarchists, nomadic gypsies, spies and those who have been expelled cannot be accepted as immigrants to Turkey.” He said a similar provision that left it to the will of the Interior Ministry to expel “gypsies” was to be removed this week. “I know the Roma are proud to be citizens of Turkey and to be in Turkey under this flag. They are people who are in love with this country, this flag and the country’s unity. That’s why expressions humiliating the Roma were removed from relevant legislation in 2006,” he said.
The government launched the Roma initiative in late 2009. A government-sponsored workshop was held on Dec. 9, 2009 to address issues facing the Roma community. Representatives of Turkey’s Roma community in Ýstanbul, Edirne, Kýrþehir, Artvin, Van and several other cities, 120 people in all, attended the event. A report was drafted listing the Roma community’s demands from the government following the workshop. In an unprecedented meeting, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan met with nearly 10,000 Roma in March of last year as part of the Roma initiative. Çelik said the government is determined to continue with the Roma initiative and to address problems faced by them. AK Party Deputy Chairman Salih Kapusuz also delivered a speech during the meeting and said the AK Party government has been exerting great efforts to abolish discrimination and misconceptions in the society about the Roma and other disadvantaged groups. “A Turkey where everyone is a first class citizen and where past mistakes have been abolished is our target,” Kapusuz said. Meanwhile, a group of Roma was in Parliament yesterday and listened to Prime Minister Erdoðan as he delivered a speech during his party’s parliamentary group meeting.
Today Zaman
The government launched the Roma initiative in late 2009. A government-sponsored workshop was held on Dec. 9, 2009 to address issues facing the Roma community. Representatives of Turkey’s Roma community in Ýstanbul, Edirne, Kýrþehir, Artvin, Van and several other cities, 120 people in all, attended the event. A report was drafted listing the Roma community’s demands from the government following the workshop. In an unprecedented meeting, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan met with nearly 10,000 Roma in March of last year as part of the Roma initiative. Çelik said the government is determined to continue with the Roma initiative and to address problems faced by them. AK Party Deputy Chairman Salih Kapusuz also delivered a speech during the meeting and said the AK Party government has been exerting great efforts to abolish discrimination and misconceptions in the society about the Roma and other disadvantaged groups. “A Turkey where everyone is a first class citizen and where past mistakes have been abolished is our target,” Kapusuz said. Meanwhile, a group of Roma was in Parliament yesterday and listened to Prime Minister Erdoðan as he delivered a speech during his party’s parliamentary group meeting.
Today Zaman
Neo-Nazi Guilty in Threat Case (USA)
In U.S. district court in Chicago Wednesday, jurors found avowed neo-Nazi William White (pictured) of Roanoke, Va., guilty of soliciting an attack on Mark Hoffman of Chicago, who six years ago was foreman of the jury that convicted white supremacist Matt Hale of plotting to murder a federal judge.
In 2008, White posted information about Hoffman on the website Overthrow.com, including his home address, his phone numbers, and the fact that he is gay and his partner is African-American. White also wrote on the site that he held Hoffman responsible for what he considered the wrongful conviction of Hale. Hoffman then began receiving numerous hateful and harassing phone calls and text messages, leading federal prosecutors to charge White with solicitation.
Prosecutors said White’s posting of the information clearly showed he wanted to incite violence against Hoffman. Defense attorneys argued that the intent was merely to harass him, which is not a violent crime.
In an unusual development Wednesday, jurors asked for the courtroom to be cleared of press and spectators before they announced their verdict, a request the judge denied. Prosecutors said they could see why the jurors were concerned.
“They were hearing a case where the life of another juror was threatened by a white supremacist because of his role in convicting another dangerous white supremacist,” assistant U.S. attorney William Hogan Jr. told the Tribune. Defense attorney Nishay Sanan, however, said the request showed the verdict was “based on fear,” not the law.
White, who will be sentenced later, faces up to 10 years in prison in the case. He is already serving a 30-month sentence on another online threat conviction in Virginia.
Advocate
Office manager's dismissal 'tainted by race', tribunal told (UK)
The dismissal of an office manager from the north west London company she worked for was "tainted by race", an employment tribunal has been told.
There is overwhelming evidence to support a finding of discrimination, Valerie Moxam's representative, Peter Ward, said in closing submissions.
British-born Ms Moxam, whose parents are from Jamaica, has told the hearing in Watford that David Wood dismissed her from landscaping contractor Visible Changes for reasons of race. She is suing the company, Mr Wood, and the firm's health and safety co-ordinator, Susan Ward.
Ms Moxam, of Dolphin Road, Northolt, west London, who is fair-skinned like her parents, and has ginger hair and blue/green eyes, was fired by text message, the tribunal has heard.
She said she had previously heard racist remarks being made at the firm, of South Harrow, north west London, and added: "There is no doubt in my mind that the reason for my dismissal was, at least in part, my race."
Managing director Mr Wood has denied that he used an email from his accountant telling him of the firm's financial problems as an excuse to get rid of Ms Moxam because she was not fitting in.
He also denied allegations that he made racist comments, including one at a grievance meeting which followed the text message, where he is alleged to have said: "Yeah, I often joked about 'Why do black men have big c****?'
Mr Ward said: "Ms Moxam simply did not fit in in the workplace, because she did not join in with the racist banter. It was becoming obvious to employees that she was from an ethnic minority. 'Who are we going to get rid of?' - That is tainted by race."
Mr Wood has told the tribunal he "panicked" after receiving an email from his accountant, telling him to cut any employee who was not needed. He said he and his wife Alison decided they could do Ms Moxam's work, but he added: "We suffered tremendously when Val left."
The tribunal panel started its deliberations but said it would not give any judgment before Friday morning.
Google Hosted News
There is overwhelming evidence to support a finding of discrimination, Valerie Moxam's representative, Peter Ward, said in closing submissions.
British-born Ms Moxam, whose parents are from Jamaica, has told the hearing in Watford that David Wood dismissed her from landscaping contractor Visible Changes for reasons of race. She is suing the company, Mr Wood, and the firm's health and safety co-ordinator, Susan Ward.
Ms Moxam, of Dolphin Road, Northolt, west London, who is fair-skinned like her parents, and has ginger hair and blue/green eyes, was fired by text message, the tribunal has heard.
She said she had previously heard racist remarks being made at the firm, of South Harrow, north west London, and added: "There is no doubt in my mind that the reason for my dismissal was, at least in part, my race."
Managing director Mr Wood has denied that he used an email from his accountant telling him of the firm's financial problems as an excuse to get rid of Ms Moxam because she was not fitting in.
He also denied allegations that he made racist comments, including one at a grievance meeting which followed the text message, where he is alleged to have said: "Yeah, I often joked about 'Why do black men have big c****?'
Mr Ward said: "Ms Moxam simply did not fit in in the workplace, because she did not join in with the racist banter. It was becoming obvious to employees that she was from an ethnic minority. 'Who are we going to get rid of?' - That is tainted by race."
Mr Wood has told the tribunal he "panicked" after receiving an email from his accountant, telling him to cut any employee who was not needed. He said he and his wife Alison decided they could do Ms Moxam's work, but he added: "We suffered tremendously when Val left."
The tribunal panel started its deliberations but said it would not give any judgment before Friday morning.
Google Hosted News
Warrant issued for man over B.C.-based racist website (Canada)
The RCMP have issued a Canada-wide warrant for Paul Craig Cobb, 59, who is believed to have gone to the United States.
Cobb — who holds both U.S. and Canadian citizenship — runs the website podblanc.com, which he created in 2005 from Estonia, where he was living at the time. The site has since been shut down.
The Estonian government deported him in August 2009 and the RCMP say Cobb has been living in Canada since then.
He was arrested at the Vancouver Public Library last June after a six-month investigation by the B.C. Hate Crime Team.
"During the course of the investigation, evidence was obtained that alleged the website was being operated by Mr. Cobb from various locations within Vancouver and that this website contained hate material," said RCMP spokesman Insp. Tim Shields.
But Cobb was released within 10 hours of his arrest because a criminal charge could not be laid immediately.
He is believed to have fled to the United States soon after his release.
On Dec. 30, 2010, a charge of wilful promotion of hatred was approved against Cobb and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Vancover Sun
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Nazi-era graves to be dug up in Austria
Officials in western Austria say exhumations are to take place at a psychiatric hospital thought to contain the remains of Nazi victims.
The remains of 220 people are buried at a cemetery in Hall in Tyrol province.
The Nazis murdered thousands of disabled people they thought unfit to live, deeming it "euthanasia". The hospital believes many died there as part of the programme.
A planned construction project has been halted to allow a full investigation.
Some 30,000 people were killed at one psychiatric hospital alone - Schloss Hartheim, near Linz in upper Austria.
Tilak, the company responsible for the Hall hospital, said the graves contained the remains of people buried between 1942 and 1945.
There were, it added, "suspicions that the dead [were] at least partially victims" of the programme of murders the Nazis referred to as "euthanasia".
'Dark chapter'
Exhumations are to begin when the ground thaws, probably in March.
Announcing that a commission of experts would be formed shortly to investigate, Guenther Platter, governor of Tyrol province, said he had been "deeply shaken" by the discovery.
"This dark chapter of history must now be carefully brought to light," he added.
Investigators would be seeking to identify the remains and establish the cause of death, Tilak representatives were quoted as saying by Austria's Die Presse newspaper.
Hospital historian Oliver Seifert said it was already clear that not all of those buried had been victims of the Nazis.
"We know that active killing went on at other institutions in Austria... but there are no indications of this at the moment in Hall," he told Reuters news agency.
Hall Hospital remains a functioning psychiatric hospital, with beds for 500 patients.
BBC News
The remains of 220 people are buried at a cemetery in Hall in Tyrol province.
The Nazis murdered thousands of disabled people they thought unfit to live, deeming it "euthanasia". The hospital believes many died there as part of the programme.
A planned construction project has been halted to allow a full investigation.
Some 30,000 people were killed at one psychiatric hospital alone - Schloss Hartheim, near Linz in upper Austria.
Tilak, the company responsible for the Hall hospital, said the graves contained the remains of people buried between 1942 and 1945.
There were, it added, "suspicions that the dead [were] at least partially victims" of the programme of murders the Nazis referred to as "euthanasia".
'Dark chapter'
Exhumations are to begin when the ground thaws, probably in March.
Announcing that a commission of experts would be formed shortly to investigate, Guenther Platter, governor of Tyrol province, said he had been "deeply shaken" by the discovery.
"This dark chapter of history must now be carefully brought to light," he added.
Investigators would be seeking to identify the remains and establish the cause of death, Tilak representatives were quoted as saying by Austria's Die Presse newspaper.
Hospital historian Oliver Seifert said it was already clear that not all of those buried had been victims of the Nazis.
"We know that active killing went on at other institutions in Austria... but there are no indications of this at the moment in Hall," he told Reuters news agency.
Hall Hospital remains a functioning psychiatric hospital, with beds for 500 patients.
BBC News
MUSLIM GROUPS OFFER TO PROTECT THREATENED COPTIC CHURCHES (Netherlands)
Three Dutch Muslim organisations have offered to help protect three Coptic churches in the Netherlands from possible terrorist attack, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday. The names of the three churches – in Eindhoven, Utrecht and Amsterdam - are listed on a website which is considered to have links to Al Qaida. The Muslim organisations have called on all Muslims to denounce the threat. 'We are the ones who should do this because Al Qaida claims to operate in the name of Islam,' the Telegraaf quoted the organisations as saying. 'Christian Copts, ourselves and all the Dutch have a common enemy: terrorists.' Police have already taken action to increase security around the church in Utrecht and the counter-terrorism service is monitoring the situation, the paper says. The Coptic church celebrates Christmas on January 7, and the website had called for bomb attacks on targets around Europe on that date.
Dutch News
Dutch News
UKIP and BNP seek to woo voters in Oldham by-election (UK)
The leaders of both the BNP and UKIP have been campaigning in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, bidding to woo disenchanted voters.
Nick Griffin, whose party came fourth in the seat at the general election, said a BNP win would boost the area.
But the UKIP leader Nigel Farage said his party wanted to "thrash the BNP in this constituency."
The poll, on 13 January, was triggered by a court ruling annulling the general election result from May.
The BNP gained 5.7% of the poll in the 2010 General Election while UKIP came fifth with 3.9% of the votes cast.
"To get the British National Party elected in a place like this would be such a huge shock to the political system without a shadow of a doubt, the government would try and pour money into the place to try and bribe voters back with their own money," said Mr Griffin.
"We're saying vote for us and finally they'll stop ignoring Oldham."
Mr Farage said: "I was absolutely determined on behalf of our party that we chose a strong candidate for the big campaign.
"I want us to thrash the BNP in this constituency, there is no room for that kind of extremism in British politics.
"With UKIP you have a party that is patriotic, proud to be British but not extreme in any way."
The election was called after an election court found that victorious MP Labour's Phil Woolas had made false statements about his Liberal Democrat opponent Elwyn Watkins.
The full list of candidates (in alphabetical order) is:
* Debbie Abrahams (Labour)
* Derek Adams (British National Party)
* Kashif Ali (Conservative)
* Peter Allen (Green Party)
* David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis Party)
* The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)
* Loz Kaye (Pirate Party of the United Kingdom)
* Stephen Morris (English Democrats)
* Paul Nuttall MEP (UK Independence Party)
* Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrats)
BBC news
Nick Griffin, whose party came fourth in the seat at the general election, said a BNP win would boost the area.
But the UKIP leader Nigel Farage said his party wanted to "thrash the BNP in this constituency."
The poll, on 13 January, was triggered by a court ruling annulling the general election result from May.
The BNP gained 5.7% of the poll in the 2010 General Election while UKIP came fifth with 3.9% of the votes cast.
"To get the British National Party elected in a place like this would be such a huge shock to the political system without a shadow of a doubt, the government would try and pour money into the place to try and bribe voters back with their own money," said Mr Griffin.
"We're saying vote for us and finally they'll stop ignoring Oldham."
Mr Farage said: "I was absolutely determined on behalf of our party that we chose a strong candidate for the big campaign.
"I want us to thrash the BNP in this constituency, there is no room for that kind of extremism in British politics.
"With UKIP you have a party that is patriotic, proud to be British but not extreme in any way."
The election was called after an election court found that victorious MP Labour's Phil Woolas had made false statements about his Liberal Democrat opponent Elwyn Watkins.
The full list of candidates (in alphabetical order) is:
* Debbie Abrahams (Labour)
* Derek Adams (British National Party)
* Kashif Ali (Conservative)
* Peter Allen (Green Party)
* David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis Party)
* The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)
* Loz Kaye (Pirate Party of the United Kingdom)
* Stephen Morris (English Democrats)
* Paul Nuttall MEP (UK Independence Party)
* Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrats)
BBC news
Jews Were Top Targets Of Bigots In ‘09 (USA)
As counties comply with mandatory reporting to Albany, disturbing trend emerges.
Anti-Semitic incidents made up the largest share of New York hate crimes reported in 2009, according to statistics just released by the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. The number of incidents involving Jewish victims also rose 15 percent from 219 in 2008 to 254.
Statistics for 2010 have not yet been compiled by the division.
Attacks against Jews amounted to 37 percent of the total, more than anti-black incidents (21 percent), attacks against gay men (12 percent) or attacks against Hispanics (6 percent) in a hateful year that saw a 14 percent increase in all bias incidents in the state, from 599 to 683.
The state’s Jewish number is higher than that of the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of incidents here, based on complaints to the organization, which showed 209 incidents. That year the agency decided to change its definition of anti-Semitic incidents to those specifically targeting Jews rather than including swastikas that defaced general targets.
The state figures did not break down the types of crimes directed at each group, but did list 39 swastika incidents, slightly down from 43 in 2008. The number of aggravated harassment incidents described as physical contact due to race or religion more than doubled, from 41 to 83.
The report was released as word spread this weekend of a series of threats mailed to New York City synagogues. A letter believed to originate from the same sender arrived by mail and warned of an attack on New Year’s Eve that did not materialize. Congregation Ohab Tzedek in Manhattan received one of the letters, its rabbi, Allen Schwartz, told the New York Post.
The letters are being investigated by the New York Police Department. David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the group’s liaison with police on security issues declined to disclose the contents of the letters to avoid inspiring copycat acts. But he said the letter was printed with the same typeface in all instances and had similar messages with different names signed.
“There is no reason to think this was an international group,” Pollock said Monday.
He added that the spike in anti-Semitic incidents shown in the state report was likely a result of anti-Zionism as well as the recession.
“I think the international vilification of Israel grants permission to carry out anti-Semitic acts,” said Pollock.
Ron Meier, director of the ADL’s New York region, said that while the data “point to how diligent the Jewish community and law enforcement community have to be” the “silver lining” is that more police departments are compiling and reporting statistics to the division of criminal justice as required by the state’s Hate Crimes Act of 2000.
“In 2008 hate crimes were reported by 35 counties, and in 2009 43 of the 62 counties reported them,” said Meier. “We are moving toward full compliance.
The ADL offers tolerance-training programs in public schools in response to bias attacks of any kind. Meier said that the “long-term trend” over the last decade shows fewer bias attacks than in previous years, but said the recent spike in such crimes, despite harsher penalties for them was perplexing.
“One piece of the puzzle is the times we are living in,” he said. “These are very difficult economic times, which causes all kinds of dislocation, which in its own way causes tensions and points of friction.”
In one of the most serious recent hate crimes against Jews, last month two teenage boys, 14 and 15, were arrested and charged with serious beating attacks against chasidic men in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. One attack left the victim, Joel Weinberger, 26, with a broken jaw, broken leg and facial injuries. Pollock said the two suspects in that case, who were apprehended after a chase following one attack and, police said, confessed to other attacks on Jews, remain in juvenile detention while awaiting trial after a judge refused to remand them to their parents.
Also last month, 200 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Flatbush, Brooklyn, were defaced or overturned.
The Jewish Week.
Anti-Semitic incidents made up the largest share of New York hate crimes reported in 2009, according to statistics just released by the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. The number of incidents involving Jewish victims also rose 15 percent from 219 in 2008 to 254.
Statistics for 2010 have not yet been compiled by the division.
Attacks against Jews amounted to 37 percent of the total, more than anti-black incidents (21 percent), attacks against gay men (12 percent) or attacks against Hispanics (6 percent) in a hateful year that saw a 14 percent increase in all bias incidents in the state, from 599 to 683.
The state’s Jewish number is higher than that of the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of incidents here, based on complaints to the organization, which showed 209 incidents. That year the agency decided to change its definition of anti-Semitic incidents to those specifically targeting Jews rather than including swastikas that defaced general targets.
The state figures did not break down the types of crimes directed at each group, but did list 39 swastika incidents, slightly down from 43 in 2008. The number of aggravated harassment incidents described as physical contact due to race or religion more than doubled, from 41 to 83.
The report was released as word spread this weekend of a series of threats mailed to New York City synagogues. A letter believed to originate from the same sender arrived by mail and warned of an attack on New Year’s Eve that did not materialize. Congregation Ohab Tzedek in Manhattan received one of the letters, its rabbi, Allen Schwartz, told the New York Post.
The letters are being investigated by the New York Police Department. David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the group’s liaison with police on security issues declined to disclose the contents of the letters to avoid inspiring copycat acts. But he said the letter was printed with the same typeface in all instances and had similar messages with different names signed.
“There is no reason to think this was an international group,” Pollock said Monday.
He added that the spike in anti-Semitic incidents shown in the state report was likely a result of anti-Zionism as well as the recession.
“I think the international vilification of Israel grants permission to carry out anti-Semitic acts,” said Pollock.
Ron Meier, director of the ADL’s New York region, said that while the data “point to how diligent the Jewish community and law enforcement community have to be” the “silver lining” is that more police departments are compiling and reporting statistics to the division of criminal justice as required by the state’s Hate Crimes Act of 2000.
“In 2008 hate crimes were reported by 35 counties, and in 2009 43 of the 62 counties reported them,” said Meier. “We are moving toward full compliance.
The ADL offers tolerance-training programs in public schools in response to bias attacks of any kind. Meier said that the “long-term trend” over the last decade shows fewer bias attacks than in previous years, but said the recent spike in such crimes, despite harsher penalties for them was perplexing.
“One piece of the puzzle is the times we are living in,” he said. “These are very difficult economic times, which causes all kinds of dislocation, which in its own way causes tensions and points of friction.”
In one of the most serious recent hate crimes against Jews, last month two teenage boys, 14 and 15, were arrested and charged with serious beating attacks against chasidic men in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. One attack left the victim, Joel Weinberger, 26, with a broken jaw, broken leg and facial injuries. Pollock said the two suspects in that case, who were apprehended after a chase following one attack and, police said, confessed to other attacks on Jews, remain in juvenile detention while awaiting trial after a judge refused to remand them to their parents.
Also last month, 200 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Flatbush, Brooklyn, were defaced or overturned.
The Jewish Week.
Van driver's racist abuse at father and daughter (UK)
A father and daughter were racially abused by a van driver who skidded around the corner of an icy Farnborough road last month.
The man, described as having a "dirty appearance", was turning from Greatfield Road into Ley Road on the morning of December 18 but was apparently driving too fast for the conditions.
At the same time, a 29-year-old woman was walking towards Ley Road to meet up with her father in his vehicle.
As the white van skidded, the father waved to his daughter to warn her about it.
But the van driver then got out of his vehicle and shouted racist abuse at the pair, who retreated into their car, fearing they might be attacked.
The suspect was described as white, aged in his late 20s, around 5ft 8in tall and of medium to stocky build.
Police said he had a "dirty" appearance, short light, brown hair and was wearing a waist-length yellow fluorescent jacket.
An older woman of stocky build was also in the van, which police said was a car-derived vehicle with orange writing on the side and a yellow beacon on its roof.
PC Mark Sumner said: "This was a totally unprovoked incident that has left the victim feeling scared and upset.
"If anyone has any information that can help us with this investigation, please get in touch.
"I’d also like to hear from anyone who saw a van driving dangerously in the area that morning."
Anyone with any information should contact PC Sumner at Farnborough police station on 101, via the Hampshire police website or call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555111.
Get Hampshire
The man, described as having a "dirty appearance", was turning from Greatfield Road into Ley Road on the morning of December 18 but was apparently driving too fast for the conditions.
At the same time, a 29-year-old woman was walking towards Ley Road to meet up with her father in his vehicle.
As the white van skidded, the father waved to his daughter to warn her about it.
But the van driver then got out of his vehicle and shouted racist abuse at the pair, who retreated into their car, fearing they might be attacked.
The suspect was described as white, aged in his late 20s, around 5ft 8in tall and of medium to stocky build.
Police said he had a "dirty" appearance, short light, brown hair and was wearing a waist-length yellow fluorescent jacket.
An older woman of stocky build was also in the van, which police said was a car-derived vehicle with orange writing on the side and a yellow beacon on its roof.
PC Mark Sumner said: "This was a totally unprovoked incident that has left the victim feeling scared and upset.
"If anyone has any information that can help us with this investigation, please get in touch.
"I’d also like to hear from anyone who saw a van driving dangerously in the area that morning."
Anyone with any information should contact PC Sumner at Farnborough police station on 101, via the Hampshire police website or call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555111.
Get Hampshire
Soldier shouted racist abuse (UK)
A serving soldier who racially abused two English people in Perth was fined £300 and ordered to pay compensation of £200 for his efforts.
William Yeaman (22) of Kestrel Way, Perth, called a female an “English whore” and yelled “fat English boy” at a youth.
Yeaman also assaulted the youth by punching him on July 10.
On Wednesday, Perth Sheriff Court heard Yeaman had attracted the attention of residents of Dunnock Park in Muirton when they heard a disturbance outside at about 11.30pm.
Two residents, both of whom were born and raised in England, went to investigate.
One of them saw Yeaman and asked him to be quiet. He then shouted back “English whore”.
Yeaman approached the woman’s home and entered the garden, standing face-to-face with a male who he called a “fat English boy” and “English t**t”.
Admitting his racist offences, he told cops: “Cos I’m in the wrong. It’s all against me, I accept that.”
Yeaman’s solicitor described the matter as a “disgraceful incident” for which the accused had since apologised.
He said the actions of Yeaman, a first offender, had been out of character.
He also told Sheriff Michael Fletcher a promotion to Lance Corporal for Yeaman was being held off until the outcome.
Yeaman was among a group of soldiers put forward for the promotion, but the only one not to have received it straight away.
He said Yeaman, an army driver involved in weapons, was currently on stand-by to go to Afghanistan in October 2011.
Perth Advertiser
William Yeaman (22) of Kestrel Way, Perth, called a female an “English whore” and yelled “fat English boy” at a youth.
Yeaman also assaulted the youth by punching him on July 10.
On Wednesday, Perth Sheriff Court heard Yeaman had attracted the attention of residents of Dunnock Park in Muirton when they heard a disturbance outside at about 11.30pm.
Two residents, both of whom were born and raised in England, went to investigate.
One of them saw Yeaman and asked him to be quiet. He then shouted back “English whore”.
Yeaman approached the woman’s home and entered the garden, standing face-to-face with a male who he called a “fat English boy” and “English t**t”.
Admitting his racist offences, he told cops: “Cos I’m in the wrong. It’s all against me, I accept that.”
Yeaman’s solicitor described the matter as a “disgraceful incident” for which the accused had since apologised.
He said the actions of Yeaman, a first offender, had been out of character.
He also told Sheriff Michael Fletcher a promotion to Lance Corporal for Yeaman was being held off until the outcome.
Yeaman was among a group of soldiers put forward for the promotion, but the only one not to have received it straight away.
He said Yeaman, an army driver involved in weapons, was currently on stand-by to go to Afghanistan in October 2011.
Perth Advertiser
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)