Thailand Charges 8 Muslim Teachers With Treason

[george]

Thailand charges 8 Muslim teachers with treason

BANGKOK: -- Thailand charged eight Muslim male teachers on Friday of treason for masterminding violence which has killed more than 600 people in the restive, predominantly Muslim south since January last year.

If found guilty, the men, who were arrested last year and have been described by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as "significant ringleaders", face death by lethal injection.

A prosecutor's statement read out by the judge at the start of the trial said the teachers belonged to the outlawed Barasi Revolusi Nasional separatist group, and had taught youths to attack soldiers with guns and bombs, steal weapons from them, and burn schools.

"They have ambushed officials, killed monks, teachers and students, set fire to schools and other government buildings, and stolen weapons," the judge said.

The defendants, aged from the late 30s to early 50s, deny all the charges.

Thailand's Muslim south, once an independent sultanate that covered most of the three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, has a 100-year history of opposition to rule from Bangkok.

It was home to a low-key separatist insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s.

The government says Muslim boarding schools are breeding grounds for militants, a charge denied by clerics in the region.

The court has denied bail to the eight men facing treason charges. The trial, which is expected to hear testimony from 120 witnesses from both sides, is expected to last several years.

The first hearing of witness has been set for Oct. 11.

--Reuters 2005-04-29

[RDN]

...If found guilty, the men...face death by lethal injection.

..."They have ambushed officials, killed monks, teachers and students, set fire to schools and other government buildings, and stolen weapons," the judge said....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No need for a trial then.

[Boon Mee]

It's probably due to the lack of Pork in their diet.. .

[thaibebop]

Maybe they should inject them with pig's blood.

[sonthaya]

Maybe they should inject them with pig's blood.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They are pigs, so better make them drink it

[JemJem]

I am agnostic myself and I am not a big fan of religion but it sickens me to see such hateful/insulting words from some people here.

Jem

[thai3]

Outrageous, these good people must be innocent. Every do gooder knows that Islam is a faith built on tolerance, peace and love. I always find they integrate so well into any society and the so called extremists are not really muslims at all but mistakenly take the koran literally when it intructs them to kill the infidel and not to mix with them lest they become defiled.

Sure many religions can be portrayed as being dangerous, but IMO nothing is more dangerous, backward and intolerant as islam, read the book-peter

[socalbro]

I am agnostic myself and I am not a big fan of religion but it sickens me to see such hateful/insulting words from some people here.

Jem

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If that sickens you, how do you feel about these "teachers" using their influence, all in the name of their God, to twist young minds into believing some higher power is pleased by them if they get themselves killed while murdering countless other innocent people, children included.

That is sickening. I don't follow any particular religion, but one thing is certain, if your God is the sort that rewards murder, butchery and terrorism in his name, well maybe it just might be time to look for a better higher-power. That God would be the last sort I would want spend eternity in the afterlife with. I'll settle for the loving ones.

Right, right, I know the majority of islam don't feel or behave this way. People in this world, I believe, are generally good. But for as long as I can remember there has been a large ugly element of isam basing their senseless killings on what they believe their God expects of them. And then convincing their young to do their dirty work.

Time and time again it happens and their is only one religion that seems to somehow breed this pattern of violence. Sorry but the proof is in the pudding.

This is what is absoutly twisted, moronic and sickening - just to put it mildly.

[udon]

This is the type of &lt;deleted&gt; we have to put up with in Aus now

Young Sheik digs himself into a deeper hole

By Miranda Devine

May 1, 2005

The Sun-Herald

Liverpool's Sheik Faiz Mohamad did himself no favours trying to justify his comments that women who were raped only had themselves to blame because they dressed immodestly.

His comments at a lecture to more than 1000 people last month at Bankstown Town Hall caused a storm of anger after they were revealed in The Sun-Herald last Sunday.

"A victim of rape every minute somewhere in the world. Why? No one to blame but herself," he said. "She displayed her beauty to the entire world. She degraded herself by being an object of sexual desire."

During the week, Sydney-born Faiz, 34, attempted to justify himself in an interview on Channel Nine, but only dug a deeper hole.

"What I meant is a lady, if she wears any kind of alluring clothes or adorning [sic] clothes or clothes that beautify her beauty, she is eligible for rape." Eligible for rape?

Later, on Channel Ten, he tried again. "Maybe I should have said it another way, meaning they are attracting to themselves and are partly to blame but not fully to blame."

He still doesn't get it, despite the fact that NSW Premier Bob Carr, Federal Treasurer Peter Costello and numerous Muslim organisations have condemned him.

But it is not the first time the popular sheik, who lectures twice a week at Liverpool's Global Islamic Youth Centre, has made extreme statements.

In a story about former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib last year, ABC's Four Corners played an excerpt from a tape of one of Faiz's lectures in which he described the "so-called war on terrorism" as "nothing but a war on Islam and the Muslims to ensure the Zionist - those pigs - the Zionist-American domination in every corner of this earth."

Later in the tape he talked of jihad. "Go to Iraq today and see your brothers and sisters! See them! See what is happening there! It's gonna happen to you one day! We're too scared to go to jihad! What are you living for?"

But it is the misogyny of his Bankstown comments that have most disturbed a city still scarred by the spate of racially motivated gang rapes by Lebanese Muslim males in recent years.

It is hard to accept that such a young man, born and raised in Australia of Lebanese parents, would have so little respect for the rights of women in the culture of his own country.

But it has been encouraging to watch the spontaneous condemnation of Faiz's comments from so many Muslims all week.

A group of more than a dozen Muslim organisations issued a collective statement objecting to Faiz's statements about rape. Sydney lawyer Irfan Yusef, self-described Aussie Mossie (Muslim), wrote an article for The Sydney Morning Herald speaking for "most in the Muslim community [who] feel revulsion at his comments".

The Islamic Sydney website has been full of lively discussion of the topic all week, with any attempts to justify the sheik's comments soundly rebuffed. A poll on the website found that 87. 6 per cent of respondents (of a total of 412) disagreed with: "The comment made by Sheik Faiz that a woman that dresses provocatively becomes eligible for rape?".

It's worth remembering what the American scholar of Islam Daniel Pipes said, on a visit to Sydney three years ago, about combating militant Islam.

First, he warned of the need to rebuff incremental radical Islamic encroachments on our Western secular society, such as any attempt to limit a woman's right to wear whatever she wants.

"If there are two ways which are reconcilable - the militant Islam way and the Australian way - you will need to assert the Australian way."

Militant Islamists believe their totalitarian ideology is not just an alternative to our liberal democracy but superior to it, Pipes said, "and they would like to move the country in that direction so there are special privileges accorded to Islam . . .

"When there's a difference between their approach and the Australian approach, they want Australia to become like them and not vice versa," he said.

But Pipes's central message was the importance of supporting moderate Muslims in order to defeat militant Islam.

"Muslims are the victims of militant Islam no less than non-Muslims," he said.

If Sydneysiders respond to the ravings of Sheik Faiz by vilifying all Muslims, they will not only do a terrible injustice to the majority of moderate Muslim people who love this country but they will sow the seeds of something much worse.

They will create resentment and disengagement and drive young men into the arms of dangerous extremists who preach rape and jihad.

BACKGROUND......here

Edited May 2, 2005 by udon

[udon]

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | April 24, 2005 | Miranda Devine

Sheik Faiz declined requests on Friday to be interviewed, so we don't know if he is aware of the implications of what he said. But in a community still reeling from the spate of racially motivated gang rapes by Lebanese Muslim males from Bankstown and surrounds, it was extraordinarily impolitic.

"Strapless, backless, sleeveless, nothing but satanic skirts, slit skirts, translucent blouses, miniskirts, tight jeans," he shouted into the microphone. "All this to tease man and appeal to his carnal nature."

Mostly he appealed to Muslim women to wear the hijab (head covering), which, incidentally, has become fashionable on global catwalks since France banned it in public schools last year.

Born in Sydney of Lebanese parents, Faiz embraced Islam at 19 and spent several years studying in Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, he numbers among his friends and students such positive role models as Bulldogs league star Hazem El Masri and boxing champion Anthony Mundine, testament to the clean-living discipline of Islam.

On the other hand, the centre at which he teaches has attracted controversy over the actions of two former students. Supermarket shelf-stacker Zaky Mallah, 21, was last week sentenced to two years' jail for threatening to kill Commonwealth officials and Muslim convert Jack Roche, 51, was convicted last year of plotting to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra.

Many in Sydney's Lebanese Muslim community reject Faiz's comments but are reluctant to speak on the record.

"Islam teaches that a woman could walk in front of you naked and you are supposed to be strong enough to say no," said one Muslim leader. "It is a test of your faith."

Faiz could be a good influence on young people, "if he calms down and gets rid of his anger . . . and understood the impact of his words. It's not what he would do [that's a problem]. It's what he says; he colours the minds of young people."

A non-Muslim who lives in Auburn and attended Faiz's lecture said: "My biggest concern is that the Muslims who come to our country and just want to mind their own business, get a job, have a family and a home life with freedom, are progressively being pressured by their own community leaders to conform. The mould [they] are being pressed into is not good for them and not good for Australian society."

Faiz's view that unveiled women invite rape does Muslims a disservice by promoting an image which is repugnant to the majority of his fellow citizens. After all, when a judge feels so strongly that he would stand in front of a group of strangers, as one did in recent weeks, and make the comment that Lebanese Muslim men are a "cancer", you know the community has an image problem which Faiz isn't helping.

Faiz may not care but his words are a slap in the face to the brave young woman, known to the courts as Miss C, who was raped 25 times by 14 men over six hours outside the Bankstown Trotting Club and elsewhere in 2000.

At worst, his words sanction the kind of contempt for non-Muslim women that led those gang rapists to regard 18-year-old Miss C, dressed in her best suit for a job interview, sitting on a train reading The Great Gatsby, as an "Aussie pig" and slut.

"I looked in his eyes. I had never seen such indifference," Miss C testified.

[snoophound]

The sons of these hard working refugees from Beirut are Victims of their parents focus on making a new life and money.

Many of these Leb kids have never had a job and dropped out of school to be supported by the doting family.

They get bought cars and given money and are basicly ignorant bludgers.

They hunt in packs and anything female and attractive is a victim.

They go out and raise ######,come home in the morning Kiss their loving mother and pretend to be good muslim boys.

This Sheikh whatever knows this and is a total hypocrite.

I cant beleive someone so young has gained so much influence in the community anyway.

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | April 24, 2005 | Miranda Devine

Sheik Faiz declined requests on Friday to be interviewed, so we don't know if he is aware of the implications of what he said. But in a community still reeling from the spate of racially motivated gang rapes by Lebanese Muslim males from Bankstown and surrounds, it was extraordinarily impolitic.

"Strapless, backless, sleeveless, nothing but satanic skirts, slit skirts, translucent blouses, miniskirts, tight jeans," he shouted into the microphone. "All this to tease man and appeal to his carnal nature."

Mostly he appealed to Muslim women to wear the hijab (head covering), which, incidentally, has become fashionable on global catwalks since France banned it in public schools last year.

Born in Sydney of Lebanese parents, Faiz embraced Islam at 19 and spent several years studying in Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, he numbers among his friends and students such positive role models as Bulldogs league star Hazem El Masri and boxing champion Anthony Mundine, testament to the clean-living discipline of Islam.

On the other hand, the centre at which he teaches has attracted controversy over the actions of two former students. Supermarket shelf-stacker Zaky Mallah, 21, was last week sentenced to two years' jail for threatening to kill Commonwealth officials and Muslim convert Jack Roche, 51, was convicted last year of plotting to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra.

Many in Sydney's Lebanese Muslim community reject Faiz's comments but are reluctant to speak on the record.

"Islam teaches that a woman could walk in front of you naked and you are supposed to be strong enough to say no," said one Muslim leader. "It is a test of your faith."

Faiz could be a good influence on young people, "if he calms down and gets rid of his anger . . . and understood the impact of his words. It's not what he would do [that's a problem]. It's what he says; he colours the minds of young people."

A non-Muslim who lives in Auburn and attended Faiz's lecture said: "My biggest concern is that the Muslims who come to our country and just want to mind their own business, get a job, have a family and a home life with freedom, are progressively being pressured by their own community leaders to conform. The mould [they] are being pressed into is not good for them and not good for Australian society."

Faiz's view that unveiled women invite rape does Muslims a disservice by promoting an image which is repugnant to the majority of his fellow citizens. After all, when a judge feels so strongly that he would stand in front of a group of strangers, as one did in recent weeks, and make the comment that Lebanese Muslim men are a "cancer", you know the community has an image problem which Faiz isn't helping.

Faiz may not care but his words are a slap in the face to the brave young woman, known to the courts as Miss C, who was raped 25 times by 14 men over six hours outside the Bankstown Trotting Club and elsewhere in 2000.

At worst, his words sanction the kind of contempt for non-Muslim women that led those gang rapists to regard 18-year-old Miss C, dressed in her best suit for a job interview, sitting on a train reading The Great Gatsby, as an "Aussie pig" and slut.

"I looked in his eyes. I had never seen such indifference," Miss C testified.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[udon]

Yes, the reffos are OK, the next generation do hunt in packs, I've seen it here.

I do not stay out after sundown for fear of attacks by these young pigs.

[JemJem]

Socalbro : You wrote it yourself that extremity is the act of a minority...so, no need for hateful generalisations....extremists should be isolated and given due punishment.

Boonmee : No surprise that yet again you take this chance to go for another round of 'Muslim-bashing'. One of my best friends is a Muslim, as are some other friends I have made over the years...none of them fits your despicable stereotype.

By the way, how come you haven't gone to Iraq yet, in order to fight alongside your buddies in the illegal war over there.....Bush would have been proud of you.

As for others who wrote about the gang-rape of a woman by some pathetic, bigoted youths in Australia....of course this is a terrible incident but would you also express anger if a bunch of bigoted youths in America beat up and killed a gay guy just because of his sexual preference (this type of thing occurs a lot over there, especially in some rural parts of the U.S.). Or would you continue applying your double-standards ?

Jem

[udon]

Jem,

I have a few Muslim friends in Aus, but this problem is endemic.

If you were here you would agree.

Young Moslem guys regard Caucasian women as "pigs and sluts."

The public prosecutor was called these names by family members in court at the rape trial

See this news site

Here's a taste...

70 girls attacked by rape gangs

Sydney Morning Herald Sunday, July 29, 2001

POLICE examining more than 20 brutal sexual attacks on teenaged girls in just 10 months believe they have uncovered a frightening new crime associated with race. Hospital records and police data show that at least another 50 similar incidents have been reported in the Bankstown area of south-west Sydney over the past two years. The victims, one as young as 13, were allegedly lured to meetings then gang raped and horrifically humiliated. All of those suspected of perpetrating the acts come from the same cultural and religious backgrounds.

Read on!

[bmanly]

As for others who wrote about the gang-rape of a woman by some pathetic, bigoted youths in Australia....of course this is a terrible incident but would you also express anger if a bunch of bigoted youths in America beat up and killed a gay guy just because of his sexual preference (this type of thing occurs a lot over there, especially in some rural parts of the U.S.). Or would you continue applying your double-standards ?

Jem

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In my books JemJem there is no difference between the 2 incidences. All human all equal until proven otherwise. In Australia it has been proven time and time again that Lebanese Youth are the most dangerous people in our community. I have seen these guys first hand abuse and threaten Police Officers. I often say to my wife that I wish our cops were a bit more like cops in the USA, in other words take action, arrest and charge these bastards. Tell me would a cop in the USA stand by and let someone threaten them with being shot or call them pigs or say take off your guns and badges and we will show whos the boss? I don't think so.

[RDN]

I am not anti-Muslim, I am anti-intolerance. And I am making this post because I just heard on Star News Asia a report that a child has been reported infected with polio in Indonesia, I think - I wasn't really paying attention. But then the report went on to say that polio may start to be a big problem again, and that the WHO's attempts to eradicate it may have failed because some Muslim leaders (in Nigeria?) told their followers not to have polio inoculations because it was a scheme by the West to infect them with HIV! Did anyone else see this TV news report?

[udon]

Yes, sad news for the infant and his family.

Again, it's the Imams spreading crap.

Most Moslems just want to get on with their lives, just like you and me.

I'm anti-fundamentalists, be they Christian or Moslem.