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Tories' favourite think-tank sued by Muslim group Friday, August 15, 2008 (49 reads)
By Amol Rajan 15 August 2008 The Independent
Policy exchange, the right-wing think-tank with close links to Conservative leader David Cameron's inner circle, is facing legal action for accusing British mosques of distributing extremist literature.
The Independent has learnt that the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in west London has hired the law firm Carter Ruck to sue the think-tank for defamation. An initial complaint will be made "very soon", a source close to the case said.
Al-Manaar claims that Policy Exchange fabricated several receipts used as evidence of purchase. The North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, from which the jailed radical preacher Abu Hamza gave sermons, is also understood to be pursuing libel action against the think-tank through the solicitors' firm Dean and Dean.
Last October the BBC's Newsnight had been due to run an exclusive report on the findings of an article written for Policy Exchange by Denis MacEoin entitled The Hijacking of British Islam. Mr MacEoin argued that extremist literature was widely available in British mosques and shops adjoining them, that much of it was funded by the Saudi Arabian government, and that the Finsbury Park mosque was a major perpetrator of such distribution.
But when Richard Watson, the reporter covering the story, and Peter Barron, then editor of Newsnight, examined the report in detail, they found that five receipts used as incriminating evidence looked fake.
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Shia scholars demand new C4 film on their faith Tuesday, July 29, 2008 (67 reads)
By Mark Sweney 29 July 2008 The Guardian
A group of leading Shia Muslim scholars are threatening to take their grievances about a Channel 4 documentary on the Qur'an to Ofcom, unless the broadcaster apologises to viewers and commissions a second programme on their faith.
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Misleading and defamatory: Channel 4 accused over documentary on Qur'an Monday, July 28, 2008 (76 reads)
By Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent 28 July 2008 The Guardian
It was described as an "exemplary piece of programme making" by an award winning film-maker which launched a week of television coverage of Islam.
But a Channel 4 documentary on the Qur'an has angered a group of leading Shia Muslim scholars, who have criticised it for making "seriously inaccurate statements" about their branch of the faith.
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"Subjective Atlas for Palestine" wins prestigious Dutch award Thursday, July 17, 2008 (98 reads)
By Adri Nieuwhof 17 July 2008 Electronic Intifada
Last year Palestinian artists, photographers and designers mapped "their" Palestine in the Subjective Atlas of Palestine. The atlas offers a picture of Palestine that differs from the images the public generally receives through the mass media. Dutch designer Annelys de Vet of the the International Academy of Arts in Palestine and the Dutch Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, joined forces with a group of Palestinian artists to realize a moving, beautiful, poetic and at times heart-breaking book. On 26 June 2008 it was awarded the best designed book of 2007, beating out 465 others. There will be an exhibition of the 33 books nominated for the award in the famous Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam.
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Secret footage of teenager's pleas exposes life in Guantánamo prison Wednesday, July 16, 2008 (80 reads)
By Suzanne Goldenberg 16 July 2008 The Guardian
The secrets of interrogation at Guantánamo Bay prison camp were broadcast for the first time yesterday in grainy footage of a teenage inmate calling for his mother and begging: "Help me, help me."
Yesterday's release of eight minutes of video of Canadian intelligence agents questioning a Canadian detainee, Omar Khadr, marked the first time the public has been able to witness the interrogation of a suspect at the camp.
It also offered a glimpse into the effects of prolonged detention and sleep deprivation on inmates at Guantánamo.
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Award-winning Palestinian reporter 'abused' by Israeli security officers Wednesday, July 02, 2008 (106 reads)
By Donald Macintyre 2 July 2008 The Independent
The Dutch Foreign Minister, Maxime Verhagen, has officially complained to Israel after accusations by an award-winning Palestinian journalist from Gaza that he was abused during almost four hours of detention at the border with Jordan.
Mohammed Omer, 24, says that he was manhandled and strip-searched and fainted during interrogation when he returned from a Dutch government-facilitated trip to London to collect a prestigious British journalism award, the Martha Gellhorn Prize.
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Israelis assault award-winning Palestinian journalist Saturday, June 28, 2008 (175 reads)
GAZA CITY, Jun 28 (IPS) - Mohammed Omer, the Gaza correspondent of IPS, and joint winner of the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, was strip-searched at gunpoint, assaulted and abused by Israeli security officials at the Allenby border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on Thursday as he tried to return home to Gaza. Omer, a resident of Rafah in the south of Gaza, and previous recipient of the New America Media's Best Youth Voice award several years ago, was returning from London where he had just collected his Gellhorn Prize, and from several European capitals where he had speaking engagements, including a meeting with Greek parliamentarians.
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About This section is a daily, comprehensive source of news on Arab issues from Al Jazeera, the BBC and Agence France Presse, among others.
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