A fellow Canadian Muslim has been sentenced to life in prison by Chinese authorities after he was detained by Uzbekistan. Huseyin Celil’s story reads much like that of Maher Araar and it seems that countries continue to practice this crime of extraditing people to countries that have horrible human rights records. Hopefully the Canadian government’s efforts will prove fruitful to save this man’s life from the torture of the Chinese regime. His picture along with that of his family are below.

This issue actually got me thinking. I personally know nothing about the Uyghurs even though they are Muslims. I have done my little bit of research but it seems that the Muslim community needs to pay more attention to our brothers and sisters and their fight of independence from China.

The Uyghurs are Muslims that are located in the northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang, however, the Uyghurs themselves call this region their country of Uyghuristan (or East Turkmenistan). They have their own language, culture, music, and history apart from China and as such they are fighting for their independence from the current Chinese regime. Here is a brief history from their point of view. A huge highlight, some estimate puts their numbers at 15 million! There are some interesting facts and pictures at this link as well. This really is something fascinating and I will definitely be paying more attention to this topic, God willing.

We at Truth Served Cold are deeply saddened and in complete state of shock at the events that took place at Virginia Tech earlier this week. We condemn all forms of violence and killing of innocent people. Our prayers and well wishes go out to the families and friends of the victims of this horrific act.

One of the victims, Egyptian Waleed Shaalan, was initially shot and badly wounded. As he lay there beside another student who was not shot but played dead (MSAVT reports that the first name of the student is Nathaniel), the killer returned looking for anyone who had survived his initial onslaught. He noticed the other student and as he approached him, Waleed made a movement to distract the killer from the other student. At that point, the killer shot Waleed once again, this time killing him instantly(1, 2)

May Allah reward his act of courage and selflessness and may his grave be a garden of paradise.

He is survived by his wife, Amira and one year old son, Khaled.

Graciously, the Muslim Student Association has set up a fund to support his family in Egypt. Please donate generously. Click here for more information.

“To Allah we belong and to Him we return” (2:156)

Johny Bin Canuck

Remember Kevin? We reported about how he and his parents were held in a Texas detention center after their flight from Guyana to Toronto made an unscheduled stop in Puerto Rico (read about it here). They were held for travelling with stolen documents.

We are glad to report that Kevin and his parents have arrived to Toronto last night (see link). Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration issued a 6 month temporary resident permit for the family of three. Now, Kevin can go back to elementary school in the Toronto area where he had attended till grade 3. He will be given a chance at a bright future away from the persecution and tyranny his family would have for sure faced once again in Iran.

In light of FIFA lack of arbitration in the case of an 11-year-old Muslim girl from playing in a tournament near Montreal last weekend because she was wearing a head scarf, hijab (we discussed it here), we ask the Quebec soccer federation to clarify its position on the players wearing of religious clothing/symbols such the hijab

We as Canadian ask for the reasoning behind this ruling from the Quebec Soccer Federation. They cite safety concerns being the reason for the ban. Explain to me how a hijab poses a risk to anyone playing the game. How is it any different from headbands which are allowed?…And the fact that it is allowed in other provinces (namely Ontario)..

If the rules are vague that it allows for individual league organizers, referees and teams to interpret, then the Quebec Soccer Federation needs to set the precedent and show us Canadians that soccer is indeed a sport for all with no discrimination. Show us that is not another case in a growing trend of Islamophobia in Quebec.

Email the president of the Quebec Soccer Federation, Mr. Dino Madonis politely asking for an explanation and for him to enlighten us. You can also email Valmie Ouellet (inset) who seems to be the one that is championing this crusade against veiled 11-year old girls. Good job Valmie, I hope you can sleep better at night.

Also, you might want to check out these two articles (1,2) written by Dr. Sheema Khan in the Globe and Mail about the hijab and soccer (Why is this even a topic of discussion?!?!)

 UPDATE:  The Canadian government has granted the family a permit to come to Canada!!! See here.

Seems that the US hasn’t learned much from the Maher Arar case. And Canada seems to not have learned much from the Zahra Kazemi murder in Iran a few years back. If you haven’t heard, the story we’re talking about is that of Kevin, his dad Majid and his mother. Kevin, 10 years old, is Canadian but his parents are not. They were deported from Canada a couple of years ago after their asylum in Canada was refused. The father was on the radio today telling of how he was tortured when he went back to Iran after his failed asylum attempt in Canada.

The family is now being held in a prison in Houston, TX because the plane they were illegally on trying to get back to Canada was diverted in had to land in Puerto Rico where they were intercepted by US officials. Now, the Americans want to deport the family back to Iran. (See story here and Amy Goodman’s from Democracy Now has written an article on the story as well). You can also read a transcript of the interview here.

We need to stop this continuous disrespect by Americans of Canadian citizens. Let’s try and bring Kevin and his family home to Toronto where he lived for almost all his life and attended elementary school and made friends. The least we can do is write a message to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and Minister Peter Mackay.

So, once again, one of our Muslim young sisters is being banned from something because of her headscarf(hijab). This time, it was in Quebec at a soccer tournament. The sister’s name is Asmahan (Azzy) Mansour of Ottawa and she was championed by her team the Nepean Hotspurs and four other teams who all pulled out to protest the ref’s decision to pull Azzy out of the game. The story is all over the news (see here, here and here)

Of note is the focus on two things: the first being that the Quebec soccer federation is saying that headgear is not allowed on the field. This is a lie, there is absolutely nothing in the rules about headgear! (see second article above)

In fact, the FIFA rule cited by Ms. Ouellet does not specifically mention headgear. It simply says a player “must not use equipment or wear anything which is dangerous to himself or another player (including any kind of jewellery.)”

Also of note is the fact that (some) media is focusing on the fact that the referee who dismissed her off the field was a Muslim. Like that makes any difference at all. He was obviously instructed by the likes of Ms. Ouellet above telling him that the headscarf is banned. Had he not brought it up they would have probably reprimanded him for being biased and not enforcing their discriminatory rules.

In fact, I think we should be truly thanking this man, her coach, who decided to pull out his team and he had 4 other local teams pull out of the tournament. He also promised that they will never return until the rules have been changed. This is the man that represents what Canada is all about, in my opinion. Namely that stupidity is not tolerated, especially when it infringes on the rights of people. So please, email these people and congratulate them on the move that they have made.

The email addresses are: for the Nepean Hotspurs at info@hotspurs.on.ca and for Mr. Louis Maniero at gabe.joe@sympatico.ca

NOTE: I got these email addresses of the website above.

Finally, someone is talking some sense itno this government.  In a unanimous decision the Supreme Court of Canada (read: the people more powerful than the government) the court struck the “security certificates” as unconstitutional.  This is great news to Canadians as these certificates basically give the feds the power to detain people without cause indefinitely just because they think they might be a threat.

I’ve marched in the protests for some of these people that were affected by these certificates and I must say that I’m happy that they are finally beginning to get their justice.

I’m a believer in strategic voting, the only drawback with it is that it only succeeds if everyone else believes in it too. Canada in the 90’s and early 00’s saw its share of a transformation on the political scene. Post-Brian Mulroney (Progressive Conservative) in the late 80’s, early 90’s, the Liberals completely dominated the scene and we had more than a decade of their rule. Things weren’t that bad at all, they had a comfortable majority, and, as with most political scenes, this ends up causing corruption in the ruling party’s over-confidence.

Behind the scenes, the right was getting frantic. They were at an all time low, at one point the Progressive Conservative were not even considered an official party in the house (winning something like 2 seats!). So the right went through its transformation, first with the formation of the “Reform” party, then the formation of the Canadian Alliance, and then they (mostly) joined together to form the current Conservative party of Canada.

It proved to be successful for the party in that it got it in power (what also helped was the fact that the Liberals fell in a couple of scandals that were blown completely out of proportions, in my opinion). But here’s the problem: they won a minority government. What’s even worse? The rest of the parties are all on the “left” of Canada’s politics.

So here’s what I don’t understand: Why doesn’t the Left unite? There’s very little differences between the Liberals and the NDP and the Green Party. Granted, we have another party on the Left which is the Bloc (representing the people of Quebec (or the nation thereof)). Ok, fine, so the NDP are a little bit more happy to spend our cash but they can cut back a little to even out with the Liberals…and with all this talk about the environment, I’m sure they can gather together and come up with some suitable policy to satisfy the Greens.

Take a look at this recent poll, they can get together and have 54% of the popular vote, surely wiping out the Conservatives. Ok granted they might lose a few percentage points to the conservatives but they can win some Bloc votes, and some undecided votes who do not want to see the conservatives in power…

So my call to recently elected Stephen Dion, leader of the Liberals, make this your priority, to bring the Left together. They say that Canadians follow Americans in a lot of things. The Americans made the mistake of voting in Geroge W. Bush into power (twice) for 8 years….let’s not let the conservatives follow in their brethern’s footsteps down south. If, God forbid, Harper somehow forges a majority government….I shudder to even think of the thought. Let’s just say, all those jokes we made about Bush and his evil policies will come back to haunt us.

MacKay, “The arse-licker of Satan” as comedian Mary Walsh puts it, screwed up what city he’s in during the East Coast Music Awards in Halifax. Read the full article here.

How dumb and clueless can you be? He first thinks he’s in Toronto. “Uh, Ottawa?”. “Where am I?”. You’re in Halifax!! I could understand if he got it wrong once, but twice? Does he not care? Or is he as bad as George W in geography. It’s probably all those Albertan steaks he’s had with his gf Condi.

JBC