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MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates ( American gets 1 year in prison for " mockumentary " ) Film Spoof
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: An American man detained for months in the United Arab Emirates and seven co-defendants were fined and sentenced to jail Monday after being convicted in connection to a satirical video about youth culture in Dubai.
The case, which has drawn the attention of international human rights advocates, centers around a mockumentary uploaded to the Internet. Officials charged that the film spoofing would-be Dubai “gangstas” ran afoul of a 2012 cybercrimes law that tightened penalties for challenging authorities, according to supporters of one of the filmmakers, Shezanne Cassim.
Cassim, 29, is a US citizen from Woodbury, Minnesota, who was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Dubai for work after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2006. He became the public face of the defendants after his family launched an effort to publicize his months-long incarceration following his arrest in April.
He was sentenced Monday to a year in prison followed by deportation and a 10,000 dirham ($2,725) fine, according to family spokeswoman Jennifer Gore.
American consular officials have been following the case closely and attended Monday’s hearing at the State Security Court in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi.
The US Embassy had no official comment following the verdict. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf last week said American officials were troubled by Cassim’s “prolonged incarceration” and called for “a fair and expedient trial and judgment.”
Two Indian defendants received similar sentences, while two Emirati brothers were sentenced to eight months behind bars and received 5,000 dirham fines, according to state-owned newspaper The National. A third brother was pardoned.
The paper said the defendants had been accused of “defaming the UAE society’s image abroad.”
Three other defendants, a Canadian, Briton and an American, were convicted and sentenced in absentia to the penalties given to their other foreigners. They have never been detained by authorities and so are unlikely to serve their sentences.
The paper identified the defendants only by their initials, which is common in the Emirati media.
Gulf Arab authorities have been cracking down on social media use over the past two years, with dozens of people arrested across the region for Twitter posts deemed offensive to leaders or for social media campaigns urging more political openness.
The video, called “Ultimate Combat System: The Deadly Satwa Gs,” is set in the Satwa district of Dubai. It is a documentary style clip that pokes fun at Dubai youth who style themselves “gangstas” but are not particularly thuggish, and shows fictional “combat” training that includes throwing a sandal and using a mobile phone to call for help.
It opens with text saying the video is fictional and is not meant to offend.
The case, which has drawn the attention of international human rights advocates, centers around a mockumentary uploaded to the Internet. Officials charged that the film spoofing would-be Dubai “gangstas” ran afoul of a 2012 cybercrimes law that tightened penalties for challenging authorities, according to supporters of one of the filmmakers, Shezanne Cassim.
Cassim, 29, is a US citizen from Woodbury, Minnesota, who was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Dubai for work after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2006. He became the public face of the defendants after his family launched an effort to publicize his months-long incarceration following his arrest in April.
He was sentenced Monday to a year in prison followed by deportation and a 10,000 dirham ($2,725) fine, according to family spokeswoman Jennifer Gore.
American consular officials have been following the case closely and attended Monday’s hearing at the State Security Court in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi.
The US Embassy had no official comment following the verdict. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf last week said American officials were troubled by Cassim’s “prolonged incarceration” and called for “a fair and expedient trial and judgment.”
Two Indian defendants received similar sentences, while two Emirati brothers were sentenced to eight months behind bars and received 5,000 dirham fines, according to state-owned newspaper The National. A third brother was pardoned.
The paper said the defendants had been accused of “defaming the UAE society’s image abroad.”
Three other defendants, a Canadian, Briton and an American, were convicted and sentenced in absentia to the penalties given to their other foreigners. They have never been detained by authorities and so are unlikely to serve their sentences.
The paper identified the defendants only by their initials, which is common in the Emirati media.
Gulf Arab authorities have been cracking down on social media use over the past two years, with dozens of people arrested across the region for Twitter posts deemed offensive to leaders or for social media campaigns urging more political openness.
The video, called “Ultimate Combat System: The Deadly Satwa Gs,” is set in the Satwa district of Dubai. It is a documentary style clip that pokes fun at Dubai youth who style themselves “gangstas” but are not particularly thuggish, and shows fictional “combat” training that includes throwing a sandal and using a mobile phone to call for help.
It opens with text saying the video is fictional and is not meant to offend.
Saudi Arabia ( Ethiopian housemaid gets " Death " for killing 6 year old child )
A Saudi court has sentenced an Ethiopian housemaid for murdering the six-year-old daughter of her Saudi employer to avenge his alleged mistreatment of her.
The court in Riyadh handed down the death verdict after the 26-year-old maid confessed to killing Lamis by slitting her throat with a kitchen knife.
Police arrested the maid just an hour after she killed the daughter in July and hid in the back garden of her employer’s house in Hota Bani Tamim, just south of Riyadh.
Police said in July they found the maid armed with a cleaver, which she used to attack them before they overpowered her.
Saudi newspapers on Tuesday said the maid was told by the judge she can appeal against the death sentence within 30 days.
The court in Riyadh handed down the death verdict after the 26-year-old maid confessed to killing Lamis by slitting her throat with a kitchen knife.
Police arrested the maid just an hour after she killed the daughter in July and hid in the back garden of her employer’s house in Hota Bani Tamim, just south of Riyadh.
Police said in July they found the maid armed with a cleaver, which she used to attack them before they overpowered her.
Saudi newspapers on Tuesday said the maid was told by the judge she can appeal against the death sentence within 30 days.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Gaza City ( A three-year-old Palestinian girl was killed in a series of retaliatory Israeli strikes )
GAZA CITY: A three-year-old Palestinian girl was killed in a series of retaliatory Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. They came shortly after an Israeli man was shot dead by a Gazan sniper while working on the border fence.
The planes fired at a Hamas training facility in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, with two more strikes reported east of Gaza City and another in the center of the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli civilian was targeted while he was repairing the Gaza border fence, prompting Israel to warn it would respond “forcefully.”
A spokeswoman for the Soroka hospital in southern Israeli city Beersheba, where the man was taken, told AFP “he arrived dead. We pronounced his death here.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel would respond “forcefully” to the attack. “This is a very severe incident and we will not sit idly by,” he said.
Witnesses in Gaza said Palestinian militants fired mortar rounds at Israeli military vehicles east of the security fence near Nahal Oz, and reported seeing an ambulance evacuate one person.
Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesman for the emergency services in the Hamas-run enclave, told AFP an 18-year-old Palestinian was moderately wounded by Israeli fire in the northern-Gaza Beit Lahiya area.
The planes fired at a Hamas training facility in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, with two more strikes reported east of Gaza City and another in the center of the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli civilian was targeted while he was repairing the Gaza border fence, prompting Israel to warn it would respond “forcefully.”
A spokeswoman for the Soroka hospital in southern Israeli city Beersheba, where the man was taken, told AFP “he arrived dead. We pronounced his death here.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel would respond “forcefully” to the attack. “This is a very severe incident and we will not sit idly by,” he said.
Witnesses in Gaza said Palestinian militants fired mortar rounds at Israeli military vehicles east of the security fence near Nahal Oz, and reported seeing an ambulance evacuate one person.
Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesman for the emergency services in the Hamas-run enclave, told AFP an 18-year-old Palestinian was moderately wounded by Israeli fire in the northern-Gaza Beit Lahiya area.
King Abdul Aziz University ( Students Campaign to stop misuse of Prophet’s name " Muhammad " )
One type of the manifestation of our deep respect and love for Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is to show the utmost respect to his name and preserve its sanctity by preventing its use for any common purpose such as calling expatriate workers ‘Muhammad’ just because we don’t know their names.
A group of students from the Faculty of Economics and Administration in the King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU) in Jeddah recently started a campaign aimed at honoring the name of the Prophet (pbuh) and are trying to halt the spread of the phenomenon where Saudis use his name to call any stranger, even non-Muslims, in restaurants or supermarkets. The name of the Prophet (pbuh) has come to denote inferiority when used in this manner and the speaker usually has a sullen expression which is not only impolite but an insult to the Prophet (pbuh).
The students started to garner support for their campaign by sending text messages via social networking services or through the mobile phone’s “WhatsApp” application where the message reads, “Assalamu alaikum, this is a campaign carried out by the Saudi community aimed at honoring the name of our Prophet (pbuh) and stopping the use of his name to call people whose names we don't know, workers and sometimes even non-Muslims.”
As a result of this misuse, the name Mohammad has come to be associated with any person whose name we don’t know and denotes inferiority which contradicts our love and respect for the Prophet (pbuh).
A long time ago, we used to call unknown people with the term, “Oh brother” or “Mr.” So why don’t we use those instead of calling the person with the name of our Prophet (pbuh).
Commenting on the campaign, Saleh Salem, a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in the KAAU, said: “It is a commendable initiative by our students who are aware of the malpractices of some people in our community and are willing to change this phenomenon by raising awareness in society of the importance of showing the ultimate respect to our Prophet (pbuh) in all possible ways.”
He said the campaign was expected to be launched by the students of the Islamic Studies Department in the faculty, but the students of the Economics Department beat them to it.
“The prevalence of using ‘Mohammad’ in this inappropriate way surfaced around 15 years ago and I remember we never used this name to call unknown people or workers before. Unfortunately, we as Muslims and members of the Saudi community disregarded the sanctity of the name until we arrived at a point that we began to use it to show our resentment toward strangers,” he said.
Khalid Al-Madani, a flight attendant, told Arab News that he gets annoyed when some passengers call him Mohammad. He said that when someone does that he usually points to his badge implying that he be called by his name.
“I know that it is such an honor for every Muslim to be called by the name of the Prophet (pbuh). However, the name in our society has regrettably come to denote a lowly person,” said Madani.
Well-known Saudi scholar Sheikh Abdullah Al-Muslih told Arab News in a telephone interview that any initiative based on Islamic rules, which aims to honor the personality of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or any aspect related to him including his name is regarded as praiseworthy and is rewarded by Allah.
To the specific question whether it is permissible under the Shariah to call someone whose name is not known Mohammad, Al-Muslih said: “Calling a Muslim person whose name we don’t know with the word Mohammad was originally considered an honor. Moreover, it is not prohibited to do so for a Muslim as he is a follower of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). As for non-Muslims, it is better to call them with a title such as ‘Fellow’, ‘Friend’ or even ‘Abdullah’ as we are all servants of Allah.
“However, if the use of the name of our Prophet (pbuh) has conventionally become a norm or sign of contempt when calling unknown or low-class people and workers, it is unacceptable in Islam and could amount to a lack of respect for the Prophet (pbuh) and his honorable name,” expounded the sheikh.
Tawfeeq Al-Saqqa, an Egyptian engineer, said that when he came to Saudi Arabia 10 years ago he was surprised at seeing many people here using the word Mohammad to call workers or cleaners. He said that in his country people use “Man” or “Brother” to call unknown people.
“My son told me that his friends at school just shout ‘Hey, Mohammad’ at the canteen’s Nepalese guy, a non-Muslim, when they want to buy something. My son asked me why people didn’t call the canteen guy 'Ammo' (uncle) as we usually do in our schools in Egypt. I really commend this campaign for preserving our Prophet’s name,” concluded Al-Saqqa.
Usamah Al-Ajlan, a Saudi businessman, said that we should never ever use the name of our Prophet (pbuh) in this inappropriate and unacceptable way which indicates a lack of Islamic and religious basics of respecting our Prophet (pbuh). He said that in his frequent travels around the world on business trips he has never heard people in the West use Jesus as a common name or to call unknown people by that name.
“We, as Saudis living in this country of the Two Holy Mosques, should be the first to show the utmost respect to the name of Prophet (pbuh) and preserve it from any misuse. I support this campaign wholeheartedly. I have received the text messages on my cell phone and forwarded them to as many contacts as I could. I also suggest that the campaign be supported by the local media and senior scholars,” added Al-Ajlan.
A group of students from the Faculty of Economics and Administration in the King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU) in Jeddah recently started a campaign aimed at honoring the name of the Prophet (pbuh) and are trying to halt the spread of the phenomenon where Saudis use his name to call any stranger, even non-Muslims, in restaurants or supermarkets. The name of the Prophet (pbuh) has come to denote inferiority when used in this manner and the speaker usually has a sullen expression which is not only impolite but an insult to the Prophet (pbuh).
The students started to garner support for their campaign by sending text messages via social networking services or through the mobile phone’s “WhatsApp” application where the message reads, “Assalamu alaikum, this is a campaign carried out by the Saudi community aimed at honoring the name of our Prophet (pbuh) and stopping the use of his name to call people whose names we don't know, workers and sometimes even non-Muslims.”
As a result of this misuse, the name Mohammad has come to be associated with any person whose name we don’t know and denotes inferiority which contradicts our love and respect for the Prophet (pbuh).
A long time ago, we used to call unknown people with the term, “Oh brother” or “Mr.” So why don’t we use those instead of calling the person with the name of our Prophet (pbuh).
Commenting on the campaign, Saleh Salem, a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in the KAAU, said: “It is a commendable initiative by our students who are aware of the malpractices of some people in our community and are willing to change this phenomenon by raising awareness in society of the importance of showing the ultimate respect to our Prophet (pbuh) in all possible ways.”
He said the campaign was expected to be launched by the students of the Islamic Studies Department in the faculty, but the students of the Economics Department beat them to it.
“The prevalence of using ‘Mohammad’ in this inappropriate way surfaced around 15 years ago and I remember we never used this name to call unknown people or workers before. Unfortunately, we as Muslims and members of the Saudi community disregarded the sanctity of the name until we arrived at a point that we began to use it to show our resentment toward strangers,” he said.
Khalid Al-Madani, a flight attendant, told Arab News that he gets annoyed when some passengers call him Mohammad. He said that when someone does that he usually points to his badge implying that he be called by his name.
“I know that it is such an honor for every Muslim to be called by the name of the Prophet (pbuh). However, the name in our society has regrettably come to denote a lowly person,” said Madani.
Well-known Saudi scholar Sheikh Abdullah Al-Muslih told Arab News in a telephone interview that any initiative based on Islamic rules, which aims to honor the personality of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or any aspect related to him including his name is regarded as praiseworthy and is rewarded by Allah.
To the specific question whether it is permissible under the Shariah to call someone whose name is not known Mohammad, Al-Muslih said: “Calling a Muslim person whose name we don’t know with the word Mohammad was originally considered an honor. Moreover, it is not prohibited to do so for a Muslim as he is a follower of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). As for non-Muslims, it is better to call them with a title such as ‘Fellow’, ‘Friend’ or even ‘Abdullah’ as we are all servants of Allah.
“However, if the use of the name of our Prophet (pbuh) has conventionally become a norm or sign of contempt when calling unknown or low-class people and workers, it is unacceptable in Islam and could amount to a lack of respect for the Prophet (pbuh) and his honorable name,” expounded the sheikh.
Tawfeeq Al-Saqqa, an Egyptian engineer, said that when he came to Saudi Arabia 10 years ago he was surprised at seeing many people here using the word Mohammad to call workers or cleaners. He said that in his country people use “Man” or “Brother” to call unknown people.
“My son told me that his friends at school just shout ‘Hey, Mohammad’ at the canteen’s Nepalese guy, a non-Muslim, when they want to buy something. My son asked me why people didn’t call the canteen guy 'Ammo' (uncle) as we usually do in our schools in Egypt. I really commend this campaign for preserving our Prophet’s name,” concluded Al-Saqqa.
Usamah Al-Ajlan, a Saudi businessman, said that we should never ever use the name of our Prophet (pbuh) in this inappropriate and unacceptable way which indicates a lack of Islamic and religious basics of respecting our Prophet (pbuh). He said that in his frequent travels around the world on business trips he has never heard people in the West use Jesus as a common name or to call unknown people by that name.
“We, as Saudis living in this country of the Two Holy Mosques, should be the first to show the utmost respect to the name of Prophet (pbuh) and preserve it from any misuse. I support this campaign wholeheartedly. I have received the text messages on my cell phone and forwarded them to as many contacts as I could. I also suggest that the campaign be supported by the local media and senior scholars,” added Al-Ajlan.
Mexico ( Another homicide in the " Killing Fields " of Mexico )
According to the version of the ministerial authorities, this person was beaten to death, he had multiple bruises and wounds in different parts of the body. The victim remains unknown.
Note from Editor ( I would take a second glance at anyone buying trash bags, cardboard signs and colored pen's in Mexico )
The body fully "packed" in black garbage bags and wrapped with a sheet, which turned out to be a male person aged between 20 and 25 years from about age, was located during Sunday morning on the shoulder of Coatzacoalcos-Minatitlan the road at kilometer 9.5 on the place known as Las Matas.
Read more:
Follow us: @ MundoNarco on Twitter
Note from Editor ( I would take a second glance at anyone buying trash bags, cardboard signs and colored pen's in Mexico )
The body fully "packed" in black garbage bags and wrapped with a sheet, which turned out to be a male person aged between 20 and 25 years from about age, was located during Sunday morning on the shoulder of Coatzacoalcos-Minatitlan the road at kilometer 9.5 on the place known as Las Matas.
Read more:
Follow us: @ MundoNarco on Twitter
Monday, December 23, 2013
Mexico ( Mexican Authorities Arrest 10 Suspected People Smugglers )
MEXICO CITY – Three Indians and seven Mexicans were arrested for smuggling people from Asia and Africa into the United States via Mexico, the federal Attorney General’s Office said Sunday.The 10 suspected people traffickers, who belong to an international network, were arrested in Mexico state, Quintana Roo and the Federal District, the AG’s office said in a statement.
Law enforcement agents from Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, and the Federal District arrested the people smugglers and rescued 13 migrants from India, Bangladesh and Nepal, the AG’s office said.
The two Indians, five Bangladeshis and six Nepalese were “being held in unhealthy conditions,” the AG’s office said.
Federal Police officers and personnel from two other agencies also participated in the operation.
The investigation started in August and led to the identification of the leaders of the smuggling network, which helped people from Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Somalia enter the United States illegally, the AG’s office said.
Arrest warrants have been issued for several other suspects, federal prosecutors said.
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