Sharia for New Year's

by Bruce Bawer • January 7, 2018 at 5:00 am

These extraordinary legal actions are almost exclusively reserved for the punishment of those who have criticized Islam.
On the contrary, it seems clear that the real reason for these prosecutions is that people in positions of authority fear violence by Muslims if their critics go unsilenced.
The same reporters and commentators who insist that it is absurd to worry about sharia coming to the West are, in fact, ideologically arm-in-arm with those in authority who are aggressively introducing sharia-style laws in the West, prosecuting speech that violates those laws, and issuing dark warnings -- in tones unbefitting public officials in a free country -- that you had better learn to be sharia-compliant or you will be sorry. The real lesson of all this is that we had better learn to be aggressive in our resistance to this proliferation of sharia-influenced prohibitions or we will, indeed, end up being very, very sorry.

Last September, a man named Mark Feigin posted five comments on the Facebook page of an Islamic center. They were not Islam-friendly. "THE MORE MUSLIMS WE ALLOW INTO AMERICA," he wrote, "THE MORE TERROR WE WILL SEE." He called Islam "dangerous" and said it has "no place in western civilization." A couple of his comments included vulgar or profane language. On December 20, the State of California sued Feigin, charging him with violation of a penal code that reads, in part:

"Every person who, with intent to annoy or harass, makes repeated telephone calls or makes repeated contact by means of an electronic communication device... to another person is... guilty of a misdemeanor."

According to the state Attorney General's office, Feigin was guilty of a crime because he had engaged in "repeated harassment" of people whose religion he sought to "mock and disparage."

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Political Islam and Sharia Should Be Outlawed in Europe

by Mirek Topolánek • January 7, 2018 at 4:30 am

"Let us look... at the parallel legal system that is gradually creeping into the EU....The emergence of these enclaves, reinforced by elite policies of multiculturalism, group identity politics, and the deconstruction of Western heritage, has contributed to the fracturing of Western European nations and has weakened the overall sense of mutual responsibility for one's fellow citizens." — Andrew Michta, The American Interest, June 6, 2017
The roots of the radical Muslim behavior that is now sweeping Europe can be traced to elements of Islamic law and doctrine created in the 7th century that are being maintained today. These include polygamy for men; allowing men to buy and sell women as sex slaves or concubines; divorce rights [for men that] discriminate against women; insistence on a dress code for women that includes hiding their faces; and discriminatory inheritance laws.
These are the types of laws that Muslim communities in Europe are pushing for and adhering to, and they are based on inequality of gender, religion, ethnicity and social status. In sharia law, there is no freedom of religion, speech, thought, artistic expression or the press...There is no united protection for all people. Justice is different for Muslims and non-Muslims, for men and women... There is no democracy... Jews and Christians are dhimmi, third-class citizens...

Mirek Topolánek. (Image source: David Sedlecký/Wikimedia Commons)

The following are excerpts of a speech delivered by Mirek Topolánek, former prime minister of the Czech Republic and former president of the European Council, at the Legal Salon in Prague on November 2, 2017.

Equality, in the legal sense, is based on the principle of freedom and the right of every person to dignity and equal treatment before the law [such that] the law... does not [make a distinction]... between people [based on] their economic or social status, age, ethnicity, [etc.]

The principle of equality is enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, a declaration that is part of the constitutional order of the Czech Republic...

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Behind the Latest Protests in Iran

by Amir Taheri • January 7, 2018 at 4:00 am

Protesters in Iran, on December 31 2017. (Image source: Voice of America/Wikimedia Commons)

For more than a week now, Iran has been in something of turmoil with crowds of various sizes holding protests in more than 30 cities, including the capital Tehran. Thanks to scenes not seen in Iran since 2009 when the regime managed to put down a popular uprising in Tehran, many questions have been raised about what is euphemistically referred to as "the events".

The first question is: Who are the protesters?

As always, the regime's analysis is that the protests are the result of conspiracies by the United States which, with the departure of President Barack Obama, who sought accommodation with the present leadership in Tehran, is now committed to regime change under President Donald Trump.

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