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2004 NewsDecember 25, 2004Tenn. Muslims Seek Approval for CemeteriesBy WOODY BAIRD
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| ABC News Saraah Olson says, "These are dangerous people and a lot of people were hurt." |
Saraah Olson says she watched as her then-husband, Hisham Diab, and his group transformed local teen Adam Gadahn into an America-hating fanatic who she says is the masked man who promised in an al-Qaida video message released in Pakistan late October that the "streets of America will run red with blood."
"I was just a stepping stone to a green card," Olson said. "I married a terrorist. I married somebody who did not like America, who didn't like Americans."
Gadahn, who met Olson's former husband at a local mosque, was "fresh meat," she said. "Someone they could control. Not only that, he's very unassuming-looking, he can do a lot of their tasks."
The voice, gestures and rhetoric of the video's "Azzam the American" were all familiar to Olson, especially the phrase "red with blood," which was one of the group's favorite sayings, she said.
And over the course of three years, Olson said, some of Osama bin Laden's top deputies would stay with her and her husband, including blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who would later go to prison for life for his role in organizing terrorist plots against the United States.
Olson said she repeatedly tried to notify the FBI of her husband's suspicious activities, but that she was never taken seriously. "I'm in hell," Olson remembers thinking after she recognized Abdel-Rahman in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. "I have entered the bowels of hell and I'm going to be here forever. And I've only been married seven months. I've got a terrorist in my house."
The FBI said in a statement that counterterrorism is their top priority. "Whenever we receive credible information pertaining to terrorist threats against the United States, the FBI acts immediately to thoroughly pursue all such leads," the statement read.
Federal authorities say the couple's neighbor Khalil Deek, considered a major
al-Qaida figure, ran the Orange County sleeper cell operation.
Diab, who obtained a U.S. passport after marrying Olson, left the country suddenly
in 1998. He is now being sought by U.S. authorities and is believed by intelligence
officials to be hiding in Pakistan with top al Qaeda leaders.
"I was the wife," Olson now says. "So it looked like a typical guy married to an American girl with the little blond-haired, blue-eyed boy in tow."
Blinded by Love
But when she first met Diab 13 years ago, while working at a local university issuing foreign student visas, she thought the then-32-year-old Diab had more honorable intentions.
"I really loved him," she said. "I was 22 years old and I was in love."
Diab introduced himself as an Egyptian national who had overstayed his visa and needed to switch visas, said Olson. She then explained that the school's program was not applicable to him, that he could not switch visas.
"He seemed fine with it," Olson said. "He left. No problems. Came back the next day, 'Will you go out with me?'"
In just a few months, they were married and settled in an apartment complex in Anaheim. Olson and her 4-year-old son from another relationship, Ryan, both converted to Islam.
The honeymoon was short-lived, however. First, she said Diab insisted she wear
the hijab, a head scarf worn by certain devout Muslim women, and conform to other
strict Islamic customs.
And the beatings came next, she said, provoked by what were deemed violations
of her husband's strict rules, which including forbidding physical contact with
any man. She says he hit her the first time just weeks after their wedding for
accidentally bumping into the manager of their apartment building.
"You have to listen to me and I am God," she said Diab told her. "Follow the rules."
Olson's son Ryan, now a teenager, says he was beaten almost daily when he did poorly in the Arabic lessons he was forced to take.
"I mispronounced something and that set him off," the college freshman said. "And I remember he clasped both his hands together and just hauled off and hit me right square in the back. I remember the wind, you know, getting knocked out of me, crying out."
Ryan said Diab's cell tried to recruit him into their group and he would be brought to small meetings where the men would rail and plot against America.
"He wanted me to be just as extreme as he was you know, hate America, anything that his little group didn't like," he said. "I just can't really say I ever believed it. I just went along, just nodded my head."
And Saraah Olson admits she played a role in drawing up the papers for a fake charity, called Charity Without Borders, that the cell used to funnel money overseas. The organization would not be discovered or shut down until after the Sept. 11 attacks.
It was an act of desperation, Olson said. "I'm not proud of it. Not proud of it at all," she said. "I just knew that I lived in hell and I wanted out. And if helping him do whatever it was that he was doing meant that I wouldn't get hit, I was willing to do it at that point."
Falling Into al-Qaida's Web?
Olson's story is confirmed in detail by the imam of the Islamic Society of Orange County, Haitham Bundakji. He said Diab and others in the cell were disruptive troublemakers who caused the most harm by recruiting innocent others, especially Gadahn.
"And I blame myself and my people for not embracing him (Gadahn) and not making more efforts to gain him," Bundakji said. "He fell in the wrong hands and he became as aggressive as they were."
Olson explained why she now feels it is the time to come forward.
"Because it's the right thing to do," she said. "These are dangerous people and a lot of people were hurt."
12-23-04 11:51 EST
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Danny Nallliah (Photo: Catch the Fire Ministries) |
A state tribunal in Australia yesterday found two evangelical Christian pastors who conducted a church seminar on Islam guilty of inciting hatred against Muslims.
Daniel Nalliah and Daniel Scot of Catch the Fire Ministries were tried under Victoria's new race and religion hate laws after the the Islamic Council of Victoria filed legal action, charging Scot called Muslims demons, liars and terrorists
Transcripts of the seminar in Melbourne show Scot, born in Pakistan, was quoting verses from the Quran to make his points, but three Australian converts to Islam who attended part of the seminar brought their notes to the Islamic Council.
The decision
[pdf file] came as 100 supporters and members of Catch the Fire Ministries
sang Christian songs outside the tribunal.
The Islamic Council's complaint also said Scot told the congregation Muslims were
training to take over Australia and Islam was an inherently violent religion.
In the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal yesterday, Judge Michael Higgins found that throughout the seminar Scot had made fun of Muslim beliefs and conduct.
"It was done, not in the context of a serious discussion of Muslims' religious beliefs," the judge said, according to The Australian
"It was presented in a way which is essentially hostile, demeaning and derogatory of all Muslim people, their god, Allah, the prophet Muhammad and in general Muslim religious beliefs and practices," he said.
The judge also found a website article and newsletter published by Catch the Fire Ministries to be breaches of the religious vilification legislation.
Higgins will hear submissions from lawyers in January to decide on fines. There is no limitation on the amount of fines, The Australian said.
The ruling was an important victory for the Muslim community, Islamic Council president Yasser Soliman told the paper.
"We are not their enemies, we are fellow Australians," he said. "We don't want to be positioned as an enemy or painted as one."
Soliman said "vilification" is a "tool that is sometimes used by extremists" that is meant to "hurt."
Nalliah and Scot indicated they will consider an appeal.
"Freedom of speech is one of our fundamental values in Australia and this case is not over," Scot said, according to the Australian paper.
"We cannot let freedom of speech be taken away from us; religion cannot be legislated.
Scot said the purpose of the seminar, just months after 9-11, was to increase understanding of Muslim culture.
Nalliah insisted there was "no hate speech at all."
"It was teaching and understanding of what we knew of what the holy book of Islamic faith says," he explained. "And I believe we, in a free and democratic society, should have the freedom to speak up."
As WorldNetDaily reported in February, Catch the Fire Ministries turned the table on its accuser, arguing in court that Christianity in Australia has special protection under the constitution.
Lawyer David Perkins asserted that if Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act of 2001 curbs the teaching of Christian doctrine, it is invalid. He further claimed Australia's blasphemy law was intended to protect only Christianity.
The law refers to "lawful religion," which disqualifies Islam, because it preaches violence, Perkins emphasized.
"The Quran contradicts Christian doctrine in a number of places and, under the blasphemy law, is therefore illegal," he said.
Related story:
Judge told: Islam illegal religion
ITHACA, N.Y. — Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government
should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans (search), according to
a nationwide poll.
The survey conducted by Cornell University (search) also found that Republicans
and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support
curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.
Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim-Americans.
"It's sad news. It's disturbing news. But it's not unpredictable," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society (search). "The nation is at war, even if it's not a traditional war. We just have to remain vigilant and continue to interface."
The survey found 44 percent favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted in any way.
The survey showed that 27 percent of respondents supported requiring all Muslim-Americans to register where they lived with the federal government. Twenty-two percent favored racial profiling to identify potential terrorist threats. And 29 percent thought undercover agents should infiltrate Muslim civic and volunteer organizations to keep tabs on their activities and fund-raising.
Cornell student researchers questioned 715 people in the nationwide telephone poll conducted this fall. The margin of error was 3.6 percentage points.
James Shanahan, an associate professor of communications who helped organize the survey, said the results indicate "the need for continued dialogue about issues of civil liberties" in a time of war.
While researchers said they were not surprised by the overall level of support for curtailing civil liberties, they were startled by the correlation with religion and exposure to television news.
"We need to explore why these two very important channels of discourse may nurture fear rather than understanding," Shanahan said.
According to the survey, 37 percent believe a terrorist attack in the United States is still likely within the next 12 months. In a similar poll conducted by Cornell in November 2002, that number stood at 90 percent.
CAIRO, Egypt (Dec. 16) -- A man identified as Osama bin Laden, speaking on
an audiotape posted on an Islamic Web site Thursday, praised an attack earlier
this month on a U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia and criticized the Saudi regime
as weak and controlled by the United States.
The voice sounded like the al-Qaida terror chief's, and the tape, which was more
than an hour, was posted on a site known as a clearinghouse for militant Islamic
comment. The identity of the voice, however, could not be independently confirmed.
The tape appeared the same day another dissident had called for anti-monarchy protests in the kingdom.
Its reference to the Dec. 6 attack in which five militants shot their way into the compound of the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, killing five non-American employees, showed that it was made recently. Four of the attackers were killed and one was wounded in the consulate attack.
''God bless our brothers who stormed the American Consulate in Jiddah,'' the speaker said. ''Those who were killed of our brothers, we ask God to accept them as martyrs.''
The speaker, in calm and even tones, accused Saudi rulers of ''violating God's rules,'' a common theme of bin Laden, who accuses Saudi rulers of being insufficiently Islamic and too close to the ''infidel'' United States.
''The sins the regime committed are great ... it practiced injustices against the people, violating their rights, humiliating their pride,'' the speaker said. He accused the Saudi royal family of misspending public money while ''millions of people are suffering from poverty and deprivation.''
While calling for change, the speaker scoffed at overtures such as promised
municipal elections and a national dialogue Saudi rulers recently initiated to
open public debate on democratization and other issues.
''This hasn't changed anything ... the best they can do is that they will go into
the elections game as happened before in Yemen and Jordan or Egypt and move in
a vicious circle for dozens of years, this is regardless of the fact that it is
prohibited to enter the infidel legislative councils,'' the speaker said.
The main statement was preceded by Quranic verses, a rhetorical device typical of bin Laden.
Saudi Arabia cracked down on Muslim extremists after the May 2003 bombings of three residential compounds in Riyadh brought terrorism home to the kingdom, but has not been able to contain the violence.
Addressing Saudi rulers, the taped statement attributed to bin Laden said: ''You must know that people are fed up ... security will not be able to stop them.''
Bin Laden, believed hiding in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, last reached out to his followers in October, with a videotape aired on the Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera. In that statement, he for the first time clearly took responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and said America could avoid another such strike if it stopped threatening the security of Muslims.
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Getty Images |
RALEIGH, N.C. (Dec. 10) -- A Marine who claimed he was abducted by anti-coalition forces after he went missing from his unit in Iraq has been charged with desertion.
The charges filed Thursday against Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun followed a five-month investigation into his June disappearance from a U.S. military camp near Fallujah, Iraq, according to a statement from the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune.
Hassoun, of West Jordan, Utah, is accused of taking unauthorized leave from the unit where he served as an Arabic interpreter.
Hassoun also is charged with loss of government property and theft of a military firearm for allegedly leaving the Marine camp while still in possession of his 9 mm service pistol, as well as theft and wrongful appropriation of a government vehicle.
Neither Hassoun nor his lawyer planned to make any public statement about the
charges, brigade spokesman Maj. Matt Morgan said. Hassoun's family in Utah did
not answer their phone Thursday.
No date has been set for an Article 32 hearing, one of the first steps toward
a possible court-martial, Morgan said.
Hassoun is not in custody or confined to Camp Lejeune; he is working in the brigade motor pool. Morgan said he will continue to go about his normal duties, although he is considered to be non-deployable until the charges are resolved.
The desertion count carries a five-year maximum prison sentence and the other counts carry 10-year maximums. If convicted, Hassoun also could be dishonorably discharged and ordered to forfeit his pay and allowances.
Hassoun was last seen in Iraq on June 19. He did not report for duty the next day and was listed as missing.
On June 27, the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera broadcast the photo of Hassoun looking as if he was a hostage, blindfolded and with a sword behind his head. A group called the National Islamic Resistance/1920 Revolution Brigade claimed to be holding him and was threatening to decapitate him unless detainees in ''U.S.-led occupation prisons'' were released, Al-Jazeera said.
Hassoun contacted American officials in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 8, and he was taken to the American Embassy there.
He spent about a week in a U.S. military hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, then returned to the United States, and eventually to Camp Lejeune.
He has made one statement since returning to the United States, saying he was captured and held against his will by anti-coalition forces. Hassoun has declined interview requests.
During fighting last month in Fallujah, U.S. troops recovered Hassoun's personal belongings in a box on the third floor of a three-story commercial building. The property included an identification card, a uniform and a book.
Muslim extremists have allegedly abducted a Coptic priest's wife in Egypt and forced her to convert to Islam, prompting demonstrations today by thousands of Christian Copts in various parts of the nation against what they say is the government's failure to protect them against anti-Christian crimes.
Foreign journalists have been barred from the protest areas, the U.S. Copt Association told WorldNetDaily.
Over 3,000 Coptic demonstrators gathered yesterday and today in Cairo, el-Minia,
el-Behara and Assiut provinces to protest what they say is the abduction and forced
conversion to Islam of Wafaa Constantine Messiha, the wife of a Coptic priest
based in Egypt. Demonstrators charged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been
indifferent to Coptic pleas for protection from Muslim-led persecution, and called
on the U.S. to immediately intervene.
"The situation in Egypt is exploding every minute for the last three days," Emil Zaki, vice president of the U.S. Copt Association told WorldNetDaily. "Muslims are regularly attacking Copts, and they kidnapped the wife of a priest to force her to convert to Islam."
Zaki, who says he has been in hourly contact with the protest leaders, said he was told the Egyptian government has barred foreign journalists from attending the rallies. He said only state-run and Arabic networks have been allowed to report from the protest sites.
Indeed, the only media outlet with footage of the protests, Al Jazeera, reported Messiha was not kidnapped, but willingly converted to Islam and ran away from her husband.
"The government wont be able to keep the situation hidden from the international media for long, with clashes increasing by the minute," said Zaki.
Although Egypt's native Christian Coptic population, which constitutes between 8 and 15 percent of Egypt's population depending on which statistical information is used, have long clashed with Muslim extremists, demonstrators say a recent rise in anti-Coptic sentiment has prompted an escalation in violence.
Recent crimes cited by the demonstrators include an increased rate of kidnapping, rapes and forced conversion of young Coptic women.
They said on Friday Muslim villagers stormed and set fire to a building housing a Coptic prayer room. The mob then swept through the village, looting and burning Coptic homes and businesses, destroying a Coptic priest's car and injuring several Copts in the process, the demonstrators said. They claim the mob was prompted by an announcement that Mubarak refused a request by a local Coptic community to build a church.
In a letter to President Bush, Michael Meunier, president of the U.S. Copts Association, appealed for his immediate intervention with Mubarak on behalf of Egypt's persecuted Copts.
"Mubarak's regime has not only ignored, but in many cases contributed to the alarming increase in anti-Coptic violence," said Meunier. "Only President Bush's personal intervention can help prevent the escalation of these hate crimes into full-fledged cultural genocide."
An online petition prompted by the association, asks U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, through the U.S. ambassador in Egypt, David Welch, "to interfere and demand the release of Mrs. Messiha from her captors, and put and end to the police brutality, terror and organized persecution against the Coptic Christians of Egypt."
"Please be advised that thousands of Coptic Christian youth are currently demonstrating for her release inside and around churches in several provinces, including Cairo, and being subjected to brutality by local police and security forces," says the petition.
The Coptic Church, a major Christian community in Egypt, reportedly dates back to the origins of Christianity. When the Christian church was torn apart by the fifth century controversies on the identity of Christ, most Egyptian Christians sided with the Monophysite party, which held that Christ has one nature, a doctrine condemned at the Christian Council of Chalcedon, which defined the person of Jesus Christ as being "one in two natures." The doctrine of "two natures" appeared to them to imply the existence of two Christs, divine and human.
Monophysitism is still formally affirmed by the Coptic Church, which declared itself independent of the Coptic patriarch in 1959. The Coptic Church is headed by the "patriarch and pope of Alexandria, Pentapolis and Ethiopia," who is elected by the entire community of clergy. His permanent residence is in Cairo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's special Middle East correspondent, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban.
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahri, said in a videotape aired Monday - but apparently taped before the U.S. presidential election - that there was no difference between the two candidates. He also vowed to keep fighting the United States until Washington changed its policies.
In a brief excerpt broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, al-Zawahri said: "As for elections in America, the two candidates are competing to win the satisfaction of Israel,'' saying that fact proved "there will be no solution with America without forcing it to surrender to justice.''
President Bush won re-election over Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry in the Nov. 2 election.
In the tape, al-Zawahri said: "The results of the elections do not matter for us. Vote whoever you want, Bush, Kerry or the devil himself. This does not concern us. What concerns us is to purge our land from the aggressors.''
Days before the election, bin Laden said in similar video footage that the United States must stop threatening the security of Muslims if it wants to avoid "another Manhattan'' - referring to the Sept. 11 attacks. Addressing the American people, bin Laden also said, "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry, Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands .... Any state that does not mess with our security has naturally guaranteed its own security.''
It was unclear if Al-Jazeera planned to show more of the latest al-Zawahri tape.
In the segment broadcast, al-Zawahri also offered the American people what he called "one last advice,'' adding, "I am sure that they will not heed it.''
"You have to choose between one of two methods to deal with Muslims: either on mutual respect and exchange of interests, or to deal with them as if they are spoils of war,'' al-Zawahri said. "This is your problem and you have to choose yourself. You have to realize that we are a nation of patience and endurance. We will stand firm to fight you with God's help until doomsday.''
The bearded and bespectacled Zawahari sat before a white background, half-covered by a blanket. His voice sounded calm and steady, as in previous tapes.
The United States has offered a $25 million reward for the capture of bin Laden and al-Zawahri, who are believed to be hiding in the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Two Zawahri messages were aired in September and October: an audiotape on Oct. 1 that called on young Muslims to attack the United States, and a videotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera on Sept. 9 in which he predicted the United States would ultimately be defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - A bombing before dawn Monday blew the front door off a Muslim elementary school in a southern town and extensively damaged the building in what police suspect was a revenge attack for the killing of a Dutch filmmaker last week.
No one was injured in the attack on the empty school, which came days after the arrest of a Muslim radical accused of killing filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh, a distant relative of Vincent Van Gogh, released a film titled "Submission'' in August that was critical of how women are treated under Islam.
The Tarieq Ibnu Zyad Islamic elementary school in Eindhoven, about 75 miles south of Amsterdam, is run by the al-Fourqaan Islamic Center, which oversees the town's al-Fourqaan mosque.
Dutch intelligence officials have had the center under observation since reports it hosted an Islamic seminar in 1999, said to have been attended by Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, and Ramzi Binalshibh, the suspected liaison between al-Qaida and three of the hijackers who were based in Hamburg, Germany.
The mosque was frequented by two Muslim youths killed in Kashmir in January 2002 in an alleged suicide attack on Indian troops. And the school was the target of two minor arson attacks last year.
Van Gogh's killing Tuesday shocked the Netherlands and sparked several other anti-Muslim attacks including two weekend attempts to burn down mosques.
It was not immediately clear who carried out Monday's attack or what type of explosives were used, police spokesman Henrie van Pinxterens said. The powerful blast did substantial damage to the facade and interior of the building and scattered debris across the neighborhood.
Spokesman Cees Dekkers said police suspect the bombing was a retaliation for Van Gogh's murder.
"Eindhoven is shocked, very shocked, by a cowardly deed in the middle of the night when normal citizens are sleeping,'' Mayor Alexander Sakkers told reporters.
Sakkers said police would introduce round-the-clock surveilance of Islamic sites in the town of about 200,000 which has five main mosques.
Interior Ministry spokesman Frank Wassenaar said the government had spoken to authorities about whether more security was needed following Van Gogh's slaying, but said "there is no indication that local police cannot deal with this themselves.''
The mayor met with parents of the school's students later on Monday.
"It is essential that we stick together,'' he said. "One single person who pulls off such an idiot act'' should not affect Dutch society.
Van Gogh, an outspoken satirist and columnist, was shot Tuesday while riding his bicycle and then stabbed. His throat was cut and a five-page letter quoting from the Quran and threatening attacks on Dutch politicians was left on his body.
He will be cremated Tuesday in a public ceremony in Amsterdam.
Ten suspected Islamic extremists were arrested in the murder but four of them have been released.
Among those arrested was Mohammed Bouyeri, 26, the alleged killer who is suspected of links to a terrorist group, police said.
Mainstream Muslim groups condemned the killing but nevertheless have been the target of anger in the Netherlands.
Dutch Interior Minister Johan Remkes has said the killing should not be blamed on the Muslim community.
Vandals threw red paint Saturday night on a social center that helps Muslim immigrants in Amsterdam.
In the town of Huizen, police arrested two men they said were caught preparing to ignite a fire at the An-Nasr mosque Friday night, national news service NOS reported. A mosque in Breda sustained minor fire damage in another reported arson attempt.
Earlier this week, a small fire was set at a mosque in Utrecht, and a pig's head was left in a plastic bag outside a mosque in Amsterdam.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Arsonists and vandals angered over the alleged Muslim-inspired slaying of a controversial Dutch filmmaker have conducted a series of attacks on Islamic targets, including attempts to burn down two mosques, Dutch media reported Sunday.
Eight suspected Islamic extremists have been arrested in connection with Tuesday's slaying of Theo van Gogh, who earlier this year released a film critical of Islam's treatment of women. Among those arrested was the alleged 26-year-old killer, identified only as Mohammed B.
Though mainstream Muslim groups condemned the killing, it has caused an outpouring of anger in the Netherlands.
Vandals threw red paint Saturday night on an Amsterdam center that assists immigrants, many of them Muslim. Abdou Menebhi, director of the Emcemo center, several blocks from the spot where Van Gogh was killed, told AT5 television he "assumed (the vandalism) was done by a racist group of some kind.''
In the town of Huizen, police arrested two men allegedly trying to start a fire at the An-Nasr mosque Friday night, the national news service NOS reported. A mosque in the city of Breda sustained minor fire damage in another reported arson attempt.
Earlier this week, a small fire was set at a mosque in Utrecht, police said, and a pig's head was left in a plastic bag outside a mosque in Amsterdam.
NOS reported Sunday that pamphlets with the image of a pig and a slur against Muslims were circulating in Rotterdam.
Van Gogh, a distant relative of the famous painter Vincent van Gogh, released "Submission'' in August. The film was criticized as insensitive by some Muslim groups.
On Tuesday, Van Gogh was shot while riding his bicycle and then stabbed and had his throat cut. His killer left a 5-page note quoting from the Quran and threatening more attacks.
Of the eight suspects arrested, six remain in detention for the killing, including Mohammed B.
Judges ordered two suspects released Friday for lack of evidence, a decision prosecutors said they will appeal.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Europe's complex interplay with Islam appears to stand at a tipping point, and the slaying of a Dutchman who made a movie critical of Islam could indicate one direction in which it is headed. "The Muslims say they're scared,'' said mourner Nicolette Toering. "No, we're scared.''
Dutch authorities were investigating whether the chief suspect in the slaying, a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan man arrested shortly after the attack on terrorism-related charges, acted alone out of rage or had links to wider extremist networks. Police have detained several other suspects facing charges including conspiracy to murder.
A five-page letter pinned to the body of Theo van Gogh, brutally murdered Tuesday as he was riding his bike down a busy boulevard in Amsterdam, called for Muslims to rise up against the "infidel enemies'' in the West.
Other messages - later left at the sidewalk shrine where the 47-year-old filmmaker's throat was slashed - dripped with equal venom against radical Islam. "Enemies live among us,'' read one missive in a bed of flowers, votive candles and crosses.
The letter stuck to the victim's body threatened death to Somali-born lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who scripted Van Gogh's last film, "Submission,'' which criticized the treatment of women under Islam.
It also predicted the downfall of the "infidel enemies of Islam'' in Europe, America and the Netherlands.
Heightening fears nationwide, two Dutch men were arrested late Friday for allegedly posting a video on the Internet calling for the beheading of right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders for perceived insults to Islam.
Prosecutors said the video was posted last month and offered "paradise'' for whoever beheads Wilders. The lawmaker, who said after Van Gogh's slaying that he will form his own anti-immigration party, has been threatened before and remains under police protection.
Arab music and singing accompanies the video, which runs a little longer than a minute. The site where the video first was posted has been closed, but it could still be seen on other Dutch Web sites.
The attack has underscored the hard political and social choices that European leaders face about Muslims and the wider Islamic world.
In December, European Union leaders will decide whether to overlook widespread public objections and move ahead with membership talks with Turkey, a Muslim nation of about 70 million people and a galloping birthrate that could push it past Germany's population in a generation.
European police agencies have sharply boosted cooperation against suspected Islamic terrorist groups following the March train bombings in Spain that killed 191 people. Washington's European allies in Iraq are reassessing their levels of military and commercial support following waves of attacks, kidnappings and beheadings blamed on Islamic militants.
EU officials last month signed the text of a proposed EU Constitution that still could face opposition from voters demanding a clear reference to Europe's Christian history.
But those big issues fade on the streets of many European centers. Here - even in places like tolerant Amsterdam - it's often expressed as a gnawing feeling that militant factions in Islamic immigrant communities are gaining ground and chipping away at values such as free speech and secular politics.
"There is a general feeling that a social collision is becoming inevitable,'' said Jan Rath, co-director of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies at the University of Amsterdam. "People think it's been building for years and now finally coming to the surface.''
The landmarks along the way included the 1989 death threat "fatwa,'' or religious edict, against British writer Salman Rushdie for alleged insults to Islam in "The Satanic Verses,'' the rise of neo-Fascist movements, the assassination of Dutch anti-immigrant politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and France's ongoing showdown with Muslims over a ban on headscarves and other religious apparel in schools.
"My impression is the European voices that say, `Everyone is equal, but we are more equal than Muslims,' are growing,'' Rath said.
The Netherlands offers a good vantage point to gauge changing attitudes toward Muslim communities across Europe - which have grown more than 100 percent in the past 15 years, according to U.N. reports. Some sources place the Muslim population as high as 13.5 million in Western Europe, or more than 2 percent of the population, in addition to more than 6 million native-born Muslims in the Balkans.
Unlike the French or Spanish, the Dutch long had little direct contact with Islam apart from a colonial presence in distant Indonesia that ended in 1949. Muslim immigrants began arriving following World War II as reconstruction labor - as they did in Germany and other countries.
The workers, mostly Turks, assimilated well into Dutch society. Moroccans and other North Africans began arriving in the 1970s and 1980s, when more lenient laws allowed men to bring in their families.
But the situation in Holland was getting tougher. Jobs were more scarce - especially for the Moroccan immigrant children - and some politicians began trying to connect the rising crime rate with the swelling Muslim community: now about 1 million in a country of 16 million people.
Last year, a parliament member, Geert Wilders, pressed for a five-year ban on immigration from Turkey and Morocco. Dutch anti-terrorist agents, meanwhile, have intensified probes into alleged radical recruitment among young Muslims.
Van Gogh - a distant relative of the famous 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh - often tested the boundaries of free expression by denouncing Muslims in the most graphic terms. His last work, "Submission,'' a joint project with Somali-born lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali, attacked the treatment of women under Islam.
The filmmaker's fans were as passionate as his detractors.
"He was trying to warn us about the dangers of radical Islam,'' said teacher Geert Plas as he visited the site where Van Gogh was ambushed. "Now maybe we'll listen. To me this is not just a small event. It's part of the World Trade Center and Madrid. We must see this.''
The letter pinned to the victim's body also threatened death to Hirsi Ali, who has gone into hiding, and predicted the downfall of the "infidel enemies of Islam'' in Europe, America and the Netherlands.
"The jihad (holy war) has come to the Netherlands,'' parliament speaker Jozias van Aartsen said.
The memorials that piled up on the dark brick sidewalk often crossed the line from sympathy to seething recriminations. "This is the true face of Islam,'' said a handwritten message. A framed poem called "Imam'' ends with a stanza: "If you want to improve the world, start with yourself and your faith.''
A banner waved from a fence: "Theo rests his case.''
Christian prayer cards, crosses and biblical passages sat amid the flowers - a rare religious outpouring in one of Europe's most secular states.
"This doesn't just say something about the Netherlands,'' said Baukje Prins, assistant professor of social philosophy at Holland's Groninjen University. "It is an example of how international relations have become polarized.''
At a mosque near the murder site, Friday prayers were dominated by talk of the slaying - sprinkled with worry about a possible backlash.
"We are in danger,'' a Moroccan man told a group of friends sitting in a circle on a carpeted floor.
"No, no,'' another man said. "We cannot give in to fear. This is our home now.''
Moulay Idrissi listened and shook his head.
"I'm afraid. I can't deny it,'' said Idrissi, who emigrated from Morocco in 1978. "I feel respect for Muslims is falling away in Europe. When people have no respect, anything can happen.''
A few hours later, suspected arsonists set fire to a mosque in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, but no injuries were reported.
A 22-year-old student, Abdul Salam, said he tries to tell Christian friends that Muslims have been in Europe since the Moors crossed into Spain in the 8th century.
"So I don't know what to think when people say I don't belong here because I'm Muslim,'' he said. "I was born here. I don't even speak Arabic. I am European. That's what I feel. That's what I am.''
But Salam represents just one side of an internal struggle within Muslim communities in Europe, said Akbar Ahmed, a professor of Islamic studies at American University in Washington.
"Right now the West sees all Islam as a kind of monolith and wipes away all nuances,'' said Ahmed. "Some want to draw boundaries around Islam in Europe. Other Muslims want to deal with non-Muslims in a broad and tolerant way. It's not new to Islam. It's just new to Europe.''
PARIS (AP) - France's finance minister, a presidential hopeful, says mosques need state funding and it's time for a century-old law banning financing for religious groups to be modernized, according to excerpts of a new book hitting the shelves on Thursday.
Nicolas Sarkozy, in his book "The Republic, Religions, Hope,'' says extremism is festering in underground mosques and Islamic groups don't have money to build houses of worship.
"What is dangerous is not minarets, but caves and garages that keep clandestine religious groups hidden,'' Sarkozy says in the book, according to excerpts published in Le Monde and other French newspapers Tuesday.
Unlike Jewish and Christian groups with a history in France, Islam is relatively new here and needs a helping hand, Sarkozy says.
"In light of our past experiences and our errors, let us prove our modesty and tolerance,'' Sarkozy writes. "Have we already forgotten our crusades?''
The proposal to modify a 1905 law banning state subsidies for religious groups is sure to spark debate in France, which cherishes its secular underpinnings.
Sarkozy's book and its headline-grabbing proposals underline's the popular politician's rivalry with French President Jacques Chirac.
Sarkozy is expected to quit the Finance Ministry to take over leadership of Chirac's ruling Union for a Popular Movement party next month. Sarkozy makes no secret of his presidential ambitions and could be one of Chirac's main rivals in elections in 2007 if the president seeks a third term.
Le Figaro newspaper cast Sarkozy's mosque proposal as a timely political move.
"Nicolas Sarkozy thinks - and who would say he's wrong on this point - that there is no challenge more crucial for French society ... than integrating the millions of Muslims living here,'' the paper said in an editorial Tuesday.
The debate might not produce immediate results, the editorial concluded. "But it will definitely be a subject of great controversy for the presidential election.''
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Muslim moderates must speak out against the "distorted ranting'' of extremists who carry out beheadings and suicide bombings, Queen Noor of Jordan said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The American-born widow of King Hussein also said the United States should tone down its militaristic approach to the problems of the Middle East, urging a softer approach, including education and cross-cultural programs.
"What I believe are the vast majority of moderate Muslim clerics ... do not at all subscribe to the distorted ranting of these militant extremist groups and abhor the form that their zealotry has taken in terms of beheadings and suicide bombings and the killings of innocents, because these are forbidden in Islam,'' the Jordanian queen said in the interview Sunday evening.
The former Lisa Najeeb Halaby said she is trying to encourage various communities "to try to draw together and empower one another'' to speak out against Muslim extremist violence.
"Extremist political movements (are) using the guise of religion to advance their political aims rather than aims consistent with the teachings of Islam,'' Queen Noor said.
"It has been very hard, I think, for many in the Muslim world and the Muslim community and others to feel that they can speak up and speak out against these distortions. They felt very vulnerable and afraid that they might pay a heavy price for that.''
The queen was speaking in Bogota during a visit to Colombia this week for a campaign to ban land mines.
"There are countries like the United States and others who can be focusing a lot more soft power resources on this kind of approach, that I think would have far greater results than the military face that the United States has really (imposed) in the region now for too long,'' she said.
Washington should focus more on aiding moderate emerging leaders, the queen added.
LONDON (AP) - Thousands of Muslim men in Britain may have exploited a loophole in British law banning multiple marriages by holding religious marriage ceremonies in mosques, Islamic leaders said.
Muslim men can contract a "nikah,'' or religious ceremony, in a mosque without going through a civil ceremony, allowing as many as 4,000 men in Britain to have multiple marriages, the leaders said in issuing guidelines warning against the practice.
"We are concerned for the 'women - the second wife or subsequent wives usually find they have no rights if the relationship breaks down,'' Mufti Barkatullah, a judge on Britain's Shariah Council, said Friday.
"Practically speaking, a second, parallel marriage is frowned on,'' Barkatullah said.
Despite this, the council - which provides guidance on legal and theological issues - deals with 600 applications for polygamous marriage every year, Barkatullah said.
He estimated that 3,000 men in Britain are in relationships that are only technically polygamous. They have left their prior relationship and are living with their new partner but want to avoid the stigma or expense of divorce. Another 1,000 have multiple, parallel marriages, he said. In such instances, the men are maintaining households with each of their wives.
Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament, an umbrella body of Islamic groups, puts the number of men practicing polygamy at around 2,000.
"But at the best, we are only guessing,'' he said, noting that in some cases, women are brought in secretly from abroad.
The nikah ceremony, which is conducted by an imam, is recognized by Islamic authorities as a marriage in the sight of God. But it is not valid under British law, leaving many wives without income, pension, property or welfare rights if the relationship breaks off.
The government says it is a criminal offense to contract a second marriage while the first is still in force.
The guidelines - which Barkatullah helped to draft - state that "no Muslim should seek to contract a marriage without the full protection of the law of the land.''
"Persons most likely to be harmed by avoiding the civil registration would be the wives, who would only then have the status in the United Kingdom of unmarried partners, a status forbidden in Islam. The children would be illegitimate. No Muslim man should wish to put his spouse or offspring in such a dishonorable position,'' the guidelines say.
The guidelines urge imams to do their best to find out if couples have been married before and if so, whether they have terminated a previous marriage.
"Obviously, people interpret the Quran differently, but most imams already do not conduct polygamous marriages,'' said Barkatullah.
CAIRO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - An Egyptian Islamist lawyer said on Monday he had asked a Cairo court to brand a well-known scriptwriter an apostate and annul his marriage after he criticised the 7th century Arab conqueror of Egypt.
Lawyer Nabih el-Wahsh told Reuters he had also asked Egypt's public prosecutor to put the television scriptwriter on trial for "insulting the Islamic religion" -- for which he could be fined and imprisoned.
Islamic sharia law, on which Egyptian law is based, says an apostate cannot be married to a Muslim.
Scriptwriter Osama Anwar Okasha, one of the most successful in Egypt and known throughout the Arab world, had said in a television discussion that Amr ibn al-As, one of the Prophet Mohammad's companions, "played a despicable role in history."
Apart from his conquest of Egypt, Amr gained fame as one of the arbitrators between two Muslim armies at the battle of Siffin in 657, a turning point in Islamic history because it led to the split between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
He tricked the followers of Ali, the prophet's cousin, into accepting a truce on terms which he accurately predicted would divide the rival army, eventually leading to Ali's defeat.
Wahsh said in his submission he had asked the Cairo Personal Status Court to separate Okasha from his wife "because he has seceded from the (Muslim) community."
Okasha told Reuters: "I wasn't talking about religion. I was talking about history and politics ... There are some groups who want to prove their existence by any means possible and exploit the opportunity to jump on people's feelings and arouse them."
"The taboos which exist in our societies -- politics, religion and sex -- will last a long time until our countries progress," he added.
In 1996, Islamist lawyers persuaded a Cairo court to annul the marriage of academic Nasr Hamed Abu Zaid because of his writings on Islamic history and modern Islamist discourse.
Abu Zaid and his wife decided to move to the Netherlands, out of range of the court's jurisdiction.
After that case, the Egyptian parliament amended the law to make it more difficult to force couples to divorce for apostasy. But Wahsh plans to challenge the amendment by saying it conflicts with sharia and the constitution
RENO — Lawyers for a 17-year-old Muslim girl who dropped out of school because she said she was bullied by other students sued the Washoe County School District on Tuesday for not taking steps to stop such harassment.
The civil rights lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by Allen Lichtenstein, ACLU of Nevada general counsel, and Reno lawyer Kenneth McKenna on behalf of Jana Elhifny, who moved with her family from Egypt last year.
After enrolling in North Valley High School, Elhifny said she was insulted and spat on and even received death threats for wearing a hijab, a religious head scarf. She stopped attending classes in December.
Laura Mijanovich of the ACLU said the failure of the school and the district "to stop the harassment and to provide Jana with a safe educational environment was an abdication of their legal responsibility."
John Albrecht, general counsel for the school district, denied the allegation that the district failed to develop and carry out antiharassment policies, and said he would defend the district and its employees against the suit.
"The school district welcomes students of all faiths and nationalities into the schools," Albrecht said, adding that the district had three specific policies that prohibited harassment.
Elhifny also has filed a discrimination case with the Office for Civil Rights. The office resolves discrimination complaints for the U.S. Department of Education.
Muslim girls who choose to wear hijabs were more of a target for harassment, said Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington. He said there had been many misconceptions about Muslims since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which were carried out by Middle Easterners.
LONDON (AP) - British prosecutors charged radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri on Tuesday with incitement to murder for allegedly urging followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims, an indictment that pre-empted a U.S. bid to extradite him on terror charges.
Al-Masri, the former head preacher at a mosque linked to several terrorism suspects, faces 11 terrorist charges in the United States. But a lawyer representing the U.S. government asked that the extradition case against him be suspended until the British charges are resolved, a request granted by the judge Tuesday.
British prosecutors read out a 16-count indictment against al-Masri, including 10 charges soliciting or encouraging others to murder people who do not believe in the Islamic faith. Four of those 10 charges specify that al-Masri urged the killing of Jews.
Prosecutors said the incitement to murder was contained in speeches recorded on tape to be used as evidence.
Only one of the 16 charges read out in Belmarsh Magistrates Court on Tuesday falls under anti-terror legislation. That indictment accuses al-Masri of possessing a book called the Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad.
Hamza also faces four charges of using "threatening, abusive or insulting behavior'' to stir up racial hatred and one count of possessing threatening, abusive or insulting recordings.
The cleric - who has one eye and hooks for hands, which he says were lost fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s - nodded when asked if he understood the charges against him. He did not apply for bail and faces a preliminary hearing at the Central Criminal Court on Oct. 26.
He is being held at the high-security Belmarsh Prison in south London.
Al-Masri, 46, is former head preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque, which has been linked to terrorist suspects including alleged Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber'' Richard Reid.
He was arrested in May after U.S. authorities laid 11 charges against him relating to terrorism, including allegedly trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, involvement in hostage-taking in Yemen and funding terrorism training in Afghanistan.
The lawyer representing the United States said Tuesday that American officials intend to ask for the extradition case to be resumed once the British case is over.
Al-Masri, a native of Egypt who is fighting the government's decision to strip him of his British citizenship, is also wanted in Yemen on charges of hostage-taking and conspiracy in connection with a December 1998 incident that left four tourists dead.
The Encyclopedia of Afghani Jihad, or holy war, is produced by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and provides what the group calls the "basic rules of sabotage and terror'' with highly technical detail, including diagrams.
A copy of the manual was obtained by The Associated Press in 2001 after it was reportedly stolen from the former headquarters of bin Laden's organization in Afghanistan.
The preface to Mouswada al Jihad al Afghani, the Arabic name of the manual, says it is meant for use in the battle against "the enemies of our movement, the enemies of Allah, for any Islamic group.''
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Two Army helicopters crashed late Saturday in Baghdad, killing two American soldiers and wounding two others, the U.S. command said. Explosions hit five churches in the capital as violence flared while Iraqi Muslims began marking the holy month of Ramadan.
Also Saturday, the U.S. command said four more American troops and an Iraqi interpreter were killed the day before by car bombs in the west and north of the country.
Mortar shells exploded Saturday near Ibn al-Betar hospital, killing one employee and wounding three others, and in the parking lot of the Mansour Hotel, which houses the Chinese embassy and is home to foreign diplomats and journalists. No one was killed in the hotel attack.
In a sign of hope, community leaders in the rebel stronghold of Fallujah offered to resume peace talks with the government if U.S. forces stop their attacks on the city and free their chief negotiator. However, residents reported explosions late Saturday on the northern edge of the city. The U.S. command had no comment.
The Army helicopters went down about 8:30 p.m. in southwestern Baghdad, the 1st Cavalry Division said. The division said the cause of the crashes had not been determined.
The U.S. military has lost at least 27 helicopters in Iraq since May 2003, many of them to hostile fire, according to figures compiled by the Brookings Institution.
Homemade bombs exploded in quick succession before dawn at the five churches in four separate Baghdad neighborhoods, causing no casualties but further alarming the Christian minority community already on edge over the perceived rise of Islamic militancy following last year's ouster of Saddam Hussein.
In August, coordinated attacks hit four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more in the first significant strike against Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians since the U.S. invasion began last year.
"It is a criminal act to make Iraq unstable and to create religious difficulties,'' the Rev. Zaya Yousef of St. George's Church said of the latest attacks. "But this will not happen because we all live together like brothers in this country through sadness and happiness.''
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group believed to have ties to some insurgents.
"Islam doesn't support the ongoing terrorism,'' Sheik Abdul Sattar Abdul-Jabbar of the association said.
Three U.S. troops - two soldiers and one Marine - were killed Friday when a car bomb exploded near Qaim, an insurgent hotspot along the Syrian border, the U.S. command said. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed.
A fourth soldier, assigned to Task Force Olympia, died of injuries suffered Friday during a car bombing in the northern city of Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. command said Saturday.
U.S. commanders have warned of a possible increase in rebel attacks during Ramadan, when insurgent activity surged last year. Ramadan, the month of fasting and prayer, is marked by greater religious fervor, and some extremists believe they win a special place in paradise if they die fighting non-Muslims during the holy month.
In hopes of preventing rebel attacks, U.S. troops have stepped up military operations in Sunni areas north and west of the capital. The operations included two days of air and ground attacks Thursday and Friday against the main rebel bastion Fallujah.
On Saturday, Fallujah clerics said they were ready to resume peace talks with the government if the Americans suspended attacks and released the city's chief negotiator, Sheik Khaled al-Jumeili, who was arrested Friday.
Talks broke down Thursday because of what the clerics said was the government's "impossible condition'' - handing over Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other "terrorists.'' The clerics said al-Zarqawi was not in the city, a claim that U.S. and Iraqi authorities dispute.
The government had no response to the clerics' offer, and late night explosions suggested military operations had resumed after a daylong lull. Fallujah Hospital officials said U.S. artillery shells fell on a house in Halabsa village, 10 miles southwest of the city, killing a 3-year-old girl and injuring four family members.
Still, the U.S. military said Marines tightened their security cordon around Fallujah, establishing checkpoints to keep suspected terrorists from fleeing the area, about 40 miles west of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military extended the deadline for Shiite militiamen to turn in their weapons in the Baghdad district of Sadr City. Friday had been the deadline for militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to exchange guns for cash under a deal to end weeks of fighting with U.S. troops there. The new deadline was Sunday, the military said.
Once the handover is complete, the U.S. military will verify that no major weapons caches remain and Iraqi forces will assume responsibility for security in Sadr City. The Americans hope the deal will enable them to focus on the more dangerous Sunni Muslim insurgency.
In other developments Saturday:
Rocket-propelled grenades struck a joint US-Iraqi military coordination center and a nearby hospital in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, causing no casualties.
A member of an ethnic Turkish political group was assassinated in the ethnically tense city of Kirkuk while driving his children to school, police said.
A video surfaced by a group calling itself the Islamic Brigade that threatened to kill two Turkish drivers unless their company withdrew from Iraq. Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 150 foreigners in their campaign to drive out coalition forces and hamper reconstruction.
More than 20 armed men raided a police station in Rawah, some 200 miles west of Baghdad, taking six officers hostage, said witness Fakhry Mohammed Ali, 35. The gunmen released the policemen but blew up the station, he said.
Also in Rawah, three Iraqi drivers transporting oil to an American base were kidnapped and their tankers set ablaze, Ali said.
BAUCHI, Nigeria — Islamic courts in Nigeria sentenced two women to death by stoning for having sex out of wedlock, but two men whom they identified as sexual partners were acquitted for lack of evidence, authorities said Tuesday.
Both sentences, which were imposed within the last month in the northern state of Bauchi, must be confirmed by the state governor before being carried out, and they are open to appeal.
Nobody has been lawfully stoned to death in Nigeria since 12 northern states introduced Islamic law, or Sharia, in 2000, because all such sentences have been overturned on appeal.
A 29-year-old woman, Hajara Ibrahim, was sentenced Oct. 5 in the Tafawa Balewa area of the state, having confessed to having sex with 35-year-old Dauda Sani and becoming pregnant, the court said in a statement.
"The court has, however, handed the woman convict to her guardian to take care of her until she delivers the baby before the sentence will be executed by stoning her to death according to the provisions of the Sharia penal code," the court said.
"There is no evidence to link him with the allegation and consequently the court acquitted him for lack of evidence."
The second woman, 26-year-old Daso Adamu, was handed the same sentence Sept. 15 in the Ningi area of Bauchi state, Judge Ahmed Musa Wurojamel said.
Adamu admitted having sex with a 35-year-old man 12 times, the judge added.
Sharia judgments often go unreported in Nigeria because they are handed down in small, remote courthouses and local media interest is limited. The adoption of Sharia in northern Nigeria has polarized Africa's most populous nation.
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