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“Last month the students and the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), a lobby group, filed complaints against Maclean's at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, as well as those of Ontario and British Columbia. The article, the CIC claimed, harmed Muslims' “sense of dignity and self-worth”.CLICK FOR VIDEO
Their choice of forum has brought protests. The criminal code has hate-propaganda provisions, but using these requires convincing a prosecutor. The bar is much lower for Human Rights Commissions and their tribunals. These were set up to deal with discrimination on grounds such as race or sex in jobs, housing or services. Even the man who inspired them, Alan Borovoy, a civil-liberties lawyer, is dismayed at their misuse to limit free speech. The tribunals can only levy small fines and give an order to desist. But the proceedings involve steep costs for defendants, whereas plaintiffs pay nothing if the commission decides there are grounds to proceed.
Much of Canada's press and many broadcasters are already noted for politically correct blandness. Some fear that the case can only make that worse. Mr Steyn and others hope it will prompt a narrower brief for the commissions, or even their abolition. As he put it in his blog, “I don't want to get off the hook. I want to take the hook and stick it up the collective butt of these thought police.” Economist
Intimidation by lawsuit
Mar. 30, 2007 Arizona Republic (Excerpt)
“As an act of coldblooded strategy, the pending lawsuit of the "flying imams" is a clever one.
It is directed not merely at an airline or at a government. It is directed at passengers, at anyone flying on a commercial airliner who might be so bold as to actually report what they believe may be "suspicious activity."
It is a strategy aimed at all of us. What, after all, do ordinary citizens fear almost as much as terrorism in the skies? It is the prospect of being dunned into their dotage - and into poverty - by lawyers and process servers demanding to know why they are so hateful.
And, so, the result: Let the other guy report what he sees, thank you.
Last November, six Muslim imams were returning to the Phoenix area from a conference in Minneapolis when they were removed from their US Airways flight for what passengers, crew and airline personnel described as suspicious activity, which included reports of chanting "Allah" in the gate area and, once on board, switching their seat assignments and asking for seat belt extenders that they didn't need.
The imams, five of whom live in the Valley, immediately claimed they were the victims of discrimination. They claimed to have done nothing more ominous than quietly pray at the times prescribed by the tenets of their religion. Surrounded by lawyers, they plaintively insisted they were targeted merely for "flying while Muslim."
Then they filed a federal lawsuit. Among the defendants cited, deep in Paragraph 21, are unnamed persons to be named later - certain "John Does," in the legal parlance. The lawsuit specifically refers to two passengers who stared at the imams as they prayed. But it isn't limited to them.”
Sharia law row: Archbishop is in shock as he faces demands to quit
09.02.08 ThisIsLondon (Excerpt)
Under fire: Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams
“The Archbishop of Canterbury was facing demands to quit last night as the row over sharia law intensified.
Leading bishops publicly contradicted Dr Rowan Williams's call for Islamic law to be brought into the British legal system.”
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 14:31 on March 27th, 2008
Between Mexicans and Muslims, we've been invaded! So sorry I missed this when you posted it. joellerose, I like this story. It's good stuff.