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Tag: anti-Islam film

  • Thousands protest in Kano over anti-Islam film

    Thousands protest in Kano over anti-Islam film

    •Fresh curfew imposed on Damaturu, Potiskum
    •25 Boko Haram members arrested

    THOUSANDS of Muslims marched through the popular Kantin Kwari Road and Ibrahim Taiwo Road in Kano yesterday, protesting the film, Innocence of Muslims, which they said insults Prophet Muhammed.

    The protest was peaceful all through.

    The protesters marched from the Fagge Mosque to the palace of the Emir of Kano, with the crowd growing larger on the way.

    The crowd denounced the brains behind the video and the USA where it was made.

    Some of them brandished American and Israeli flags, chanting ‘Death to America’, ‘Death to Israel’.

    They made a bonfire of the American flag at the Emir’s palace.

    One of the protesters, Amin Kabir, vowed that they would keep “protesting until the video producers are brought to book.”

    Another protester, Mohammed Turi said: “Whatever you say against our religion and our beloved Prophet will not discourage us from spreading his teachings to the world. There is no going back loving Prophet Muhammad and his teachings.

    “This (protest) is to send a message to halt the production of any other offensive film against Islam.”

    Some traders hurriedly closed their shops for fear that the situation might get out of hand but there was no ugly incident.

    Heavily armed security men were on alert while the protest lasted to ensure that it did not get out of hand.

    And ahead of a house-to-house search for Boko Haram members, the Yobe State Government yesterday imposed a fresh 24-hour curfew on Potiskum and Damaturu, the state capital.

    The measure was taken to allow the Joint Task Force (JTF) commence a comprehensive house to house search in Damaturu. The JTF spokesman in the state, Lt. Eli Lazarus, stated that the entire state capital has been cordoned off by troops to prevent suspected Boko Haram members from fleeing the town.

    Soon after the commencement of the curfew suspected insurgents of the sect were said to have engaged JTF troops in a shoot-out, but were subdued by the superior firepower of the military men.

    At the end of the operation, Lazarus said, 25 suspected Boko Haram members were arrested. He added that in the course of the operation, seven women and 12 children were used as shield by the insurgents to prevent their capture, but stated that the JTF succeeded in arresting the women and the children without recording any casualty.

    Items recovered from the suspected Boko Haram members include two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG), three General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG), 700 rounds of ammunitions of 7.62 millimetres and 34 rounds of 5.56 millimetres, 29 handsets, three Motorola walkie-talkies, one GPRS, one binocular, seven laptops, one HP printer, one satellite decoder and one Army bulletproof jacket.

    Others are one camouflage raincoat, one transistor radio, eight empty cartons of RPG, one tripod, five Compact Disk plates and one tricycle, popularly known as Keke Napep.

    The JTF spokesman said the laptops and CDs will be analysed with a view to assisting the task force in its investigation of the activities of the sect.

    He said the curfew will remain in place until the end of the ongoing investigation.

    He appealed to residents not to panic and also cooperate with the JTF by offering useful information that could lead to the restoration of peace in the state.

     

  • Christians denounce anti-Islam film

    Christians denounce anti-Islam film

    Christians in Kano yesterday denounced the anti-Islam film which has sparked protests in the Arab world.
    Bishop Ransom Bello, the state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the film should be condemned by all lovers of peace and true Christians all over the world.
    Bello emphasised that any action capable of desecrating any religion should not be tolerated.
    He said: “We, as Christians, don’t support such recklessness and intentional mischief to promote religious conflict. We should rather emphasise on issues that promote peace and stabilise our system.”
    He appealed for calm, saying: “We want to appeal to our Muslim brothers to understand that Christians are not involved in this and will continue to condemn any act that is capable of undermining other peoples’ faith.”
  • California man linked to anti-Islam film taken in for questioning

    California man linked to anti-Islam film taken in for questioning

     A California man convicted of bank fraud was taken in for questioning yesterday by officers investigating possible probation violations stemming from the making of an anti-Islam film that triggered violent protests in the Muslim world.
    Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, voluntarily left his home in the early hours of yesterday for the meeting in a sheriff’s station in the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
    “He will be interviewed by federal probation officers,” Whitmore said. He said Nakoula had not been placed under arrest but would not be returning home immediately. “He was never put in handcuffs… It was all voluntary.”
    Nakoula, who has denied involvement in the film in a phone call to his Coptic Christian bishop, was ushered out of his home and into a waiting car by several sheriff’s deputies, his face shielded by a scarf, hat and sunglasses.
    The crudely made 13-minute English-language film was filmed in California and circulated on the Internet under several titles including “Innocence of Muslims”.
    The film sparked a violent protest at the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi during which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed on Tuesday. Protests have spread to other countries across the Muslim world.
    U.S. officials have said authorities were not investigating the film project itself, and that even if it was inflammatory or led to violence, simply producing it cannot be considered a crime in the United States, which has strong free speech laws.
    Two attorneys visited Nakoula’s home hours before he was taken in for questioning. They said they were there to consult with him.
    Nakoula, whose name has been widely linked to the film in media reports, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2010 and was sentenced to 21 months in prison, to be followed by five years on supervised probation, court documents showed.
    He was accused of fraudulently opening bank and credit card accounts using social security numbers that did not match the names on the applications, a criminal complaint showed. He was released in June 2011, and at least some production on the video was done later that summer.
    But the terms of Nakoula’s prison release contain behaviour stipulations that bar him from accessing the Internet or assuming aliases without the approval of his probation officer.
    A senior law enforcement official in Washington has indicated the probation investigation relates to whether he broke one or both of these conditions. Violations could result in him being sent back to prison, court records show.
    Clips of the film posted on the Internet since July have been attributed to a man by the name of Sam Bacile, which two people linked to the film have said was likely an alias.
    A telephone number said to belong to Bacile, given to Reuters by U.S.-based Coptic Christian activist Morris Sadek who said he had promoted the film, was later traced back to a person who shares the Nakoula residence.
    Stan Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor, said whether Nakoula is sent back to jail over potential probation violations linked to the film, such as accessing the Internet, was a subjective decision up to an individual judge.
    “Federal judges are gods in their own courtrooms, it varies so much in who they are,” he said, noting such a move would be based on his conduct not on the content of the film.
    As well as the fraud conviction, Nakoula also pleaded guilty in 1997 to possession with intent to manufacture methamphetamine and was sentenced to a year in jail, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
  • US secretary condemn anti-Islam film

    US secretary condemn anti-Islam film

    The US Secretary of State,Hillary Clinton,on Thursday denounced the anti-Islam film as disgusting and reprehensible. “It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage ,”she said  at a meeting in Washington D.C. with  Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister .
    The speech:“We are closely watching what is happening in Yemen and elsewhere, and we certainly hope and expect that there will be steps taken to avoid violence and prevent the escalation of protests into violence.
     “I also want to take a moment to address the video circulating on the internet that has led to these protests in a number of countries.  Let me state very clearly – and I hope it is obvious – that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video.  We absolutely reject its content and message.  America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.  And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims.  And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.
    “To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible.  It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose:  to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.  But as I said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence.  We condemn the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and we greatly appreciate that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.
    “Violence, we believe, has no place in religion and is no way to honor religion.  Islam, like other religions, respects the fundamental dignity of human beings, and it is a violation of that fundamental dignity to wage attacks on innocents.  As long as there are those who are willing to shed blood and take innocent life in the name of religion, the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace.  It is especially wrong for violence to be directed against diplomatic missions.  These are places whose very purpose is peaceful:  to promote better understanding across countries and cultures.  All governments have a responsibility to protect those spaces and people, because to attack an embassy is to attack the idea that we can work together to build understanding and a better future.
     “Now, I know it is hard for some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light of day.  Now, I would note that in today’s world with today’s technologies, that is impossible.  But even if it were possible, our country does have a long tradition of free expression which is enshrined in our Constitution and our law, and we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.
    “There are, of course, different views around the world about the outer limits of free speech and free expression, but there should be no debate about the simple proposition that violence in response to speech is not acceptable.  We all – whether we are leaders in government, leaders in civil society or religious leaders – must draw the line at violence.  And any responsible leader should be standing up now and drawing that line.”