Europes first gay and lesbian-friendly mosque opened on Friday in an eastern Paris suburb, in a challenge to mainstream Islams long tradition of condemning same-sex relationships.
The mosque, set up in a small room inside the house of a Buddhist monk, welcomed transgender and transsexual Muslims and seat men and women together, breaking with another custom where the sexes are normally segregated during prayer.
Its founder, French-Algerian gay activist and practising Muslim Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, will also encourage women to lead Friday prayers, smashing yet another taboo.
Its a radically inclusive mosque. A mosque where people can come as they are, said Zahed, 35, whose prayer space will be the first in Europe to formally brand itself as a gay-friendly mosque, according to Muslim experts.
The mosque, which for now will be limited to Friday prayer sessions, is opening as religious leaders in France, including senior Muslims, are petitioning against plans by the Socialist government to legalise gay marriage.
Being homosexual and Muslim is borderline schizophrenic, said one of three gay Muslims who will lead prayers at the mosque, whose floor-to-ceiling windows look out on a garden decorated with Buddhist symbols.
Continued on Page 47
[An Nahar] Dutch police have set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! three alleged would-be jihadists who were about to leave The Netherlands to go and fight alongside rebels in Syria, the national Prosecutor's Office said Friday.
"Detectives arrested three men on Thursday who apparently planned to travel to Syria to participate in a violent international jihad," it said in a statement.
The three, aged 22, 23 and 33, are "most probably radicalized Moslems", prosecutors said, after an investigation was opened in October following a tip-off by the Dutch secret service.
Police searched two homes and seized knives, a sword and a cross-bow, as well as packed backpacks, farewell letters and a large quantity of jihadist literature.
The men -- two of Turkish origin and the other of Iraqi origin -- allegedly collected funds to finance their journey, beginning with flights to Turkey and then heading for the Syrian border.
Two of the men had been due to fly out Thursday from Brussels to Turkey, the statement said.
The three were to appear on charges of "preparing terrorist activities" before a Rotterdam judge Friday, the statement said.
One of the men was married last week "and planned to travel to Syria with her to fight in the jihad."
"The man posed in front of his bride in one picture while armed with an AK-47 assault rifle," prosecutors said.
He also told his wife on the Internet: "I hope we will die together and go to the paradise."
A number of jihadist groups are fighting on the fringes of the Free Syrian Army against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... The London-based Quilliam think tank estimated between 1,200 and 1,500 imported muscle are now based in Syria.
Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans, who was nabbed ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in Syria in September and released a week later, said he was held in a camp where none of the jihadists were of Syrian origin.
[Iran Press TV] The Dutch parliament will approve a motion to abolish a law that criminalizes blasphemy, mainly due to strong support by the Liberal Party (VVD).
On Wednesday, a majority of parties in the Netherlands stated that the blasphemy law was no longer relevant in the 21st century.
The VVD party had refused to support efforts to annul the law during the tenure of the previous government in order not to upset the fundamentalist Christian party SGP, whose support was necessary in the upper house of parliament.
According to the SGP, the decision to lift the ban on blasphemy is a "painful loss of a moral anchor and a symptom of a spiritual crisis."
The law, introduced in the 1930s, has not been invoked over the past half century.
However, it is still off-limits under the Dutch law to insult police officers or the country's monarch, Queen Beatrix.
The move to decriminalize blasphemy gained strength in 2011 during the trial of the far-right anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, when a Dutch court ruled that he had the right to criticize Islam even if his opinions were insulting to many Muslims.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Queen Biatch-atrix??
Ha HAHAHHAHA!
Whoops, I can never go to the Netherlands now, damn!
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[An Nahar] Dutch police have 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
