Friday's election result

Friday's election result will be critical in determining Ireland's place in Europe. Will we work with the European Union to overcome shared problems? Or will an anti-EU minority continue to work against our best interests?
Eoin Ryan is one of the most respected of all MEPs. By contrast, his opponents for the Dublin seat are anti-EU and, in one case, barely bother to show up for work at the European Parliament.
Eoin Ryan fights for Dublin's best interests even when the cameras aren't rolling. He works hard on issues that matter - like helping win €350 million in low-cost funding to protect and create jobs in the next year. And he's been working in this way for 25 years.
I need your help to get Eoin re-elected. If you are registered to vote in Dublin, make sure you support Eoin on Friday. If you have family and friends in Dublin, please take a minute to send them an e-card asking them to vote for Eoin Ryan:
http://www.fiannafail.ie/vote-ryan
Dubliners don't need an anti-EU representative. They need someone who will work hard and focus on delivering real benefits for people. Not one Euro or one job will come from sending an anti-EU MEP to the European Parliament.
I understand that this is a tough election. We're in a global recession and that's having a huge impact on us all. The mood is anti-politics right now and many people are tempted by a protest vote. But what's the point of a protest vote if it's running exactly opposite to your interests?
I am asking you to do everything you can to get people out to vote for Eoin on Friday. Tell everyone you know in Dublin to vote for Ireland's best interests - vote for Eoin Ryan:
http://www.fiannafail.ie/vote-ryan
Thanks for everything you do for the party.
Micheál Martin T.D.Minister for Foreign Affairs
This email was sent to:themuslimlobby@yahoo.ieTo unsubscribe, go to:

Prime minister Brian Cowan

There's just a week to go until the European and local Elections on June 5th.
Throughout the country, Fianna Fáil is working really hard to get our message across and our candidates elected. I've been to every corner of the country, listening to voters, meeting our candidates and working to get them elected next week. I've been hearing what they have to say and helping spread the message about our comprehensive plan to turn the economy around and improve the lives of Irish people.
With such a short amount of time left, I've recorded a short video message I'd like to you watch. I want as many people as possible to see it, so after you've watched it, share it with your friends:

http://www.fiannafail.ie/page/m2/1363c04/33741a9e/244ce47a/585bccd6/3411747756/VEsE/
Our plan is clear. We will stabilise the public finances, sort out the banks, maintain and create jobs and help those out of work return to employment as soon as possible.
Locally, we'll freeze business rates for three years where we have a controlling majority on councils and we'll invest in creating 12,000 new jobs in rural enterprise.
In Europe, we've got to work together. Only 12 of the European Union's 736 MEPs are from Ireland. That's why we've got to send people to the European Parliament who will work hard and will co-operate with colleagues from across Europe to fix this global recession. The last thing the country needs is representatives in Europe who'll roll back the progress we've made. Fianna Fáil is a committed, pro-European Party. We have the skill and experience to work with our European partners to build a sustainable recovery.
Fianna Fáil have had to take tough decisions but they are the right decisions. In a global recession, our opponents have too often put their own narrow political interests above the national interest. They bicker amongst themselves, offering dangerous and conflicting policies - Fine Gael wants spending cuts while Labour wants increases. Their risky and divergent plans would wreak havoc on Ireland's economy and stifle recovery.
The choice is clear - progress and co-operation from Fianna Fáil; or instability, retreat and division from the opposition.
Take a moment to watch this short video message and share it with your friends and family:
http://www.fiannafail.ie/page/m2/1363c04/33741a9e/244ce47a/585bccd6/3411747756/VEsF/
Fianna Fáil's candidates have Ireland's best interests in their hearts and the commitment and ability to fight for Ireland locally and in Europe.
I urge you to vote Fianna Fáil on June 5th.
Brian Cowen, T.D. Taoiseach

Dr Ahmad Alhabash encourages all to vote

The "crimes" of the Jewish state

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Palestinian Muslim cleric fiercely denounced Israeli policy in Jerusalem in the presence of Pope Benedict on Monday and appealed to the pope to help end what he called the "crimes" of the Jewish state.
The speech, at the end of a meeting between the pope and Christian, Muslim and Jewish clergy engaged in contacts among the three main religions in Jerusalem, angered both the Vatican and Israel's chief rabbinate, which said it would boycott the dialogue forum until the Palestinians barred the cleric.
Referring to Palestinian Muslims and Christians, Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi said: "We struggle together and suffer together from the oppression of the Israeli occupation.
"We look forward together to liberation and independence and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."
The incident further marred the start of the German-born pope's five-day tour of Israel and the Palestinian territories, after criticism by some Jews that a speech at a Holocaust memorial did not go far enough to mend Catholic-Jewish rifts.
Pope Benedict, in his own speech to the gathering of priests, rabbis and sheikhs, praised their efforts to seek common values and mutual respect to overcome differences in religious practices that "may at times appear as barriers."
The final speaker from the platform at an auditorium in a Roman Catholic institution was Tamimi, the chief judge of the Muslim religious courts in the Palestinian territories.
In uncompromising language, he welcomed the pope to "Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine" -- a direct riposte to Israeli claims to the same city -- and enumerated many of the complaints Palestinians have against Israel.
"DESECRATION"
He said Israel had "desecrated" the Old City's holy sites since capturing it from Jordanian forces in the 1967 Middle East war and was defying international law by demolishing homes, seizing land, building Jewish settlements and erecting a series of walls and fences that had turned the city into "a prison."
Tamimi won a round of applause from some of the assembled clerics for comments referring to Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip in January in which 1,400 Palestinians died.
Addressing the pope at the end of a six-minute address, he said: "Your Holiness, I call on you in the name of the one God, to condemn these crimes and press the Israeli government to halt its aggression against the Palestinian people."
Tamimi shook the pope's hand as he left the podium and the meeting broke up as scheduled immediately afterwards.
The director general of Israel's Chief Rabbinate, Oded Wiener, said: "Sheikh Tamimi embarrassed the pope."
He said Tamimi, a familiar and fiery figure in Palestinian public life, had pressured the Catholic organizers to be allowed to speak and that the Jewish members would no longer take part in a long-standing, three-way interfaith dialogue until the sheikh was barred from attending.
"The Chief Rabbinate will not continue it as long as Tamimi is part of the Palestinian delegation," Wiener said.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said: "The speech by Sheikh Taysir Tamimi was not scheduled by the organizers of the meeting. In a meeting dedicated to dialogue, this intervention was a direct negation of what a dialogue should be. We hope that such an incident will not damage the mission of the pope aiming at promoting peace and also interreligious dialogue."

A NEW crime of blasphemous libel قانون يجرم شاتمي الاديان والرسل

A NEW crime of blasphemous libel is to be proposed by the Minister for Justice in an amendment to the Defamation Bill, which will be discussed by the Oireachtas committee on justice today.
At the moment there is no crime of blasphemy on the statute books, though it is prohibited by the Constitution.
Article 40 of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech, qualifies it by stating: “The State shall endeavour to ensure that organs of public opinion, such as the radio, the press, the cinema, while preserving their rightful liberty of expression, including criticism of Government policy, shall not be used to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State.
“The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent material is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.”
Last year the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, under the chairmanship of Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ardagh, recommended amending this Article to remove all references to sedition and blasphemy, and redrafting the Article along the lines of article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals with freedom of expression.
The prohibition on blasphemy dates back to English law aimed at protecting the established church, the Church of England, from attack. It has been used relatively recently to prosecute satirical publications in the UK.
In the only Irish case taken under this article, Corway -v- Independent Newspapers, in 1999, the Supreme Court concluded that it was impossible to say “of what the offence of blasphemy consists”.
It also stated that a special protection for Christianity was incompatible with the religious equality provisions of Article 44.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern proposes to insert a new section into the Defamation Bill, stating: “A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000.”
“Blasphemous matter” is defined as matter “that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.”
Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court may issue a warrant authorising the Garda Síochána to enter, if necessary using reasonable force, a premises where the member of the force has reasonable grounds for believing there are copies of the blasphemous statements in order to seize them.
Labour spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte is proposing an amendment to this section which would reduce the maximum fine to €1,000 and exclude from the definition of blasphemy any matter that had any literary, artistic, social or academic merit.

Irish Times

By Kevin Myers against Dermot Ahern move

How very thoughtful of Dermot Ahern to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie for blasphemy by introducing our very own blasphemy laws.
Not merely will this enable any group of nutters to claim their religion has been insulted -- well, by whom? Kevin Myers? Ian O'Doherty? -- but it will also enable our many Muslim immigrants to feel thoroughly at home.
Because that is a defining feature of every Islamic society throughout the world: an intrusive and punitive legal code which destroys the lives of those adjudged guilty of insulting the Prophet or Allah. In Afghanistan, it is the death penalty. Pakistan too. Egypt as well. And so on. Why not the same, sooner or later, in dear old Eirestan?
Christianity as a potent, political and legal force is dead in Europe. Islam is not. Christians do not expect their religion to be protected by law from religious insult. Muslims do. A blasphemy code will, in effect, turn out a new variant of a local shop for local people: but here in secular/Christian Ireland, it will become a Muslim law for non-Muslim people.
The minister's proposed bill declares: "Blasphemous matter ... is (that which) is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred to any religion thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of the religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage."
We know what "causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of the religion" means (and the minister's term, "the religion" really does apply here). For we saw it in 1989, when the Ayatollah proclaimed his fatwa on Salman Rushdie for 'Satanic Verses'. Over 40 people were killed in the violence that followed. We saw it with the Danish cartoons, which were so meaningless that they could have been of anybody: but label them "Mohammed", and yet again, more people were killed.
Religious "outrage" is an almost unknown phenomenon in our culture: but it is so common on the Islamic street that one often wonders: do Muslims know any other public mood? And whereas I can ask this question today, might it not be blasphemous under Dermot Ahern's new law? For some Muslims might hold that it is grossly abusive or insulting to things they hold sacred, to dispute their right to endless public anger.
Moreover, who decides whether Muslims get angry? Is it a spontaneous phenomenon, or does it depend on what they are told in morning prayers by the imam? And is that assembly, in effect, then the jury? For it clearly is a self-deciding issue, if the law says the something is an offence because enough members of the public consider it is so. The rule of law then passes from law-maker and lawyer to whatever rabble-rousing cleric is able to make enough people angry, and by their numbers alone they then decide whether an offence has been committed.
Dermot Ahern's justification for his dangerously silly proposals is that successive attorneys general have told their ministers for justice that the Constitution obliges the State to have blasphemy laws. Good. So if so many ministers for justice have been able to ignore that advice in the past, why should he now seek to heed it? And worse still, why should he do so by allowing the interpretation of blasphemy -- which is otherwise a piece of string of unknown length -- to be defined by the mob? This merely reduces the courts to being instruments of Barabbas-type justice.
Yet in one sense, the minister's proposals are irrelevant. For Europe already has an informal blasphemy law, which is enforced by Islamic cut-throats, with or without a fatwa.
We all know it. We just don't say it. So I can call the Virgin Mary, who most Irish people believe to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of Mankind, a whore, and no-one will open my carotid. But were I to make any such remark about Mohammed's wives, which is what Rushdie was accused of doing -- and I wouldn't: O believe me, I wouldn't -- then at best, I would be spending the rest of my life under armed guard, or at worst, I would be strumming my harp alongside Theo van Gogh. He was, remember, killed without fatwa, and his murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri, is now an Islamic hero.
That doesn't mean we should corrupt our legal code in order to propitiate Islamicists. Yet all media discussion on this and related topics is dominated by state-subsidised bodies -- the intercultural this, and the multi-ethnic that. The primary function of these quangos is apparently to be gravely insulted whenever their quivering multicultural sensibilities are offended.
And then they can institute legal action to silence -- or even imprison, which was the threat hanging over me last year -- those whose voices they disapprove of. These arms of the State now constitute a cultural Fifth Column, possessing a clear and dangerous agenda. The minister's proposed blasphemy law can thus only pander to the deranged instincts of an absolutist, intolerant immigrant minority, and its politically-correct, pseudo-liberal native allies: Lenin's useful idiots, yet again.

Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Maldives to Receive Prestigious CSID's "Muslim Democrat of the Year" Award on May 5th

Washington, DC - April 27, 2009 - The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) announced today that Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Maldives will receive its prestigious Annual "Muslim Democrat of the Year" award on May 5th. Dr. Shaheed will give a keynote speech during lunchtime at the 10th Annual Conference of CSID, to be held at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, in Arlington, Virginia, and will receive the award during the banquet dinner."Dr. Shaheed is a practionner who has worked tirelessly for the past decade and a half to strengthen and promote democracy and human rights in the Maldives," said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. "We look forward to hearing him speak and to learning from his experience about how to achieve peaceful transitions from dictatorship to democracy, in a conservative Muslim society."BiographySince joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1982, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed has risen through the Foreign Service ranks; heading a number of departments including the Bilateral Relations Division, the SAARC Division, and the Multilateral Affairs Department. From 1999 to 2004, he held the position of Permanent Secretary. After leaving the Ministry in 2004 to become the Maldives' first Chief Government Spokesperson at the President's Office (at the rank of Deputy Minister), Shaheed returned in July 2005 when he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he held until he resigned in August 2007. In November 2008, Shaheed returned as Foreign Minister in the starting line-up of the first democratically-elected government in the Maldives.Throughout his time at the Ministry and as Chief Government Spokesperson, Shaheed has been a visionary leader who foresaw a new modern country founded upon liberal democratic principles, strong human rights protection, and openness and engagement with the outside world. Shaheed's beliefs led him to become one of the principal architects of the Maldives' Democratic and Human Rights Reform Agenda, which culminated in late 2008 with the country's smooth democratic transition under a new 21st Century Constitution. A strong proponent of robust democratic and human rights safeguards, Minister Shaheed was instrumental in transforming the previous Government's stand on human rights by securing political approval for the creation of a national Human Rights Commission in August 2003 and accession to the UN Convention against Torture in April 2004. In his role as the Chief Government Spokesperson, he also succeeded in reversing the decision of the Government's Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs to ban the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in July 2005. A strong advocate of political pluralism, Shaheed was among the few visionary reformists in the government who championed the introduction of political parties in the Maldives in June 2005. Later in the year, Shaheed was co-founder of the New Maldives faction within the Cabinet which worked to promote democracy, good governance and human rights within the Government. During his former tenure as Minister, the Maldives acceded to the vast majority of international human rights conventions, including the two Core Covenants, namely the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with its Optional Protocol, and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and also acceded to the UN Convention against Corruption. During this time, the Maldives became one of the original signatories of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, and the Convention against Enforced Disappearance. Shaheed's work as Minister was premised on the belief that real and lasting change must be undertaken in close cooperation with the international community, including international human rights mechanisms. In April 2006, Shaheed extended standing invitations to all human rights mandates and special procedures to visit the Maldives. In Office, Shaheed often demonstrated a willingness to put his job on the line in order to promote the values he believed in. This saw him expend, for example, considerable political capital to secure the release from detention of a large number of key opposition leaders in August - September 2006. Ultimately, he resigned his post as Foreign Minister in August 2007, in protest over the government's decision to backtrack on the democratic reform agenda, and in protest at the manipulation of the Parliament by the Executive. Prior to his resignation, Shaheed had campaigned to free the parliament of Executive control by championing the doctrine of the separation of powers, a battle he continues to wage openly even today. Following his resignation as Minister in 2007, Shaheed continued to promote human rights, a vibrant civil society, freedom of opinion and expression, and democratic change through the establishment of the Open Society Association and the Maldives Election Watch. After leaving Office in August 2007, Minister Shaheed teamed up with his former Cabinet colleagues and fellow members of the New Maldives faction, Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed and Dr. Hassan Saeed, and launched the New Maldives Movement and the Maldives Reform Movement. An ardent advocate of democratic change, From November 2007 to June 2008, Shaheed was active as the Spokesperson for the pro-democracy alliance of parties agitating for a democratic Constitution. In September 2008, Minister Shaheed became the running mate of presidential candidate Dr. Hassan Saeed in the country's first multiparty Presidential Election. Although campaigning on an independent ticket, Saeed and Shaheed secured nearly 17% of the popular vote, finishing third and thus failing to qualify for the second round. However, immediately, Minister Shaheed and Dr. Saeed pledged their unconditional support to the presidential challenger, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, and actively supported the Grand Patriotic Coalition. Their support was crucial in enabling the challenger to more than double his support in the second round, and to defeat the 30 year old regime.Shaheed, Saeed and Jameel are also promoters of a new political party called Dhivehi Qawmee Party, and are actively campaigning for pro-democracy forces in the parliamentary elections slated for 9 May 2009, calling for a parliament that will effectively embody the doctrine of the separation of powers.As the Maldives is a conservative Islamic society, the liberal democratic stance of DQP, whose chief ideologue is Dr Shaheed, has raised the ire of Islamist groups. Shaheed and his colleagues are noted for their cogent opposition to a number of Salafist positions, such as on the appointment of women as judges, and on the freedom of conscience and expression. They are also opposed to clerical rule. Coming into the new coalition government that is in place today, Shaheed and his colleagues successfully blocked the creation of a sovereign council of clerics at the apex of government, and continue to campaign for tolerance and moderation.Minister Shaheed has also been extremely active at international-level, outspoken in his support for the Human Rights Council, and advocacy of the responsibility to protect, such as in issues that arose out of the breakdown of the former SFR of Yugoslavia, particularly in the case of Kosovo. He was a Member of the SAARC Eminent Persons Group from 1997-1998, and proposed the adoption of a SAARC Social Charter. He also served as the Maldives Governor to the Common Fund for Commodities between the years 1999-2008. He also campaigned strongly at the United Nations to oppose the Maldives' graduation from the category of Least Develop Countries, which would result in the loss of economic, commercial and financial benefits; and successfully led the negotiations with the EU and other donors on the extension of aid and market access to the Maldives beyond graduation in 2011. Following the Indian Ocean tsunami, Shaheed worked tirelessly to mobilize international assistance for the recovery and reconstruction of the Maldives which suffered losses amounting to over 60% of the GDP. In July 2007, he launched an international initiative to identify the link between human rights and climate change. On 9 April 2009, Shaheed announced the intention of the Maldives to get elected to the Human Rights Council in 2010. A strong supporter of accountability for human rights violations, Shaheed has criticized human rights abuses in a number of instances, such as in Burma, North Korea, the Balkans, the Middle East and the Darfur region of Sudan, and has pledged that the Maldives will join the International Criminal Court. Minister Shaheed has also served as a Parliamentarian, as a Presidential Appointee to the People's Special Majlis (constitutional assembly) from 2004-2007, and was active in the founding of the former governing Dhivehi Raiyithunge Party (DRP), but left after accusing it of obstructing the democratic process.H.E. Dr. Ahmed Shaheed graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth with a Bachelor's degree in International Politics and Strategic Studies, and obtained his PhD in 1995 from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, in the field of International Relations. He is an avid writer and academic, and has presented numerous papers at various international conferences covering topics as diverse as economic development, terrorism, diplomacy and democracy. Minister Shaheed is married with three children.