Canadian Journalist Attacked by Muslims

[Crazed Rabbit]

For criticizing an Islamic organization. Will be interesting to see if and how the media at large reacts to this assault on free speech.

Islamic Fanatics Beat Journo in Canada

By E&P Staff

Published: April 19, 2007 2:10 PM ET

CHICAGO A journalist for the Mississauga, Ont.-based newspaper The Pakistan Post was assaulted by two men, one armed with a cricket bat, who warned him to stop "writing against Islam" and a Pakistan-based religious organization, the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) reported Thursday.

Journalist Jawaad Faizi was attacked on the evening of April 17 while sitting in his car outside the home of the newspaper's editor, Amir Arain. The two men smashed the car windows, and repeatedly hit Faizi. They fled when they saw him call 911 on his cell phone.

During the attack, Faizi said, the men told him to stop writing critically of the religious organization Idara Minhaj-ul-Quran and its leader, Cleric Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri. Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri is a frequent visitor to Canada, CJFE said.

The attack followed telephoned threats to Faizi and Arain. The night before the attack, the two filed a complaint with the police, also reporting threats they received in January.

"That this attack happened here in Canada is of great concern to us," said CJFE Executive Director Anne Game. "We call on the police to treat this matter extremely seriously and ensure that a full investigation into the attack is initiated immediately."

Faizi had to be treated in the hospital for injuries to his left arm, and lost two days of work. Wednesday, the vice principal of the school his three children attend asked him to keep them at home, saying they may be a security risk, CJFE reported.

"I had so many problems back home [in Lahore, Pakistan] as a journalist, but I'm shocked that this is happening here," Faizi told CJFE.

"This is a cautionary tale for us, and points to the need for vigilance in the protection of press freedom not just in other countries, but in Canada as well," a statement from CJFE said.

CR

[Banquo's Ghost]

Journalist beaten up by people who disagree with his commentary.

Shock. Horror. End of Civilisation TM.

[Blodrast]

Way to oversimplify the issue and ignore the point, BG. Do you really fail to see a pattern here, or you just don't wanna see another thread potentially touching on very sensitive issues ?
And when I say pattern, I mean, for instance, this thread.
That's the problem, not the fact that another journalist has been attacked by people who disagree with his commentary...

[Crazed Rabbit]

Journalist beaten up by people who disagree with his commentary.

Shock. Horror. End of Civilisation TM.

Yay, cause that happens all the time when Canadian journalists criticize other things, like Victoria's sewer system.



Let's bury our heads a bit deeper in the sand, shall we?

CR

[Banquo's Ghost]

Dear God, do I really have to dredge up a million articles where a journalist has been attacked by groups other than Muslims?

The only trend here is to demonise Muslims because a few fanatics despise being exposed. Lots and lots of other nutters do the same.

So I ask myself, what's the agenda for highlighting this particular example?

[Crazed Rabbit]

I personally don't recall a million other examples where a journalist is attacked for any reason. I recall one radio guy getting shot after criticizing the mob. And all those journalists getting kidnapped and/or beheaded by other Muslims. But I don't remember any examples of Christians or Hindus or Buddhists physically beating up and assaulting a journalist for criticizing a religious organization.

Heck, even that despicable westboro baptist group doesn't use physical violence.

You're missing the point, BG. These guys apparently think it's okay to use violence to intimidate those who don't agree with their religion, and to silence those who criticize them. And this is occurring in a traditionally free and open country. Since they were trying to 'defend' a certain Islamic group, it might be that said group approves of such tactics.

When those people live and operate increasingly in a country like Canada, shouldn't something be done about it? Or should we just ignore it because it's politically incorrect to criticize it?

CR

[Meneldil]

But I don't remember any examples of Christians or Hindus or Buddhists physically beating up and assaulting a journalist for criticizing a religious organization.
CR

Happens in France. I recall reading about a journalist being beaten up by some of our own catholic extremists from Britanny.

And I'm fairly sure going around criticizing the Hinduist religion in India will get you in a lot of trouble, wether you're journalist or not.

Now, I agree with both of you, these people should receive an exemplary punishment, but pointing at muslim as if they were the only people beating up journalist is just demonising AFAIK.

[Banquo's Ghost]

You're missing the point, BG. These guys apparently think it's okay to use violence to intimidate those who don't agree with their religion, and to silence those who criticize them. And this is occurring in a traditionally free and open country. Since they were trying to 'defend' a certain Islamic group, it might be that said group approves of such tactics.

When those people live and operate increasingly in a country like Canada, shouldn't something be done about it? Or should we just ignore it because it's politically incorrect to criticize it?

Maybe I am missing your point. As far as I can see, many groups use violence to intimidate journalists and silence criticism. Neo-nazis through to animal rights activists. Occasionally policemen and government agents. And in traditionally free and open countries.

When they do this, the force of law is brought to bear on them. That's what is, or should be, done.

It's not politically incorrect to criticise the violence used to intimidate the journalist, and I deplore it. I hope the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. "Something should be done" to reduce the influence of all fanatics who resort to violence.

However, what I also deplore is the apparent attempt to indicate that this behaviour is somehow characteristic only of Muslims.

[Tribesman]

I personally don't recall a million other examples where a journalist is attacked for any reason.

Maybe when you are older or have read a bit more you will .

Anyhow bloody amatuers , a cricket bat FFS .
what you do when a reporter keeps upsetting you and won't be intimidated by threats is simply to blow their brains out while they are stuck in traffic and make a getaway on bike .
Hey they could make a film about that , burning the house down is another good one , kidnap the kids , bomb their car , arrest them on trumped up charges , these muppets in this attack are just so gentlemanly with their cricket bat

[Banquo's Ghost]

Hey they could make a film about that , burning the house down is another good one , kidnap the kids , bomb their car , arrest them on trumped up charges , these muppets in this attack are just so gentlemanly with their cricket bat

Hey, after the World Cup debacle, I'm amazed any Pakistani would dare be seen with a cricket bat.

[Don Corleone]

Is Tribesman referencing the Veronica Guerrin incident talking about blowing somebody's brains out when stopped at a traffic light, then riding off on a motor bike?

[Tribesman]

Hey, after the World Cup debacle, I'm amazed any Pakistani would dare be seen with a cricket bat.

Naughty Banquo

Is Tribesman referencing the Veronica Guerrin incident talking about blowing somebody's brains out when stopped at a traffic light, then riding off on a motor bike?

Damn , there goes my idea for a film , someone beat me to it .

[Vuk]

lmao, I think BG just doesn't want a "touchy" thread, because then he'd have to do his job! lol
Say what you like BG, but there IS a pattern. The islamic religion teaches hate and intolerance. They do not allow anyone to say anything that they disagree with (sound familiar BG?). If you think that I am just bashing a religion, and not telling the absolute truth, I could come up with 70 million news articles and quotes from the koran that prove what I am saying.

Allow me to explain further. I am not saying that the people who follow islam are at fault, but quite the opposite! I am saying that islam is at fault. All religions have had wackos that do mental things in the name of their religion, so you cannot judge a religion by the attrocities comitted by the wackos of an era. What you CAN judge a religion by (and yes, I think that judging is important here) is the "holy" books on which it is based (after all, this IS the religion. Religions regulate a way of life and inspire a set of beliefs. These ways of life and beliefs are taken directly from the "holy" books), and by a predominant, continuing trend throughout centuries. Judging islam by those criteria yields the conclusion that islam is a religion of hate, of war, of intolerance, and of violence. (We will leave morality out of this discussion :P)

The religion of islam started out as...AN ARMY!! It was formed, and the koran was based on the writings of one of the most violent, perverse men in history! It is the most intolerant religion in the world!! It condemns ALL other religions (except, it is funny, that it had EXTREMELY good relations with jews when first invented. Kind of ironic...), all other races except, arabic, turk, and indian (yes, again, rather ironically, it condemns blacks as well), it condemns WOMEN!!!

The "islamic nation" has committed more, and larger, more filthy genocides than anyone else in the world!!! Even more than Stalin!!! (who WAY out-did Hitler!)

Muslims in todays society are calling for an over-throw from within of Western nations! The have raped, killed, enslaved, and persecuted all they have conquered! (which includes much of Europe, till the West declared the Crusades in responce and finally weakened them enough to blunt the offensive...Yes, that is right, the Crusades were in responce to centuries of muslim conquest.)

I'll be back online Monday and will be perfectly willing to prove ANYTHING I said that you may think untrue, unreasonable, unfounded, or slanderous. One request? Think before you post and do not flood me with responces to answer. ;)
Hope that will give you something to think of,

Vuk

[Blodrast]

(somewhat directed as a reply to BG, Meneldil): Eh, yes, of course you may end up in trouble if you criticize Hinduism in India, or Islam in Saudi Arabia, but you're comparing apples and oranges. I would not be in the least surprised if said journalist had gotten in trouble in Pakistan (as he himself pointed out), but, last time I checked, Canada was not a hardcore fundamentalist Muslim country.

And there's no need to be condescending, Tribesy.

While of course we all agree journalists have been aggressed by any possible groups, since the beginnings of journalism, that doesn't mean there aren't differences in the number of aggressions, in trends, in causes and implications - the cases are not all the same.
One of the reasons this is more troubling than your "average" journalist-got-beaten-by-some-crazies is that, traditionally, in Canada, journalists weren't attacked for criticizing Muslim figures.

[Suraknar]

The fact that the Journalist is of Pakistani Origin plays a factor here too.

Because if he was in Pakistan he would probably not be publishing his critisism, and from the point of view of his assaillants.

Now, that in no way means that one should condone the actions but the finger should not be pointed directly towards the majority of muslims either.

And yes there have been many instances where journalists, book writters, etc have been attacked because of their opinions, and by all kinds of different religeous convictions.

Fanatisism is not only a muslim plague.

[Vuk]

Exactly, wackos under all banners do bad things, but violence is a characteristic of islam.
Well, I have to go now. I will be back Monday.

Vuk

[ajaxfetish]

If you think that I am just bashing a religion, and not telling the absolute truth, I could come up with 70 million news articles and quotes from the koran that prove what I am saying.

You make this offer, Vuk, yet I can't think of a single time I've seen you link reliable sources to support your arguments, for all the times you assert the evidence is overwhelmingly in your favor. I often find myself agreeing with positions you support, at least up to a point, but your method usually seems to me very irresponsible in terms of rational argument.

Judging islam by those criteria yields the conclusion that islam is a religion of hate, of war, of intolerance, and of violence. (We will leave morality out of this discussion :P)

We've had this discussion before. Islam contains elements of both war and peace in its holy books, as does Christianity, or Judaism. You have not convinced me that there is a qualitative difference between these religions in this regard.

Yes, that is right, the Crusades were in responce to centuries of muslim conquest.)

Here's one of the places where I definitely agree with you, though in practice the crusades certainly included plenty of unsavory elements, on both sides.

Ajax

[Adrian II]

Banquo's Ghost is right that this sort of thing happens all the time to journalists for a thousand different reasons, perpetrated by a thousand different actors: sick individuals, companies, unions, corrupt political parties and movements, crooked cops, drug and arms dealers, you name it.

Yet the Rabbit has a point. This sort of attack on a Muslim (or someone of Muslim origin) by other Muslims on grounds of 'apostasy' is symptomatic of the internal violence in Muslim communities all over the western world. These acts (or threats) have been plaguing independent authors and activists from the Muslim community in Canada for years, just as they have in the rest of the western world. Just look into the case of Farzan Hassan and the Muslim Canadian Congress, an organization that fights for the separation of mosque and state and for womens rights.

Muslim women and young urban intellectuals in particular are targeted. The thought that Muslim women and intellectuals free themselves from the constraints of their religion is very threatening to the leaders of those communities. Why? Because they are role models for others who would like to distance themselves from these communities, steeped as they are in coercion, obscurantism and fear - fear of the surrounding culture and fear of the leaders of their Muslim community.

[Geoffrey S]

Might be worth pointing out that pinning this a double standard, at least. The attacked journalist is also of Islamic origins.

[Tribesman]

Yet the Rabbit has a point.

Yep , without a doubt .
However when you get stuff like.........

I personally don't recall a million other examples where a journalist is attacked for any reason. I recall one radio guy getting shot after criticizing the mob. And all those journalists getting kidnapped and/or beheaded by other Muslims. But I don't remember any examples of Christians or Hindus or Buddhists physically beating up and assaulting a journalist for criticizing a religious organization.
....you have to wonder both what is the point he thinks he has is and how he reached it .

[AntiochusIII]

I seem to recall some people distinctly proclaim, with much zeal by the way, that all the racism is the same, all the hate crimes are the same, and one shouldn't highlight a specific crime as somehow discriminatingly more important than others.

...may be I just have a faulty memory?

Of course I agree that the Muslim community is in conflict with itself -- who doesn't? -- and the free society ought to do as much as possible to protect, aid, and encourage those who dare challenge the traditional community leaders' influence, such as this unfortunate journalist. It is in everyone's best interest after all to prevent the segregation of cultures from becoming (or remaining) institutionalized in some form.

But the way this news is portrayed here is really just another attack on Teh Muslims.

[JimBob]

Lets take a moment and believe some people that Islam is naturally evil. What do you propose to do about it? Nuke the Middle East. Outlaw the religion. Or just pass some laws that ban those Islams from doing things that good civilized Christian Westerners do.

[Adrian II]

...you have to wonder both what is the point he thinks he has is and how he reached it.

He must have partaken of the same strong Dutch hashish that poor Vuk is on. Teh rapes! Teh genocides!

Seriously, Vuk - I managed to dig out a point in what Crazed Rabbit said, now don't spoil the effect by getting the thread locked.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Adrian, I thought Dutch Hash was supposed to be the high quality not-psyochosis stuff. Ah well.

Anyway, Islam is not alone in being hardline and intollerant of other viewpoints. If anything Christianity is the exception here. Did anyone else here about Richard Gere's recent death threats?

[Louis VI the Fat]

What's up with all that talk about Crazed Rabbit's 'hidden agenda' ?

As far as I know, he's been quite open and consistent in his posts and agenda: if only all Muslims were equipped with cricket bats none of this would've happened. But no, those liberal Canucks needed 'restrictions'.


But seriously: yes, Banquo's Ghost is right that reporting can be a dangerous job within any culture.

Yet, to make this a totally redundant near word-by-word repeat of Adrian's post, the Rabbit has a point. Apostasy is dangerous for a Muslim, much more so than for other religions (that I know of and have a relatively large amount of followers in the West). Ask Hirsi Aly. As to critising Islam...I would suggest you ask Van Gogh about it, but you couldn't.

This is understood so well and to such an extent that now self-censorship has become a problem. Under Muslim intimidation - real or imagined - movies and plays are not shown and books and articles remain unpublished.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Maybe when you are older or have read a bit more you will .

You can recall a million separate incidents of journalists being beat up? Truly, you have an inconceivably gifted memory.

I do recall one house bombing in Spain.

However, what I also deplore is the apparent attempt to indicate that this behaviour is somehow characteristic only of Muslims.

No need to deplore that which isn't there.

Some others have picked out important points: this is rather new incident in Canada. Canada, I'm sure you know, is not a country with a high percentage of Muslims, but fundamentalism is spreading from traditional countries (S.Arabia) to the west.

Should we ignore the struggle between moderate and fundamentalist in the Muslim community? We all want the moderates to prevail, right? This spreading of fundamentalism threatens free speech and other freedoms.

As far as I can see, many groups use violence to intimidate journalists and silence criticism. Neo-nazis through to animal rights activists. Occasionally policemen and government agents. And in traditionally free and open countries.

And these people and their methods are criticized, heavily. But will we see a denunciation of these tactics used by Muslims to suppress those they disagree with, or will people play this facet of conflict between fundamentalist suppressing moderate as nothing important?

Crazed Rabbit

[Adrian II]

As far as I know, he's been quite open and consistent in his posts and agenda: if only all Muslims were equipped with cricket bats none of this would've happened. But no, those liberal Canucks needed 'restrictions'.

God, you are horrible..

I think the urge of Muslim leaders in the West to control their 'own' communities is demonstrated most clearly by their demand to be allowed to apply sharia law in their 'constituencies'. Canada seems to have had some experience with his, in the sense that these sharia courts are used to suppress mostly immigrant women who don't speak the language of the host country, who don't know their rights, etcetera. Such courts operate in secret, no records are kept, and verdicts are reached by judges who have difficulty counting to ten and writing their own names. Not a huge success, I believe.

Swedish Muslim leaders have demanded the same sort of sharia juridisdiction, but were treated to a loud and clear 'No' from the government.

[Louis VI the Fat]

God, you are horrible..

People hate my guts in real life too.

[Tribesman]

[PanzerJaeger]

Typical of the group and typical responses from .org members.

If only teh muslims would stick to beating and killing each other, the civilized world would be a far better place.