A radical Muslim who dressed his baby daughter in a hat with “I love al-Qaeda” on it tried to firebomb the home of the publisher of a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammed.
Ali Beheshti, 40, along with Abrar Mirza, 22, have admitted conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life after they poured diesel through the letterbox of a publishing house in Islington, North London.
Abbas Taj, 30, a mini-cab driver, was found guilty at Croydon Crown court of conspiracy to firebomb the home of Martin Rynja, the publisher of The Jewel Of Medina. He was to be the getaway driver, but was stopped in his car and arrested by armed police near Angel Tube station in the early hours in September last year, just after they had set fire to the premises.
Beheshti’s 20-month-old daughter, Farisa, was pictured wearing the hat when he took her along to a protest against Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed and proudly called her “the youngest member of al-Qaeda”. He waved banners vowing to “Massacre those who insult Islam” and promising “Europe, your 9/11 will come!” During the protests in 2006 he called himself Abu Jihad — meaning holy war.
The three men began their attack when publisher Mr Rynja was preparing to release The Jewel Of Medina, a novel about the Prophet Mohammed and the life of his child bride, Aisha.
The trio were planning to spend the night at Regent’s Park Mosque, in North London, as part of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but shortly after arrival they set out with “fire-making equipment” for the home of Mr Rynja…
The publication of The Jewel of Medina was cancelled by one major publisher in the United States over fears that it could offend Muslims.
Run that “religion of peace” line past me again…
49 Comments
They really need to hire a new ad agency. The current lot are just… crap.
“How dare you say I am violent and crazy, I will kill you for that!” As I said after the Fitna release, I can’t believe that the people who say such things are unable to perceive the irony in their behaviour.
I feel sorry for the many decent Muslims whose religion is tarnished by the actions of these lunatics.
I for one am glad that Christianity no longer can claim any monopoly on frothy mouthed lunacy. How dare you protest my protest. Comedy gold!
Yep, these people are hardly doing themselves a favor. In case you live in Aus, there was a funny incident on SBS news about a week ago, where the “moderate” cleric wouldn’t take questions from the female reporter sent to do the interview because she was female, and this was strangely enough mentioned at the start of the interview. Very moderate indeed!
Although to be fair Adrien, look more closely at the angles and you’ll see SOME of the youtube examples seem to have had a little help from photoshop. Kinda like these two (guess which one is real and which is fake)…
All those awful handwritten ones are from the London Protests against the Danish cartoons … you know, the ones where a convicted heroin dealer dressed up as a suicide bomber to take the moral high ground (and incidentally breach his bail). The guy who distributed the signs (Kill/Butcher/Behead/Massacre those who insult islam, Freedom/Liberalism go to hell, Europe is the cancer and islam is the answer, Europe your 9/11 is coming, etc) was one of only four of the mob who ended up being prosecuted.
Obviously hadn’t read his own signs…
They got around three and four years each variously for inciting racial hatred and inciting murder, that was in 2007. Are they still in gaol today? I wonder.
If only all Muslim clerics were cool guys like Abdurrahman Wahid
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/indonesia/profiles/351413.stm
Islam could be rejuvenated by a moderate SE Asian influence instead of causation going in the opposite direction (desert lunatics radicalising Muslims in SE Asia)
Jason – agreed. I’ve heard it said by many Asian and Indian Muslims that the “desert lunatic” brand of Islam is quite foreign to them, and they really resent radicals coming into their country and whipping up extremism.
Kinda like these two (guess which one is real and which is fake)…
Um… lemme guess.
Please kick our arses.
‘Bout right too (dickheads)
I don;t want to be gratuitous or anything but isn’t the jewel of Medina a jewel? What amazing eyes!
Islam could be reformed immeasurably if all the Sunni Arab/Pushtan males cashed in their express tickets to the 72 virgins.
As long as they don’t cash them in at our expense, JG… that could get ugly!
Not very good chick lit by many accounts.
Wiki:
Posey, oh dear. Better to let the public make up their own minds that it’s trash than to firebomb the publisher and give it an undeserved publicity.
Same re Angels and Demons movie – I hope the Catholic Church just ignores it rather than gives it any undeserved publicity by banning it or protesting about it – I haven’t seen the movie, but if it’s anything like the book, it must be tripe.
SL
Too true. But the tragic thing is that overwhelmigly the martyrs end up martyring their brethren, rather than the indidel. I know it sounds mean, but I do believe in efficiency, so long may they ‘splode. Twelve Danish cartoons depleted their ranks by hundreds, imagine what an anthology might achieve!
The Muslim victims of these suicide bombers don’t deserve to suffer that any more than we do. And yes, ironically far more Muslims are killed by Muslim suicide bombers than anyone else.
I just hope that one of the versions of Islamic hell which holds that you get what you do to others turns out to be true (rather than the 72 virgins)…
I tell you what, those poor virgins must be more worn out than a rugby league moll!
JG, be nice please.
Although I must confess – I’ve always wondered – who are these 72 virgins? I guess each guy must get a different set of 72 virgins, because the other lot wouldn’t be virginal any more. Do female suicide bombers purportedly get 72 male virgins? How on earth are there enough virgins to go around?
[5 minutes later...]
Well, I did a bit of reading.
Apparently the houris are available to all Muslims of all genders, not just “martyrs”. They are born again as beautiful virgins, not as they were in life.
The hadith relating to 72 virgins looks like it is a little unreliable.
Now I shall go back to bed because I am feeling absolutely rotten on account of mastitis. I’m sure those houris don’t get mastitis.
LE
Be nice? Who to? Thesefuck-in-a-dunny scrags? Not on your nellie.
JG, seriously – some of them, I’m sure, are just up for ‘scalps’ – how many famous sports personalities can they shag and brag about after? Some of them, I’m also sure, are silly naive girls who are flattered by the attention from someone “famous” and don’t realise what they’re up for until it’s too late to say “no” easily. Some are probably too drunk to think straight and would never do something like that when sober.
I’m reluctant to issue any blanket statements about those women one way or the other. It’s not a position I’ve ever been in, but I know other women who might have gotten into strife in their younger more naive days. I was always rather wary of drunken men, as well as being lucky with the company I kept.
I have to say I’d be unlikely to recognise a famous sports star if I fell over him. I was at a function once where a prominent AFL footballer was in attendance. My friend nudged me and hissed, pointing him out by name. He knew we were looking at him and preened a little, I think. I was rather tipsy and said loudly (and genuinely), “Who?? Why should I give a F*** about him?” The poor man’s face fell a little. Upon sobering up, I felt a bit mean, but it probably did him good to realise that not everyone recognised him in five seconds flat or cared about who he was.
I’ve always wondered – who are these 72 virgins?
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Or as Clint Eastwood said in an interview recently “what’s so great about virgins?”.
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Some of them, I’m also sure, are silly naive girls who are flattered by the attention from someone “famous” and don’t realise what they’re up for until it’s too late to say “no” easily.
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Yeah that’s partly the problem. The old ways had strict etiquette in place to prevent this sort of thing happening. The new way, or lack of way, still produces young women who are clueless but, at the same time, doesn’t provide any social structures to protect them.
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I think. I was rather tipsy and said loudly (and genuinely), “Who?? Why should I give a F*** about him?”
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A friend of mine went to a Naughty by Nature after-party. She wasn’t a hip hop fan she was just meeting us. One of the band (huge bald black dude, superhero body, gold chain) kept getting his minions to summon her. When she finally went over she said: I don’t know who you are and I don’t care, leave me alone.
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The look on his face was priceless
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She looked a bit like a foxy floozy that night and she was. But she was also a systems analyst and a civil engineer.
Adrien: re Naughty by Nature story – heh heh heh. I think all these kind of guys need that kind of a let down from time to time.
As I was saying over at another site, it may have been unwise of this girl to go to the toilets with these blokes (certainly not something I would do myself). But if they had been decent blokes, she wouldn’t have been in any danger. Clearly they weren’t decent blokes.
LE
Precisely. Heaps of my set – male, female, gay, straight, poly – have rooted in dunnies, but none of us later calls the media, resulting in a week of Catharine Lumby droaning on.
A week of the Lumby is rather dreary, it has to be said (but you know my opinion on that topic).
LE
Even Germaine Greer would be 1,000 times better!
Greer at least has some brains, it’s just that she shoots her mouth off without thinking it through properly half the time, I suspect.
But if they had been decent blokes, she wouldn’t have been in any danger. Clearly they weren’t decent blokes.
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Indeed.
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I think one of the unintended consequences of the sexual revolution and the influence of Rousseauian feminism has been that the cultivation of human males to control their aggressive natures has withered. The result isn’t sexual utopia but widespread disrespect.
Altho’ I have to say that that isn’t entirely impeding the progress of women. And I think perhaps a positive outcome is that you’ll have a generation of tough minded women once the girls who have to deal with such piggery grow up.
I think the concept of the gentleman must be reintroduced in updated form. Ladies too.
That won’t entirely eliminate gang bang unpleasantness because some people just have no class.
Greer at least has some brains, it’s just that she shoots her mouth off without thinking it through properly half the time, I suspect.
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My theory is that she’s a wiley old harpey taking the piss half the time. I suspected as much when she won the Golden Bull bad English aware for this:
It sounds like an artspeak paraphrase of Camille Paglia’s assertion that art is the line drawn between nature and culture. Greer writes very well. And of course in response to the award she waxed eloquently on what she meant.
That’s true. Camille Paglia argues that Greer’s brilliance was wasted once she removed herself from the discipline of academia. I think Camille might be right.
Of course, where the whole feminism thing became a train wreck was once it became lesbianised. Miranda Devine nails it.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/natural-men-scolded-into-timidity-20090520-bfn3.html
When I was a teenager, I believed that gender was socially constructed. Until my aunt had two sons – then I realised that some things are innate.
My son’s favourite book is called Big Machines and has pictures of big diggers, trucks, concrete mixers and snow ploughs etc. He doesn’t really like The Hungry Caterpillar or Little Possum Magic like my daughter did. I didn’t do anything to make him like pictures of diggers – he just likes ‘em – and he’s only 6 months old.
Of course, there are always going to be some people who don’t fit the stereotype. I was always a bit of a tomboy myself. But men and women are different – and vive la différence say I.
That’s true. Camille Paglia argues that Greer’s brilliance was wasted once she removed herself from the discipline of academia. I think Camille might be right.
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Yeah and it’s a damn shame she didn’t listen to her own advice.
When I was a teenager, I believed that gender was socially constructed.
Yeah same. Ha ha ha ha.
But it is obviously possible these days for two men to have a baby together. Looking at the guy above I just realized that Oliver Reed and Charles Manson must’ve been in love once.
Adrien – LOL – you are so right – it’s the crazed love child. Something about the eyes.
Uhh, last time I checked she hadn’t. Greer is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Warwick (she gave up on Cambridge when it became clear they’d never give her tenure).
And Adrian @28:
I thought a manifold was part of a car?
Sorry John, if you’re citing Miranda Devine as an authority you need a cup of tea, a bex and a nice lie down.
Went to see it over the weekend and yes, it IS tripe but for some people tripe is a delicacy. Considering so much of it is set in the Vatican, very little is actually about the Catholic Church or it’s doctrine so there’s nothing for them to complain about really. They get off pretty lightly. Unfortunately Langdon allows something so offensive to my scholarly heart at about the half-hour point I lost all sympathy for the character and started rooting for the Illuminati. It’s predictable, far too long and they’re always five minutes too late for ridiculously contrived reasons so the writing is a full-on fail but the acting performances are good. The science was just diabolically bad which is a slight problem as the entire premise relies on it for tension.
Sometimes I like stuff that wouldn’t qualify as “great literature”. I loved the whole Twilight Series, for example. I devoured it over a week. On one level I knew it was appealing to my every teenage fantasy, but that’s just what I loved about it.
From memory, Angels and Demons was actually slightly better written than The Da Vinci Code. I can’t remember anything specific about the book other than some crazy Pope, and some sexy Italian? European? chick. Thus I can’t remember what Langdon does – it isn’t book destroying is it? If so – grrrr – a special hell is designated for him…
As I’ve said before, the best literature is well written and has a hook that makes you want to read on.
Italian chick (physicist) and yes – he allows her to tear a page out of the single surviving copy of an original Gallileo pamphlet because she can’t be bothered copying down the one sentence message hidden on the page in clear english.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NO! NO! There is no hell deep and fiery enough. Who cares if the Illuminati are after you or not?
I once annoyed a whole cinema of people in “Tomb Raider” when Angelina Jolie takes a knife to (from my recollection) a Blake first edition, to find a map hidden in the frontispiece, by shrieking in horror ….
what is it with blockbuster movies and blatant disrespect of literary treasure?
Adrien
On CP taking her own advive, I could not agree with you more. Ironically, it seems that her girlfriend’s having a baby may have soddened CP’s own harpishness!
DEM
Actually, La Greer ditched the Warwick gig as soon as Female Eunuch was published, then spent the next 20 years out of academia. You are correct, she briefly returned to academia – at Cambridge – before being sacked for opposing the employment of a trannie. She nowadays is an emeritus prof at Warwick. I think Camille’s point is that even during those brief academic soujurns, Germs was more “guest” or adjunct or emeritus, rather than semester in, semester out teaching three courses, slaving over scholarly journal articles and books (with all the peer review and shit that goes with it).
I don’t think MD is an “authority” but she does often talk a lot of sense. I think this particular article is superior to any of the fembot dirges we have heard from the Sapphosphere on the SkinnyWogGate TM issue.
Er, sorry, wrong Clare, I mean the Matty Johns to-do.
On one level I knew it was appealing to my every teenage fantasy, but that’s just what I loved about it.
Why? He’s just a good looking rebel who lives by his own rules.
Adrien @33- Good pick on Oliver Reed & Charles Manson mix-match.
One of my first boyfriends looked like Oliver Reed as he did in “Women in Love”. Both very sexy man if NUTS. Reed made his penultimate lover sign a statement swearing she’d never speak unless asked a direct question. Less said about my mad swain the better.
Good god, I’d last about 3 seconds with that kind arrangement. I cannot restrain myself from saying what I think.
There was an episode of Teh Goodies where they were gonna plant a bomb under Oliver Reed, ring someone up and issue demands. Give us what we want or else….
We don’t blow him up. A great actor, a great souse and a total arsehole.
I like that when the Sherald ran that Miranda Devine article, which in abbreviated form reads “real men like to crack skulls”, they also had (still have) a link with picture showing one of the real men’s former employees with a black eye she got from (&^&#$??) his shadowboxing. One picture can comfortably cancel out an entire article of ill-timed idiocy.
Driveby commenting here, people, but I’m always happy to tell anyone who’ll listen that Jewel of Medina is one of the crappiest books you’ll never read.
I couldn’t get past about chapter 6, although I do intend to attempt it again.
Talk about dodgy, purple prose.
It is horrid, horrid swill and for that reason alone should be subject to burning.
(says she with a wardrobe with several crates of books, and a house with 5 totally stuffed bookshelves and a stack a dozen high next to the bed).
Well, that’s good to know, Nilk – I shan’t bother to read it. My house is already filled with books too – double stacked on bookshelves, piles on floors – there’s really not enough room for tripe.