AQSA PARVEZ: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN CANADA

AQSA PARVEZ: DEAD AT SIXTEEN. WHY?

Who will speak for Aqsa Parvez?
Dec. 14, 2007

Sixteen-year-old Aqsa Parvez did not want to wear the hijab.

The Middle Eastern head covering has become the most significant icon for Islam in the West, which is unfortunate, since 90 per cent of Muslim women in this country don't wear one. By extension, they get dismissed as not being authentic Muslims.

The CBC's own Little Mosque on the Prairie plays into this stereotype by showing every prominent Muslim woman in a hijab. This superficial measurement of Muslim-ness has become so prevalent that a small but increasing number of families are pushing it on their daughters.

Aqsa, a Pakistani-Canadian, was just one of the victims of this growing obsession.

Now that Aqsa is dead, who will speak for her?

Who will speak for the countless Muslim girls who lead double lives and who suffer in silence in their homes?

Who will make sure they aren't abused or killed?

Who chooses?

Most Islamist men and women say that a woman chooses to wear the hijab. But, all too often, that choice is taken away from young Muslim girls.

They are being told by their parents and their imams that if they don't wear the hijab, they are no longer Muslim. This occurs even though the Koran, Islam's holy book, does not say that a woman has to cover her hair.

Take a walk in downtown Toronto, Montreal, Windsor or other cities with large Muslim populations. You will see little girls, as young as four, five and six, wearing hijabs on their way to school.

Did these little girls really make a choice to wear the hijab?

Did they make a declaration to their parents that they want to be religiously pious and sexually modest?

Common sense indicates that these children did not choose for themselves.

READ MORE ABOUT ISLAM IN CANADA...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_fatah/20071214.html

A PEDOPHILE'S DREAM COME TRUE: WESTJET AIRLINE ALLOWS CHILD TO FLY UNATTENDED

Sara-Maude St-Louis plays with her father in Pontiac, Que.after taking a WestJet flight by herself from Edmonton.(CBC)

WestJet allows stranger to walk five-year-old girl off flight
Friday, December 14, 2007
CBC News

The parents of a five-year-old girl travelling alone are furious with WestJet for breaking its own guidelines and allowing a stranger to accompany the child off a flight.

Sara-Maude St-Louis, 5, was taking her first plane ride Thursday from Edmonton, where she lives with her mother, to Montreal to see her father. The parents paid a special fee to ensure someone from the airline would look after her.

Her mother and stepfather took Sara-Maude to the gate under the impression that WestJet staff members would check on her during the flight and then escort the little girl off the plane when she arrived at her destination, which is the company's policy for unaccompanied minors.

Pierre Cataford, a father of four from Montreal, played games and drew pictures with Sara-Maude during the long flight.

The girl was wearing a large VIP tag around her neck, but Cataford told CBC News that he did not see flight attendants check on her.

When the plane landed in Montreal, Cataford said he waited for someone to escort Sara-Maude but no one came, so he walked the five-year-old off the plane as crew members waved goodbye to them.

Sara-Maude's father said he was shocked to see a stranger walking into the arrivals area with his daughter.

(snip)

Canada does not have a policy that makes it mandatory for airlines to look after children who travel alone.

"Canadian laws are set out that way as we speak right now and they give all the flexibility to air carriers to establish their own rules," said Jadrino Huot of the Canadian Transportation Agency.

READ MORE...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/12/14/westjet-girl.html

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY: TWO STUDENTS FROM INDIA MURDERED IN CAMPUS APARTMENT

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY LOGO

MEDIA CREDIT: TREY PENTECOST/ DAILY REVEILLE

Dec. 13: Officials remove a body from campus housing at LSU.

Two Doctorate Students Killed on LSU Campus

During What Cops Call Home Invasion
Friday, December 14, 2007

BATON ROUGE, La. — Two students were found shot to death in a home invasion at a Louisiana State University apartment, and officials decided to keep the campus open Friday while police searched for three suspects.

The victims, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam, both doctorate students from India, were found inside an apartment at the Edward Gay complex late Thursday night after authorities received an emergency call.

Police patrols were increased on the 30,000-student campus Friday and students were told to be cautious, but the university was not locked down. Students were taking the last of their final exams, and many had already left for the semester.

READ BREAKING NEWS...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316820,00.html

The University issued the following statement:

The LSU Police Department is investigating a double homicide that took place on LSU's campus late in the evening on Thursday, Dec. 13. The homicides occurred at the Edward Gay Apartments, located near the intersection of West Roosevelt Street and Gov. Claiborne Drive, adjacent to the LSU Band practice field.

The victims, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam, were both male Ph.D. students at LSU, and both were international students. The students were found inside an apartment at the Edward Gay complex.

LSUPD is currently working the case, with assistance from the Baton Rouge Police Department, but no suspects have been identified. Therefore, university officials are urging the LSU community to use caution when moving about campus this morning.

The initial call to LSUPD came in at 10:37 p.m. as a medical emergency. Officers and medical personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene, assessed the situation and notified their supervisors at LSUPD. Those supervisors then contacted university officials, who rushed to campus, gathered the latest information and sent out an emergency text message to members of the LSU community who had previously registered their cell phones with the university's emergency text-message system.

University officials also sent out a broadcast e-mail to members of the LSU community, sent a broadcast voice message to all campus phones and posted a message to the LSU Web site.

READ MORE AT "THE DAILY REVEILLE, " LSU NEWSPAPER ONLINE...

http://media.www.lsureveille.com/media/storage/paper868/news/2007/12/07/News/%20Update.Shooting.Victims.Identified.As.Students.305.A.m-3143991.shtml

NICCO TATUM: VEGAS SHOOTER CAPTURED AT DENVER BUS DEPOT

Security was increased at Mojave High School in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007, the day after six young people were shot at a nearby bus stop.
(AP Isaac Brekken)

Vegas shooting suspect arrested in Denver
By Kieran Nicholson, The Denver Post
12/13/2007

Good police work and a long-distance rapport helped police snag a suspect in a Las Vegas multiple drive-by shooting at a bus stop in Denver.
"It was just good communication across state lines," said Sonny Jackson, a Denver police spokesman.

Nicco Tatum, 18, was arrested at about 10 p.m. Wednesday at the downtown Denver Bus Terminal, at 19th and Curtis streets. Tatum is wanted in connection with a shooting at a school-bus stop in Las Vegas that injured six young people, police said.

He was taken into custody without incident, Jackson said, by the Fugitive Location and Apprehension Group (FLAG), which included Denver SWAT and U.S. Marshals Service members.

Chief Deputy Ken Deal with the Marshals Service in Denver said his office was alerted by counterparts in Las Vegas that Tatum was on a Greyhound bus heading for Chicago that would make a stop in Denver.

FLAG officers waiting for Tatum in Denver watched one bus that the suspect was supposed to be on arrive and unload, but Tatum wasn't found.

The FLAG group was patient and waited for a second bus, Deal said.

"They just stayed put," Deal said. "At that point in time, there wasn't any reason for them to leave."

Tatum was traveling alone and had several bags of clothing with him, Deal said.

He is expected to be booked on six counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and six counts of battery with a deadly weapon.

READ UPDATE...

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_7710072

AQSA PARVEZ: CANADIAN MUSLIM KILLS DAUGHTER

(FACEBOOK)

(FACEBOOK)

Canadian Muslim Teen's Dad Charged in Her Murder;

Friends Say They Clashed Over Head Scarf

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

TORONTO — A Canadian man has been charged with murdering his own daughter, and her friends say the two clashed over her refusal to wear a Muslim head scarf. Police have not commented on a motive.

Aqsa Parvez, 16, of Mississauga, Ontario, was rushed to hospital in critical condition Monday after a man made an emergency call in which he claimed to have killed his daughter, police said. She died late Monday night.

The emergency call "came in from the father saying he had killed his daughter," police spokesman Wayne Patterson said. "Police arrived and rushed her to hospital and she passed away."

(snip)

Muslim leaders cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

"I don't want the public to think that this is really an Islamic issue or an immigrant issue," said Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress. "It is a teenager issue."

The girl's father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, made a brief court appearance Tuesday morning and was remanded in custody pending another court appearance Wednesday.

Aqsa Parvez's brother, Waqas Parvez, 26, is facing a charge of obstructing police and remains in custody pending a Dec. 14 hearing.

READ MORE...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316550,00.html

READ ACCOUNT FROM CANADIAN NEWS...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/12/12/hijab-reaxn.html

CHOMPING SADLY...
What a sad case over something that most of us would think is just plain stupid! A hijab??? What a silly thing to be enraged about. This family moved from a muslim country where their traditions are respected to a country where these traditions are no longer necessary. This beautiful young woman wanted the freedom to be herself and to have her own beliefs.

Mr. Parvez, isn't that why you wanted to live in a non-muslim society? To enjoy it's freedoms? If that is not the reason, then, please, Mr. Parvez, tell us why you brought your family here.

GEERT WILDERS: DUTCH POLITICIAN TO MAKE ANTI MUSLIM FILM

GEERT WILDERS, DUTCH POLITICIAN

Controversial Anti-Muslim Dutch Film Adds to Already Simmering Tensions
Michael Park, December 11, 2007

FOXNEWS

Threats of murder. Fears of riots and religious violence. Demands for censorship. Politicians in hiding, fearing for their lives. A government preparing for the worst.

It's happening right now in a most unlikely place ... the Netherlands, once regarded as Europe's quietest and most stable nation.

And it's all happening because of a 10-minute movie that hasn't even been made yet.

It's the work of Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who calls his movie "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamicization." Wilders plans to present it to his country on television sometime next month.

"People who watch the movie will see that the Koran is very much alive today, leading to the destruction of everything we in the Western world stand for, which is respect and tolerance," Wilders, the 41-year-old leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom, said in a telephone interview.

"The tsunami of Islamicization is coming to Europe. We should come to be far stronger."

Like other European countries, the Netherlands is struggling to cope with an influx of Muslim immigrants, and the newcomers are often relegated to working at low-paying jobs and living in high-crime ghettos. Though the Dutch boast of their culture of tolerance, tensions have been high, with some blaming rising unemployment and crime on newcomers from Muslim countries like Turkey, Morocco and Somalia.

READ MORE...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,313741,00.html

ATLANTA FALCONS MICHAEL VICK: 23 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR DOGFIGHTING

Michael Vick Sentenced to 23 Months in Jail for Role in Dogfighting Conspiracy
Monday, December 10, 2007

RICHMOND, Va. — Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for running a "cruel and inhumane" dogfighting ring and lying about it.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.

After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you."

(snip)

Before the hearing, Michael Vick's brother, Marcus Vick, sat with his right arm around their mother, comforting her as she buried her head in her hands and wept.

Vick was suspended without pay by the NFL and lost all his lucrative endorsement deals. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was asked after Monday's ruling if Vick should play again.

READ MORE ABOUT THE SENTENCE...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316319,00.html

COLORADO SHOOTER MATHEW MURRAY: FAMILY ASKS FOR FORGIVENESS

Gunman's family asks for forgiveness
By Demetria Gallegos, The Denver Post
12/10/2007

The uncle of 24-year-old Matthew Murray choked with emotion as he read a statement on behalf of Murray's parents.

"Our family cannot express the magnitude of our grief for the victims and families of this tragedy," Phil Abeyta read at an early-evening press conference at the headquarters of Youth With a Mission, on the Faith Bible Chapel campus in Arvada.

"On behalf of our family and our son, we ask for forgiveness. We cannot understand why this happened," Abeyta read. "We ask for prayers for the victims and their families."

The family is cooperating fully with police, according to Abeyta.

He spoke just after the director of Youth With a Mission, a worldwide missionary-training program, confirmed that Murray was enrolled five years ago.

READ MORE...
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_7684866

SECURITY GUARD JEANNE ASSAM: COLORADO HERO

HERO JEANNE ASSAM

Security Guard: 'God Guided Me And Protected Me'
Jeanne Assam Stopped Gunman At New Life Church
Thomas Hendrick, News Editor

December 10, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Jeanne Assam appeared before the news media for the first time Monday and said she "did not think for a minute to run away" when a gunman entered the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and started shooting.

There was applause as Assam spoke to reporters and TV cameras saying, "God guided me and protected me."

New Life's Senior Pastor Brady Boyd called Assam "a real hero" because Murray "had enough ammunition on him to cause a lot of damage."

When asked by a reporter if she felt like a hero, Assam said, "I wasn't just going to wait for him to do further damage."

"I give credit to God," she said.

Assam described how the gunman, Matthew Murray, entered the east entrance of the church firing his rifle.

READ MORE ABOUT A TRUE HERO...

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14817480/detail.html

COLORADO SPRINGS: GUNMAN KILLS ONE, WOUNDED FOUR AT NEW LIFE CHURCH

NEW LIFE CHURCH, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO

Gunman killed after opening fire at church

(CNN) -- A gunman attacked worshippers at a Colorado Springs, Colorado, megachurch Sunday afternoon, killing one person and wounding four others before being killed by a security staff member, the city's police chief said.

Chief Richard Myers called the person "a courageous security staff member who probably saved many lives today."

He said some of the shooting victims being treated at the hospital have life-threatening injuries.
Several "suspicious devices" were found at the church, Myers said.
SWAT teams were clearing the multiple buildings at New Life Church, along with an explosives unit, he said.

Rev. Brady Boyd, senior pastor of New Life Church, said the church had a security plan in place.

(snip)

The shooting occurred about 12 hours after a shooting at a missionary training center in Arvada, outside Denver, Colorado, left two people dead and two wounded. The gunman in that incident was still at large Sunday afternoon.

There was no known connection between the two incidents Sunday afternoon, Howard said, but he did not rule out that possibility. Arvada and Colorado Springs are about 80 miles apart.

WILL LOOK FOR UPDATE MONDAY...READ MORE...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/09/church.shooting/index.html

SHOOTING AT ARVADA, COLORADO: 2 DEAD AT FAITH BIBLE CHAPEL

2 dead, suspect at large after shooting at missionary training campus
posted by: Jack Maher , Executive Producer
updated by: Dan Boniface , Web Producer

12/9/2007

ARVADA - A lone gunman opened fire on a missionary training campus early Sunday morning, shooting four people, two of whom have died and one who is in critical condition.

Arvada Police investigators say the gunman walked into a dorm-like residence hall on the Faith Bible Chapel Campus at the Youth with a Mission facility near 64th & Ward Road just after midnight and began shooting.

"He entered the facility, opened fire and four of the youth inside that facility were injured," said Arvada Police Spokeswoman Susan Medina. All four people were rushed to area hospitals.

The Regional Director of the program, Peter Iliyn, says two of the victims have died from their injuries and a third is in critical condition. The condition of the fourth victim is unknown at this time. Their identities have not been released at this time.

Police say the two people who died were "youths."

READ MORE ABOUT ARVADA, COLORADO KILLING...
http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=82457

Please, help find the gunman!

Anyone with information should call the Arvada Police Department through the non-emergency line (720) 898-6900.

ARVADA, COLORADO: FOUR SHOT AT MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER

Gunman opens fire in Colo Christian missionary center, 4 injured
By GEORGE MERRITT Associated Press Writer
12/09/2007

ARVADA, Colo.—A gunman walked into a training center dormitory for young Christian missionaries in a Denver suburb early Sunday and opened fire, wounding at least four people.

The shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission center, Arvada Police spokeswoman Susan Medina said. About 45 people were evacuated from the dormitory.

The extent of the injuries was not clear, and the gunman was still at large Sunday morning.
Witnesses told police that the gunman was a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap. He may have glasses or a beard.

Police searched through the night with several dogs and nearby houses were notified via 911 to be on the lookout. Medina said residents should look out their windows to see if the snow had been disturbed overnight.

READ MORE ABOUT COLORADO SHOOTING...

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_7677165

Gunman at large:

Anyone with information should call the Arvada Police Department through the non-emergency line (720) 898-6900.