IRAN: Key cleric calls for more prayer, less Web surfing

An influential Iranian ayatollah is telling his students to spend more time praying and less time clicking through cyberspace.

Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, a conservative Islamic cleric and chairman of the Imam Khomeini Research and Education Institute in Qom, said the Internet is rife with dangers and temptations that lead to family problems. He urged seminaries to be vigilant, according to the Mehr news agency.

"If a young student surfs the Internet until late in the night and is not looking for 'scientific subjects,' or if he watches movies and forgets his morning praying, he cannot become a pious man," the ayatollah said.

Mesbah-Yazdi's comments follow warnings last week by another important cleric, who said he worried about a "tremor of non-religiosity in Iranian society. ... The only way to stay safe is relying on the holy book, the Koran."

But Saeed Allahbedashti, an activist and son of a well-known reformist cleric, said: "Unfortunately, 32 years after the Islamic revolution, some top clergymen suppose there is conflict between prayers at night, remembering God and using the Internet. They do not want to realize that a new practicing Muslim generation has emerged in Iran and is using Facebook and other social networks."

He added: "This new generation remembers God at night and observes all Islamic rituals. The Islamic revolution occurred in the context of modernity in Iran, and any practicing Muslim can embrace all kinds of modern tools and technology while maintaining his or her faith in Islam."

-- Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran

Photo: An Iranian cleric in a courtyard of a holy shrine in Qom. Credit: Reuters 

SYRIA: Activist killed about every hour over 11 days in crackdown

At least one person has been killed by security forces in Syria about every hour during the first 11 days of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, according to new statistics by an activist group, the Local Coordinating Committees. 

The Syrian regime appears to be sticking to its guns and tanks, hammering away at its opponents across the country during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a continued bloody crackdown of anti-government protesters, despite a torrent of regional and international criticism.

On Thursday, Syrian activist reports said Syrian army units along with pro-government enforcers stormed two opposition hot spots in the country ahead of anticipated nationwide anti-government rallies Friday.

They reportedly killed several people. Ramadan has been a bloody month in Syria so far with 257 Syrians killed by the army and security forces across the country, according to the Local Coordinating Committees.

IRAN: Tehran youths' plan to cool off lands them in hot water

They were just looking to cool off and have a little fun in the middle of Tehran's scorching-hot summer.

Instead, a group of young Iranians got all tangled up with authorities in the Islamic Republic and paraded on Iranian state television for participating in a mass public water pistol fight in a Tehran park, Iranian media reports say.

On Wednesday night, state channel broadcast images of some youth who were arrested at the event on July 29, the Iranian daily Assre-Iran reported.

They said in the program that they had chatted with each other on Facebook and decided to meet at the park -- ironically named Tehran's Water and Fire park -- at that date with water guns, added the report.

The event reportedly attracted about 800 people through a Facebook invitation.

BAHRAIN: After rounding up activists, doctors, authorities now target soccer stars

First they came for the street activists and opposition leaders. Then they rounded up medical doctors whom they suspected sympathized with protesters.

Now they allegedly torture their sports stars.

Bahraini authorities appear to leave no stone -- or soccer field for that matter -- unturned in their sectarian campaign against the Shiite political opposition and those suspected of siding with it.

According to a report published in the Australian Saturday via the Times of London, several Bahraini soccer players including stars of the country's national team, were tortured while held in detainment after their arrest by security forces for participating in a protest against Bahrain's ruling Al-Khalifa family in March.

They include striker Alaa Hubail and his brother Mohammed as well as goalkeeper Ali Saeed -- all three members of the Bahrain's national soccer team.

EGYPT: Christian tycoon faces wave of Muslim anger over bearded Mickey Mouse photo

A picture of Mickey Mouse with long beard and Minnie with a full-face veil posted on businessman Naguib Sawiris’ Twitter account has enraged Muslims and prompted 15 lawyers to file a lawsuit against him for blasphemy and insulting Islam.

The Christian Copt telecommunications mogul, who has emerged as a provocative voice in post-revolutionary Egypt, apologized on Twitter, saying that he meant the picture to be humorous, not an affront to the country's majority population of Muslims. "I apologize for those who don’t take this as a joke. I just thought it was a funny picture no disrespect meant! I’m sorry,” the magnate tweeted.

Nonetheless, Sawiris’ apology wasn’t enough to halt the fury and criticism from many Muslims, especially the ultraconservative Salafis, whose lawyers have already sued the billionaire. A Facebook group launched under the name “we are also joking, Sawiris” gathered no less than 90,000 members in recent days, calling for boycotting products or services sold by any of the businessman’s companies, especially the Mobinil mobile phone company.  

EGYPT: Draft laws for mosques and churches face criticism

Although new laws regulating the construction of houses of worship have been sought by politicians and human rights advocates long before the Jan. 25 revolution, there has been little progress toward passing such regulations.

A draft law proposes that building permit applications for houses of worship should go through the public engineering office in the governorate where the church or mosque would be built. It sets a maximum period of two months for approval or rejection of an application, and stipulates that no house of worship can built closer than a kilometer to another church or mosque.

A spokesman for the Egyptian Evangelical Church, Akram Lamei, said he believes that the draft law has a number of flaws, including the "strange" condition of setting two or more houses of worship apart by at least a kilometer.

IRAN: Tens of thousands converge on Tehran shrine to commemorate the death of Ayatollah Khomeini

Dressed in black, they came by the tens of thousands from near and far, pouring into the streets of southern Tehran and massing at the Khomeini Mausoleum to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic on Saturday.

“I’ve walked almost 24 hours from the holy city of Qom to get here,” a 36-year-old cleric and father of two, who had walked barefoot to the capital to pay his respects, told the Times. “I am a pilgrim of the late great Khomeini's holy shrine. I am ready to sacrifice myself and my family for sake of the revolution and the current supreme leader.”

The ceremony, an annual event, was marked by tight security and attended by a number of high-ranking Iranian political and military officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Khomenei’s successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who called for unity among ruling conservatives and rapprochement among rival political factions in a speech he delivered at the shrine. It was his second major call in the last 10 days to heal the rifts between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei’s own conservative political allies.

"In the country there are different political views," he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.

EGYPT: Thousands march in Tahrir Square, Coptic Christians continue sit-in

Thousands of protesters marched in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday to stress the unity between Egypt’s Muslims and Christian Copts following sectarian clashes that ended with a dozen dead and more than 200 injured last week.

The march, which coincided with a rally in the square in solidarity with Palestinians, began with a Christian Mass followed by Friday prayers.

Cleric Mazhar Shahin, who delivered the Friday prayer speech, said Islam and Christianity do not teach hatred or incitement of violence.

Timeline: Revolution in Egypt

“Such strife is intended by a group of people who are neither Muslims nor Christians,” Shahin said as he warned Egyptians not to let extremists divide them.

Both Muslim and Coptic Christian protesters joined the demonstration, chanting, “Muslims and Copts are one hand” and carrying banners that said, “Egypt is for all Egyptians.”

“We need to have constitutional guarantees securing equal citizenship rights and respecting all religions without discrimination between Muslims and Copts,” Adel Mahmoud, who is Muslim, told Babylon and Beyond.

Mahmoud said he wants to see those responsible for sectarian violence on both sides punished under Egyptian law.

Also in Cairo on Friday, several thousand Coptic Christians continued a sit-in that started Sunday, calling for the immediate capture, trial and conviction of religious extremists responsible for last week’s violence.

On Wednesday, Egyptian leaders promised to draft laws to deter religious violence and authorities announced that more than 200 suspects had been detained in connection with last week’s sectarian clashes.

However, some Coptic Christians were still in disbelief Friday.

“I don’t trust news like this. I doubt if anyone will be brought to justice. It’s the same as many previous clashes where no one was held accountable for sectarian violence,” said a Coptic protester who asked not to be identified.

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Timeline: Revolution in Egypt

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Protesters in Tahrir Square on Friday. Credit: Khaled Desouky /Getty Images

EGYPT: New laws planned to fight sectarian violence

Clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians that left a dozen people dead last week have led the Egyptian government to consider new regulations criminalizing sectarian violence.

A new committee will consider laws banning protests outside places of worship and prohibiting the use of religious slogans by political parties, as well as forming a unified law for building houses of worship, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Egyptian ministers' Cabinet.

Coptic Christians, about 10% of Egypt’s population of 80 million, have long complained that the Egyptian government forces them to overcome onerous bureaucratic red tape in order to build new churches, while Muslim counterparts have no difficulty constructing new mosques. 

Timeline: Revolution in Egypt

Tensions soared in Egypt on Saturday when several thousand conservative, or Salafi, Muslims rioted around a church in Giza, about 12 miles southwest of the capital, following allegations that a female Muslim convert was being held there against her will by Coptic priests.

Copts gathered around the church to prevent Muslims from entering. The confrontation that seemed inevitable was soon triggered as bullets and Molotov cocktails began flying.

More than 240 people were injured and a nearby church was torched.

The woman in question, Abeer Talaat Fakhry, broke her silence and spoke to Egyptian and Arab media on Monday, confirming that she converted to Islam last September and was abducted and held inside the Coptic church. She said she managed to escape amid Saturday’s violence.

While her story was disputed by a Giza priest, local news site Dostor.org published a purported copy of a certificate proving her conversion.

A number of Islamic clerics have argued that Fakhry converted to divorce her Coptic husband and marry a Muslim. Coptic Christians in Egypt cannot obtain a civil divorce.

Egyptian military authorities have detained more than 200 suspects in connection with Saturday’s violence, including a Salafi cleric accused of inciting hatred against Copts in a video streamed online before clashes erupted.

A fact-finding panel appointed by the National Council for Human Rights said Wednesday that "groups that can be described as thugs" and might be related to the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak may have played a role in igniting Saturday's clashes in order to disrupt Egypt's post-revolution progress.

Hundreds of Copts have been protesting outside Egyptian state TV headquarters in Cairo since Sunday, calling for the swift capture and trial of those responsible for the clashes and demanding better protection in their homeland.

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Timeline: Revolution in Egypt

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: A church burns during Saturday's clashes in Giza. Credit. Ben Curtis / Associated Press

PAKISTAN: Osama bin Laden's wife questioned, scrutinized in wake of raid

Amal Sadah, 29, became Osama bin Laden's fifth wife a year before the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, according to CNN. The Yemeni bride was 18; the Al Qaeda leader was 43.

Sheikh Rashed Mohammed Saeed Ismail, an Al Qaeda leader in Yemen, told the Yemen Post in 2008 that he arranged the marriage.

“I was the match-maker for his wife Amal al-Sadah, who was one of my students," Ismail said.

He said he accompanied the young bride-to-be to Afghanistan in July 2000.

Last year, Ismail described Sadah to journalist Hala Jaber as pious.

“Even at her young age, she was religious and spiritual enough, and believed in the things that Bin Laden -- a very religious, pious and spiritual man -- believed in," he said.

EGYPT: Muslims protest Coptic Christian governor in Qena

Thousands of mostly Muslim protesters swelled through the streets of the Egyptian city of Qena on Friday to demonstrate against the recent appointment of a new Coptic Christian governor.

Crowds gathered Immediately after prayers outside the city’s mosques, chanting against Gov. Emad Mikhael and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf: “Oh Sharaf, say the truth … you’re being unfair to us or not?” and “Oh freedom where are you ... Mikhael is standing between us and you.”

Mikhael, a police general who served under former President Hosni Mubarak, is the only Copt among 18 new governors named by Sharaf on April 14. The decision was met by anger and exasperation from the city’s Islamic extremists and ultra-conservative Salafi groups.

Protests broke out the day after Mikhael’s appointment, but they have intensified in recent days as demonstrators blocked the railway road connecting Qena with Cairo, about 300 miles to the north, as well as several other main highways.

Copts had joined the protests in the early days of the protests because of Mikhael's connection to the former Mubarak regime. Mikhael had been appointed a police general by former Interior Minister Habib Adli, who is currently on trial for corruption charges and is allegedly responsible for giving orders to shoot protesters during the Jan. 25 national uprising.

But the demonstrations took on sectarian tones when conservative and extremist Islamists, who are vehemently opposed to a Coptic governor, increased their numbers amid the ranks of protesters. Government officials, including Interior and Local Development ministers as well as a number of Muslim clerics, visited Qena in an attempt to calm passions.

“The governor of Qena has not and will not resign and there are no alternatives. Objections based on his religion are unacceptable,” Cabinet spokesman Ahmed Al Saman said Wednesday. A day later, Sharaf expressed a willingness to visit Qena and listen to protesters’ demands when he returns next week from a tour in a number of Persian Gulf states.

Protests were condemned by the Coalition of the Jan. 25 Youth, who rejected the “sectarian and discriminative” slogans chanted in demonstrations. The Muslim Brotherhood has also voiced its concerns, saying that no one is entitled to block or halt railways and everyday activities.

Qena, which has a large community of Copts, has witnessed an increase in sectarian violence over the last few years. In January, three Muslims were found guilty of killing six Copts and a Muslim in a drive-by shooting outside a church in the governorate’s town of Nag Hammadi 12 months earlier.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Scores of Islamists stage a protest in Cairo on March 29. Credit: Associated Press

IRAN: Cleric uses erotic poem to warn opposition in Friday sermon

A racy allusion in a Friday prayer sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati has become the talk of Iran.

He invoked a well-known poem about an intimate coupling between a maidservant and a donkey to issue a warning to opposition supporters.

"The foe always try to use psychological warfare against the Islamic regime to tarnish the image of the system inside and outside the country," he said (Persian link). "Therefore, I tell them, the enemies, to go and study the story of the pumpkin."

The "pumpkin" refers to a famous story by the 13th century mystical poet Rumi, "The Importance of Gourdcrafting," in which a resourceful maidservant who sleeps with a donkey uses a pumpkin as a marital aid.

When the lady of the house catches on, she decides to follow suit. But rather than consulting the maidservant she sends her away without obtaining the secret of the pumpkin, and is killed by the donkey.

The story is intended as a parable about the dangers of immoderation. At the end of the poem, the maidservant returns and chides the dead woman for her arrogance. "You opened your shop before a master taught you the craft," the poem reads.

Jannati's message to the opposition seems to be "Don't take on more than you can handle."

-- Los Angeles Times