Muslim leader blames Trinidad for deportation from Ja

Saturday, October 18, 2014 | 1:11 PM    

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Jamaat Al-Muslimeen Leader Yasin Abu Bakr has said he was not a threat to Jamaica’s national security and he is blaming The Trinidad and Tobago Government for his deportation from Jamaica on Wednesday.

Bakr issued a statement through the Jamaat-Al-Muslimeen about the incident that took place at the Norman Manley International Airport on Wednesday afternoon in which he was detained and handcuffed, when he became upset and agitated after immigration officials told him he would not be admitted into Jamaica.

The incident comes at a time when Jamaica has called on Minister of National Security Gary Griffith to “refrain from continuing to muddy the integration waters” as it responded to his statement that the influx of thousands of illegal Jamaicans into Trinidad and Tobago is putting a strain on the country’s resources.

In the news release, Bakr called for the intervention of Trinidad and Tobago authorities in clearing up this matter stating the actions of politicians affect the citizens of their respective countries at home and abroad.

Bakr said, “These decisions were not made by immigration officials at the airport. They are in bad taste and it is unfortunate that I have been mixed into this mess at this point.”

He continued, “It is embarrassingly incorrect to come to the conclusion in these circumstances that I would be a threat to Jamaica’s National Security. I support freedom of movement in the region and employ a number of Jamaican nationals in Trinidad.

“My private school also caters to foreign nations, a number of whom are Jamaicans, who find difficulty accessing education in the government-run institutions. We will continue to make efforts to get to the bottom of this abuse and appropriate action will be taken in accordance.”

Sources indicated that Bakr’s name may have been on an Interpol list, but this was not so when checks were made with senior Interpol contacts.?

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Muslim leader blames Trinidad for deportation from Ja

JLP knocks Gov’t over Trini Muslim leader

Saturday, October 18, 2014 | 5:14 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party has accused the Government of having “a distorted sense of priorities” in criticising the recent deportation of Jamaat Al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr of Trinidad.

“We probably will never know the intelligence which guided the decision to return Yasin Abu Bakr to Trinidad without delay. Mr Abu Bakr must have been a very great threat to Jamaica‘s national security, greater than chikungunya and apparently much greater than Ebola,” said Leader of the Opposition Andrew Holness.

“Was Mr Abu Bakr so great a threat that the Government felt it more important to spend J$4 million to hire a private jet to get him out of the country immediately than to use that money for a far more clear and present danger?” he questioned.

Holness added that the money expended could easily augment Jamaica’s preparedness efforts to deal with the real and more important threat of Ebola, and that the Government doesn’t seem to have considered this alternative way to spend it.?

Abu Bakr was detained at the Norman Manley International Airport Wednesday afternoon and returned to Trinidad and Tobago on a private jet Thursday morning after he refused to fly economy class on a commercial flight.

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JLP knocks Gov’t over Trini Muslim leader

Miss World opens in Indonesia amid Muslim protests

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — The 63rd edition of the Miss World pageant opened Sunday after protests by Muslim hard-liners confined the event to Indonesia’s predominantly Hindu resort island of Bali.

The opening ceremony, which was televised to 186 countries, featured Bali’s Kecak Dance and a parade of all 131 contestants.Following days of protests by Indonesian hard-line Muslim groups and the rejection of the contest by a leading clerics’ organisation, the government announced Saturday that it was moving the September 28 final round to Bali. It was initially set to be held in Sentul, on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.Bali is the only Hindu-dominated province in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.Controversy over the pageant has been mounting in Indonesia, which has a reputation as a tolerant, pluralist society that respects freedom of expression.The Indonesia Ulema Council, the country’s most influential clerics’ organisation, and the hard-line groups Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and Front for Islamic Defenders have urged the government to cancel the event. They have argued that the exposure of skin by women in a competition violates Muslim teachings, even after organisers agreed to cut the bikini competition and instead outfit contestants in more conservative sarongs.The chairwoman of the Miss World Organisation, Julia Morley, has promised that none of the contestants will wear a bikini. The pageant began in the 1950s, and the first winner was crowned in a two-piece bathing suit.“We only want to try to find the best way of working together,” Morley told a news conference Saturday in Bali.Miss Jamaica World 2013 Gina Hargitay is representing the island which has a rich tradition in the competition winning on three occasions. Jamaicans Carole Joan Crawford won in 1963, Cindy Breakspeare in 1975 and Lisa Hanna 1993.Most Muslims in Indonesia, a secular country of 240 million people, are moderate, but a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years.Lady Gaga was forced to cancel her sold-out concert in Indonesia in May following threats by Islamic hard-liners who called her a “devil worshipper.” Jennifer Lopez toned down her sexy outfits and dance moves during a show in Jakarta last December.

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Miss World opens in Indonesia amid Muslim protests

All"s well as Muslim girl goes to St Hugh"s

News

BY KIMBERLEY HIBBERT Sunday Observer writer Sunday, September 08, 2013

ADMINISTRATORS at St Hugh’s High School and parents of Dauriyah Dyer, the seventh grade Muslim student enrolled at the school, have finally come to an amicable solution about how her uniform should be worn.Elaine Cunningham, principal of the school told the Jamaica Observer that a meeting was scheduled for last Thursday after a relative of Dauriyah came to see her about purchasing a tie.“One of her relatives came and asked if she should purchase a tie and I said yes, because it’s a part of the uniform, then a meeting was set for Thursday,” Cunningham said.Cunningham added that at the meeting the chairman of the Board of Governors spoke to Dauriyah’s mother and a timeline was set for the adjustments to be made.“The board chair and Mrs Dyer came to a solution and also set a timeline. We are a school and we have rules,” she said.Latoyka Dyer, Dauriyah’s mother, told the Sunday Observer that the meeting was civil and the outcome was satisfactory.“They are going to allow her to wear a loose sleeve blouse to her wrist under the uniform so that she isn’t in anything tight. They mentioned that they can’t lengthen the sleeves of the uniform so the loose sleeve under the blouse was agreed on and I was given until the end of September to make the adjustments,” Dyer said.She added that the relationship between herself and administrators at the school was in good standing.“There is no animosity or hard feelings between myself and the principal. They were very accommodating at the meeting,” Dyer said.“Dauriyah says a lot of the students there are protective of her. She feels welcomed and loved at the school. She even told me that the principal came to her and asked her if she was ok,” Dyer said.Cunningham on the other hand said that it was very unfortunate that the article published in last Sunday’s Observer showcased St Hugh’s, as her secretary had no right to speak on her behalf when she was unavailable.

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All"s well as Muslim girl goes to St Hugh"s

Muslim family, St Hug"s fuss over girl"s dress

COME the start of the new school year tomorrow, Dauriyah Dyer may not have a smooth transition into the system because of her Islamic faith.

Having earned a place at St Hugh’s High School through the recent sitting of the Grade Six Achievement Test, Dyer was more than excited to be entering high school until she and her mother found out that St Hugh’s will not adjust the style of the tunic to suit her religion’s requirements.Latoyka Dyer, Dauriyah’s mother told the Jamaica Observer that under Islamic laws, once a female enters puberty she is required to cover her entire body except for her face and hands. Dyer said that because of this law, she has, requested that the uniforms blouse sleeves be extended to Dauriyah’s wrists and the tunic be lengthened to her ankles.Dyer, however, said that since she had made her request known on July 3, the school’s principal, Elaine Cunningham has refused to meet with her to come to an amicable solution about the uniform adjustments.“When I spoke to her (principal) on July 3 she told us that she is not saying we can do it and she’s not saying we cannot do it, she has to speak with the ministry first and contact us and we are to give her a week. Up to now we haven’t heard anything from the principal and that was eight weeks ago. On July 26 my husband and I went to the Ministry of Education and spoke to an education officer and was told that our daughter had the right to wear her uniform according to the telling of our religion.“On July 30, my daughter, accompanied by one of my Muslim sisters went to St Hugh’s and was told that the ministry had no right to tell her where the sleeves should go and that they would draft up a letter and contact us further, but when I attempted to give them my e-mail address so they could forward the letter to me, they refused to take it and said they would call me back but I have not heard from anyone since. I have made numerous calls to the office and left messages and none have been returned,” she said.Dyer said that she believes the school’s actions are deliberate attempts to frustrate her as school officials keep using an example of other Muslim students who have attended St Hugh’s but did not fuss about the school’s uniform.“I believe the principal and other administrators are intentionally ignoring me. I also believe this is an attempt on their part to frustrate me so that we will give up. Their statement to us was that other Muslim students in the past went to St Hugh’s and didn’t have a problem with the uniform so they don’t see why we’re making a big deal. They want me to allow my daughter to come to school in short sleeves and I cannot do that, I will not disobey my creator to please St Hugh’s,” Dyer said.When the Sunday Observer contacted the school, the principal’s secretary said that Cunningham was in a meeting. The secretary, however, went on to say that Dyer is a troublemaker and the school cannot bend the rules to suit one individual.“Let me tell you straight, she is a troublemaker. I have been here for 13 years and four Muslim students have passed through the school and none of them have had a problem with the uniform. We can’t make adjustments for one individual, or else we will have to do it for all,” the secretary said.Sheryl Broomfield, secretary to education minister Ronald Thwaites said that the Chief Education Officer Dorret Campbell has been notified about the situation and the uniform will not be adjusted, but an alternative has been offered to Dyer.“The sleeves of the uniform will not be adjusted because the school’s style is style. However, the ministry and St Hugh’s have offered to allow Dauriyah to wear her Islamic dress to school. In the meantime, Mrs Campbell and Mrs Cunningham are currently having dialogue with regard to the issue,” Broomfield said.Dyer, on the other hand, said that she has heard about the offer but she wants her daughter to wear her uniform and she feels disrespected that it is the ministry which made the offer and not the school.“St Hugh’s has not come to me directly and said anything as they see me as a troublemaker because I’m standing up for my daughter’s right. She wants to wear her uniform and she deserves to, because she earned her place there. They cannot use the example of the other Muslim girls in my case; it has no basis and I know the law. They need to have a meeting with me; all of us are adults so I don’t see the problem,” Dyer said.Dyer maintained that until St Hugh’s contacts her directly, Dauriyah will wear her uniform with the sleeves at her wrists and the tunic at her ankles.“My daughter’s uniform will stay the same way until they call me in and I want everything in writing. Until Mrs Cunningham writes a letter saying she can’t come to school like that, she will continue to wear the uniform that way. I’ve read no rule that states that the sleeves cannot be long. They don’t have to like me but they have to educate my child,” she said.Dyer further added that because of her persistence she does not want unfair treatment to be meted out to her child when she begins school.“I don’t want any of them there to show her any bad face or treat her indifferent and I will be on the lookout for that,” she said.Dyer said it is common for Muslim girls to be ostracised at schools in Jamaica, but she is not afraid to stand and defend her child’s constitutional right.Apart from coverings, Islamic laws require clothing for women to be loose enough so as not to describe the shape of the woman’s body, thick enough so as not to show the colour of the skin it covers, or the shape of the body which it is supposed to hide, and should not be such that it attracts men’s attention to the woman’s beauty.

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Muslim family, St Hug"s fuss over girl"s dress