One thing I don’t understand is where is AMERICA’S NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN?   They’re always screaming about something and NEVER A PEEP about women under Sharia Law even when there is a real threat to having some of these “lovely” things invading our territory which is already knocking at our door! 

With a look back at the practical implementation of Sharia law, just last September during Ramadan[1] when one is looking for particularly religious ways to show Muslim devotion, a 75-year old woman was brutally flogged for “mingling with men” by having two unrelated males in her house without male family supervision. Of the two men, Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam. The other young man Hadian  (24 years of age)  was delivering bread for the elderly woman as a means of earning money and simply was accompanying Fahd.

JUST A CONSTITUTIONAL MINUTE…

It is still “the economy, stupid” as voiced by Bill Clinton in a one-phrase presidential platform focal stab. James Carville, his illustrious campaign manager, helped Clinton win against George H. W. Bush in 1992 on three points that have continued to be the hub of the Democratic Party’s strategy including the Obama presidential bid: 1) Change vs. More of the Same, 2) The Economy, Stupid, and 3) Don’t Forget Health Care.  Barack Obama has taken points one and three to the extreme, but it is still number two we grapple with.

Yes, we Americans are supersensitive to our economic future. We wonder if there will ever be one again like the one based on an open, free market that brought this nation to its top world power status. We have fast become the sitting duck of world flaw-hunters. Islamic Sharia Law has even put its dirty fingers into our nice American apple pie, too.

In 1974, the first bank developed and positioned upon Sharia Law, was founded in Saudi Arabia—ever the most advanced of its particularly virulent form of Islam known as the Wahhabistic fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. It is called Sharia Banking.

With a look back at the practical implementation of Sharia law, just last September during Ramadan[1] when one is looking for particularly religious ways to show Muslim devotion, a 75-year old woman was brutally flogged for “mingling with men” by having two unrelated males in her house without male family supervision.

Of the two men, Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam. The other young man Hadian  (24 years of age)  was delivering bread for the elderly woman as a means of earning money and simply was accompanying Fahd.

It seems the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is comprised of several thousand religious “policemen” who are allowed to burst into homes at will to “enforce the law” or we might opine, find out if anyone is breaking their law.  Reminds one of the Brown Shirts of Nazism. They needed yellow stars to give them hints on law-breaking; the Saudis only need berkas.

Were these two young men also flogged the forty lashes, given four months of imprisonment, and deported from the Saudi kingdom for mingling? Did their explanations provide evidence in the Saudi court to get themselves off free?  It takes three to mingle. Alas, chivalry and the protection of the weakest members of society are not a point of any kind in Wahhabi Islam, but I digress from our topic.

You just have to love our Constitution on  the Fourth Amendment alone. No one can burst into your private home (or rented rooms, for that matter) for unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant issued by an officer of the court, except for  probable cause. It seems the seam of this Amendment is fraying on the cusp of cyberspace for which we must remain aware and vigilant.

Today, we are facing another major oppositional canon facing off against our federal, and many state constitutions, called Sharia banking or Sharia–Compliant Finance (SCF). These are the facts found at an Islamic Web site[2]  “At the moment, at least 300 Islamic banks have already spread all over the world. Their assets have been estimated to reach $800 million. Experts in economy estimated that by the year 2013, the assets of the Islamic banks would reach trillions of dollars.” 

But, this is not a recent invasion into the United States. They came in to the bankers, plying their petro-dollars dangling with attaching strings, that “convert interest into profit” but must be spent for their approved charities. In the banking world of SCF, “lenders may not charge interest and investors cannot make money from forbidden industries like gambling, alcohol, pork products, and pornography”.[3] This list is longer than that, too.

Islamic financing is a very intentionally constructed system of banking using the basis of  Sharia law. It is justified on only one or a few minimal verses from the Koran interpreted as Riba, meaning excess, increase or addition in compensation with the caveat that “no acceptance of interest or payment of fees may be received on loans of money”. 

In the historic banking systems of the rest of the entire world, the “rent of money” is a service that earns money (interest as the time value of money) until the principal amount is repaid and is based on the amount loaned and length of time it is lent (usury rules). Each contract is based on these agreed upon terms with a specific rate of interest. This is the legal way banks operate. Alright, Finance 101.

But not so in the Sharia–Compliant Finance (SCF) world waging “the silent jihad against the West”. They make it attractive to bank with them. Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards are given to financial institutions (including commodity and trading companies) for being the “Most Improved Islamic Finance House” of the year. These financial institutions facilitate optimal services going far beyond simple banking.  Additionally, professional certification programs are offered to bankers to become a Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIFE).

To be determined as a qualified SCF, your board of directors must bow to the “Sharia Board” which is a committee of Islamic scholars made available (and mandatory) to any financial institution for guidance and supervision in the development of Sharia-compliant products. Without their approval that your products meet with the requirements of Sharia law, you will be passed over. No funds from the Middle East.

The depth of SCF products can be syndicated, invasive, structured, and encompass short- and medium-term  financing, foreign exchange, cash management, syndication, trade, and structured finance—all delivered with personalized attention and quality service. SCFs partner with clients “to provide tailor-made solutions to assist them in achieving their goals (Crédit Agricole CIB)” all based on the Istisn’a-Ijara (lease) concept which is a leasing agreement whereby the bank buys an item for a customer and then leases it back over a specific period.

A Sharia financing syndication is generally based on the concept of Murabaha (cost plus sale of commodities) which is a form of credit that enables customers to make a purchase without having to take out an interest-bearing loan. The bank buys an item and then sells it back to the customer on a deferred basis. It looks like the “loaning” bank takes the hit on transferring the “sin of usury” while Muslim customers work in the midst of smoke and mirrors and renamed protocols.

In our nation, the Dow Jones Islamic Index tracks all the Shariah-compliant companies and funds that have risen to the smell of Islamic money like TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab, for two. At the risk of boring (or educating) you with more SCF terms, it helps to understand how they are able to manipulate the system with profit rate structuring while “not taking sinful interest”. They simply make their money another way.

• Foreign exchange swaps – these Sharia-compliant swaps using Murabahas in different currencies offer investors protection against currency rate fluctuation.
• Cross Currency Swaps – this Islamic swap allows investors to mitigate the risk associated with any future fixed or floating rate payments through Murabahas between the SCF bank and investors.
• FX Wa’ad – is a Sharia-compliant foreign exchange option. Through use of Wa’ad (unilateral promise), clients secure the right to exchange currencies with the bank at an agreed rate on an agreed date in the future. Client pays the bank to secure the promise. This product is for hedging or cost-reduction purposes only and not for speculation.
• Islamic FX Outright – Shariah-compliant foreign exchange outright. Through unilateral Wa’ads, the lending bank and the investor undertake to exchange two currencies on a future date at a pre-agreed rate.
• Sukuk – is an Islamic bond and is similar to an asset-backed bond as commercial paper; it provides an investor with ownership in an underlying asset with a return based on this ownership. Sukuk investors have a proportionate beneficial ownership in these assets and typically take on the credit risk of the issuer rather than real asset risk on the assets owned.

Now let’s look at why these unique Islamic financing products are seditious to the American way of life. According to Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.,

“If you understand what Shariah is, you understand that it is a pretty awful system. Not something that you’d want insinuated in your society and becoming a major feature of your economic system,” Gaffney said. “Shariah (Islamic law as dictated by the Koran) governs all aspects of life, from the personal practice of the faith to how you relate to your family to how you relate to your business partners, to your community … all the way up to how the world is run, and it is all one seamless program. You can’t say ‘I’ll take the personal pietistic practice … and skip the beheading and the flogging and the stoning and the global theocracy.’”
With Sharia-compliant investing, the lending/investing/mortgage/bank company must ONLY invest within Sharia law approved entities. This would include nothing having to do with Christian companies, Israeli interests, pork-related enterprises and so forth, or investing in businesses that provide goods or services considered contrary to Islamic principles.  Wow, bet a lot of American businesses would be way out of scope here.

It goes without elucidating, that “donations of interest” can be favorably targeted to terrorist-type groups, Islamic community centers, mosques, and the like which fall within the approved charities list created by  the board of Sharia law scholars who exactly dictate to American, Asian,  and European banks.

Why would any American purposefully allow their money to be invested in or do business with SCF investment houses or funds (e.g., Azzad Asset Management, Amana Mutual Funds Trust, the Devon Bank in Chicago, and Guidance Residential) which are based on “zakat” (giving alms to the poor—while innocent on the surface can, in fact, be used to promote terrorism through Al Qaeda and Hamas, and the spread of radical Islam[4] which has been traced)?

Sharia banks give to charities such as madrasses (schools that teach Islam) and mosques that have been found to spread radical jihad Islam and anti-American, anti-Israeli attitudes. Patriotic Americans must thoroughly investigate the banking institutes they now do business with so as not to conform themselves to foreign and/or religious law disguised as banking.

According to Rachel Enrenfeld, “In June 2010, the Kuwait-based charity Revival of Islamic Heritage Society was designated by the United States Treasury for providing money and material support to Al Qaeda, its affiliates and to acts of terrorism.”

United States Treasury spokesman Andrew DeSouze stated, “It is illegal for anyone in the United States to provide funds to charities that have been designated by the Treasury Department as supporters of terrorism under Executive Order 13224. If the Treasury Department has information that anyone in the US were engaged in such activity, we would take appropriate action.” I’d like to know what action that is.

And watch your foreign investments especially because they are already compromised. Global financiers and banks like CitiGroup,  HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs are all Shariah-compliant.  The first Shariah-compliant money market fund in Europe was launched (October 2010) by the Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME) using Luxembourg’s specialized investment funds law.[5] The Islamic Bank of Britain provides Islamic student loans, do we? Muslim home mortgages charge the same amount of interest but reclassify that interest as “principle” by adding it to the total mortgage. Now, doesn’t that make you feel better?

In a nutshell, if you cannot personally trace down the whereabouts of the funds that Shariah banking-designated charities receive from loans your bank or investment company is utilizing and will not provide a list of charities these funds support, perhaps you should take your banking and investing elsewhere. Check out the Dow-Jones Islamic Index and see if your financier is listed.

In conclusion, Sharia banking is as anti-U.S. Constitution as is Sharia law. They are of one unimpeded, total and unquestioned part of the pack. Islam is comprised of and framed in the whole of life. Islam is not broken into religion, politics, war, military training, health laws, social justice, banking, human rights, education, culture, governing and all other facets of living.  That is why we cannot call Islam a “religion” because that is not true anymore than labeling one eye as the whole body.

We need State law and Federal law against Sharia law and Sharia banking. We must insist on judges who fully understand and testify that America is a unique nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles and this makes her exclusive to herself. We are not going to blur the lines in any area with the Sharia carrot to lure money deals that are intra-constructed with counter-intuitive and anti-American outcomes.

We certainly need not be ignorant of the basic mechanics for living in a modern society. Banking is a part of life. No one knew what a cobra was until it bit the first person, he or she swelled up, and painfully died. They learned that cobras are bad and maybe all snakes are bad. Let’s not chance it in the future and stay clear of snakes.

Let’s just stick with our Holy Bible, Constitution, Founding Documents, and Bill of Rights by remaining cautiously clear of the exotic that might deliver the last, murderous blow to Western civilization.

Oh, by the way for you who are not convinced, the University Islamic Financial Corporation is offering you the opportunity to open a bank account with them to “earn a profit, not interest”. They are the first Shariah-compliant FDIC insured deposit program in America in—can’t you guess where?—Ann Arbor, Michigan, the first state targeted by CAIR to become fully Muslim.

And, you only need a thousand bucks. Whadda deal.

This involves 'stunning' the animals with a charge so low as to be virtually useless. Often this is employed merely to paralyse the animals in order to make handling easier for slaughter staff, this would add immeasurably to the fear and distress suffered. The voltage/ amperage used is far below that recommended by DEFRA and the European Food Standards Agency for humane slaughter.

Scotland for Animals have received a response to our Freedom of Information request re: ritually slaughtered meat at the Scottish Parliament.  We have been told officially that all chicken supplied to and within the Parliament is now halal.

For meat from animals killed during religious sacrificial ceremonies to be provided using tax payers money in the highest seat of power in our country I hope you'll agree is completely unacceptable.  SFA are working for a Scotland where no animals are farmed and killed for food or anything else but while this is sadly still a reality we demand at the very least that these animals be killed in as stress free and painless a way as possible. Halal and kosher slaughter cannot do this.

Please take a couple of minutes to write to all of your MSPs asking for action.

SAMPLE EMAIL/ LETTER:

Also please email the Parliamentary Corporate Body, First Minister Alex Salmond and Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon the following (personalise as you want). You don't have to be resident in Scotland to do this:

Dear Sir/ Madam

I have learned through the charity Scotland for Animals that all chicken provided within the Scottish parliament is now Halal.

For the seat of legislative authority in what is supposed to be a modern, secular democracy to be serving via public money meat from animals slaughtered during religious sacrificial ceremonies (the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has decreed ritual slaughter to be a religious rite) is unacceptable.

It has been claimed that the animals killed to source this meat have been "stunned". This is misleading as the only type of 'stunning' accepted by the few bodies who govern the slaughter of these animals and the sale of their meat who accept 'stunning' only endorse the " ultra low amperage/ tun-to-immobilise" technique.

As a member of the Parliament's Corporate Body I would be grateful if you could please tell me if you will be taking action with a view to ending the provision of these products

I have copied this email to First Minister and Deputy First Minister for comment.

Yours faithfully

Email to:

Alexander.Johnstone.msp@...

Tom.Mccabe.msp@...

Tricia.Marwick.msp@...

Mike.Pringle.msp@...

FirstMinister@...

scottish.ministers@...

Go to http://www.writetothem.com/  and follow the instructions, it only takes a minute or 2

Dear Sir/ Madam

I have learned through the charity Scotland for Animals that all chicken provided within the Scottish Parliament is now Halal.

For the seat of legislative authority in what is supposed to be a modern, secular democracy to be serving via public money meat from animals slaughtered during religious sacrificial ceremonies (the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has decreed ritual slaughter to be a religious rite) is unacceptable.  

It has been claimed that the animals killed to source this meat have been "stunned". This is misleading as the only type of 'stunning' accepted by the few bodies who govern the slaughter of these animals and the sale of their meat who accept 'stunning' only endorse the "ultra low amperage/ tun-to-immobilise" technique.

This involves 'stunning' the animals with a charge so low as to be virtually useless. Often this is employed merely to paralyse the animals in order to make handling easier for slaughter staff, this would add immeasurably to the fear and distress suffered. </span><span>The voltage/ amperage used is far below that recommended by DEFRA and the European Food Standards Agency for humane slaughter.

I ask that you as my representative please raise this matter with the relevant bodies within the Parliament with a view to ending the provision of these products within it.

I would also be grateful if you could please tell me whether you purchase or eat these products and if you support the practice of ritual slaughter sale meat sourced from these ceremonies in general.

Yours faithfully

Although a set of ethics that grants animals rights of their own towards mankind can easily be found in and justified by scripture. We therefore demand of the church to finally take moral responsibility for that which they claim to stand for and defend: equal respect and care for all creatures of the earth, as it is unambiguously laid down in the bible.

When I look into the eyes of my dogs, every single one of whom I have rescued from the clutches of brutal animal abusers, I know for certain that they call a soul their own. With some Humans I am less sure.

Please include our animals in your prayers, and remember them on Christmas Eve – because they are a part of us and enrich our lives in myriad ways.

Sincerely,

Your
Maja Princess of Hohenzollern
ETN Ambassador

Opinion: Europe goes Halal

13 January 2011

The European Union, bowing to pressure from Muslim lobby groups*, has quietly abandoned a new measure that would have required halal [religiously approved for Muslims] meat products to carry a label alerting consumers that the animals were not stunned, and therefore conscious, just before slaughter. With the exponential growth of Europe’s Muslim population in recent years, thousands of tons of religiously slaughtered halal meat is now entering the general food chain, where it is being unwittingly consumed by the non-Muslim population.

Muslims have the right to choose halal foods, but non-Muslims do not have the right to choose not to eat the ritually slaughtered meat.

Halal, which in Arabic means lawful or legal, is a term designating any object or action that is permissible according to Islamic Sharia Law. In the context of food, halal meat is derived from animals slaughtered by hand according to methods stipulated in Islamic religious texts. One such method, called dhabihah, consists of making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck that cuts the jugular vein, leaving the animal to bleed to death without stunning. Of vital importance, according to the Koran, is that the animal’s blood flows from its body by “natural convulsion.”

Many non-Muslim veterinary experts say the method is cruel and should be outlawed. In Britain, for example, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), an advisory body to the British Government, says in a report that cutting an animal’s throat without stunning induces “significant pain and distress.” The FAWC also says: “Slaughter without pre-stunning is unacceptable and the Government should repeal the current exemption.”

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) says: “The BVA believes that all animals should be effectively stunned before slaughter to improve the welfare of these animals at slaughter. However, as long as slaughter without stunning is permitted, the BVA has argued for any meat from this source to be clearly labelled to enable all consumers to fully understand the choice they are making.”

Animal-welfare legislation in Europe requires that abattoirs stun all animals prior to slaughter unless they are being ritually killed according to the practices of a non-Christian religion. But critics say the religious slaughter exemptions are being abused and millions of cows, goats, turkeys and chickens are being slaughtered according to halal standards and then sold to unwitting, non-Muslim customers, providing producers with a large and profitable market.

In Britain alone, it is estimated that more than 150 million halal animals are killed each year. Critics say this number is far more than is needed by the Muslim community, and that the growing success of halal products in Europe is being driven by the fact that the non-Muslim public is unaware of the halal origins of the meat. They say the ability to sell halal meat products by stealth has opened up vast new markets across Europe, which, by extension, is leading to a huge increase in the number of animals slaughtered using halal methods. The European halal food market is currently valued at €50 billion ($67 billion), and is expected to grow by at least 25% by 2020.

Critics of halal say that by dropping the halal labelling requirement, the EU effectively is institutionalizing a discriminatory two-tier approach to identifying the origins of meats. This controversy, as with so many others, highlights the growing assertiveness of Europe’s Muslim community, and demonstrates once again how the rise of Islam is stealthily overwhelming the daily lives of hundreds of millions of non-Muslim Europeans.

Amendment 205 to the EU food information regulations, passed by members of the European Parliament in June 2010 by a vote of 559 to 54, would have required all meat or meat products from animals slaughtered without stunning to be labelled as follows: “Derived from animals that have not been stunned prior to slaughter.” Although halal meat is well labelled in specialist butcher shops and food outlets, the EU regulation would have alerted non-Muslim consumers to supplies entering the mainstream food system.

Not surprisingly, the move to require halal meat producers to provide consumers with more information on the packaging of their products has enraged Muslims, who claim that the move has little to do with animal welfare, and reflects a bias against Islam. In any event, halal slaughter is permitted in all but four European countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland) and halal-related controversies are becoming increasingly commonplace.

In Britain, for example, a London Daily Mail investigation has found that the country’s major supermarket chains, fast-food restaurants, even some hospitals and schools are serving halal food without telling those who are eating it. Cheltenham College, which boasts of its strong Christian ethos, is one of several top British schools serving halal chicken to pupils without informing them. Even Britain’s biggest hotel and restaurant group Whitbread, which owns the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre chains, admits that more than three-quarters of its poultry is halal.

In London, the Harrow Council has provoked a storm of protest after announcing plans to offer Islamic halal-only menus in the borough’s 52 state primary schools. Parents are outraged that meat prepared according to Sharia law is being pushed on non-Muslim children. In Derby, the Dale Primary School has only halal meat on the school menu for certain days of the week to avoid cross contamination with non-halal meat. In Blackburn, the Daisyfield Primary School has become the first non-Muslim school to become certified by the Halal Monitoring Committee.

In Birmingham, the Domino’s pizza chain has opened a halal-only outlet that does not offer its customers ham or bacon. Critics say the new policy discriminates against non-Muslims. Domino’s says it has “thought long and hard” about not offering pork products at the store, which serves an area with a large Muslim population. The company says there are “alternatives, such as turkey ham.” Meanwhile, most of the in-flight meals on British Airways could soon be halal.

Also in Britain, the 2nd World Halal Forum Europe 2010 * recently was held in London. The theme of the World Halal Forum Europe was: “Halal Products & Services — Going Mainstream.”

In Spain, Muslims have rejected efforts by the Spanish rail company RENFE to offer halal menus on its high-speed trains. The Muslim Council of Spain says it is not enough for RENFE to simply remove alcohol and pork from its menu. The company must also take into consideration how the animals are slaughtered, what type of oil is used in cooking, as well as comply with a list of other demands.

In Spain as a whole, the Muslim population has undergone an almost twenty-fold increase in just two decades and the internal market for halal products is now estimated to exceed 2 million consumers, in addition to the estimated 7 million Muslims who pass through Spain each year as they cross the Strait of Gibraltar to and from North Africa.

In Belgium, the Justice Ministry recently launched a pilot project to train prison guards, as well as doctors and nurses, about practical problems related to halal. Muslim inmates in Belgian prisons often refuse medication because it contains animal fat, and Muslim patients in Belgian hospitals sometimes refuse medical care during Ramadan. As part of its halal training efforts, the Justice Ministry commissioned a practical guide titled “Comprendre le halal” (Understanding halal).

Also in Belgium, the parents of children attending the De Kleine Kunstenaar kindergarten in the town of Houthalen recently signed a petition objecting to their children being forced to eat halal meat on a school trip. “Due to their religious beliefs, Muslims can only consume halal meat, but that does not mean our children must eat it,” the petition says. The parents are asking for an alternative burger for their children, but the school says that request is “practically impossible.”

In Denmark, an investigation found that thousands of tons of beef in Danish supermarkets are halal slaughtered. In Finland, a separate investigation found that McDonald’s secretly served its Finnish customers chicken meat that was slaughtered according to Sharia Law.

In France, the Franco-Belgian fast-food chain, Quick, has removed bacon burgers from its menu and replaced them with a version using halal beef and a slice of smoked turkey. René Vandierendonck, the socialist mayor of the northern French city of Roubaix, says the move amounts to discrimination against non-Muslim customers. He has filed charges with justice authorities against Quick for what he says is prejudicial religious catering. He has also lodged a complaint with France’s main anti-discrimination authority on the matter. Marine Le Pen, vice president of the National Front Party, says Quick’s halal option is “an Islamic tax” on diners. Xavier Bertrand, secretary general of the ruling conservative Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) says Quick’s menu change is undermining France’s secular, integrationist social model.

Elsewhere in France, where the halal food sector has doubled in five years and is now valued at €5.5 billion ($7 billion), animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot says that 80% of French slaughterhouses are now halal because the method is cheaper and faster, and thus more profitable.

In Italy, the government in July 2010 signed an agreement with the Italian Islamic Community to establish a halal certifying organization. The Halal Italia certification scheme will guarantee compliance with Islamic laws for Italian food products such as tortellini and lasagne. The Italian market for halal is valued at €5 billion ($6.5 billion). Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says the Islamically-correct “Made in Italy” certification is designed to facilitate “the progressive integration of Muslim communities resident in Italy into the social fabric.”

In Sweden, which has banned the religious slaughtering of animals since 1937, the Muslim Association of Sweden (SMF) is demanding that halal slaughter practices be legalized. SMF chairperson Mahmoud Aldebe says the Swedish government should respect the democratic rights of Sweden’s Muslims to exercise their “religious freedoms” and help find a way to permit the practice.

In Holland, an elementary Catholic school in Weert decided to serve only halal food for its Christmas meal. The school has about 400 students, only ten of whom are Muslim. Margo Janssen, the school principal, says that serving only halal food for Christmas is a Christian thing to do because it puts others — Muslims — first.

Also in Holland, several Dutch prisons are now serving only halal food. The Dutch Justice Department says it is too expensive to offer prisoners both halal and non-halal menus, so it has decided to offer only halal food. The prison in the Dutch town of Sittard is now being sued by a prisoner; he says that by being forced to eat halal food, he is receiving extra punishment.

Hudson New York

*HalalFocus comment:

It was the activity of the Jewish/Kosher lobby groups that managed to stop this legislation going through, not the Muslim lobby who were slow to respond. Hence the speaker on this issue at World Halal Forum Europe was a Jewish lawyer from New York. It is essential for Kosher slaughter not to stun, whereas the majority of Halal certifiers accept stunning worldwide, and it is written into their Halal Standards. Most Halal meat being sold unlabeled in the UK is pre-stunned. The lack of correct labeling also makes the knowledge of it being Halal unknown to Muslims!