MRN

The aspiration of the Media Review Network is to dispel the myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding among the diverse people of our country. The Media Review Network believes that Muslim perspectives on issues impacting on South Africans are a prerequisite to a better appreciation of Islam.

Press release

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Press Release to all Editors: Mail & Guardian vs United Muslim Forum of South Africa

Issued: 23/05/2010

In view of the publication of the33depicting the Holy Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), an urgent meeting was held by the South African Muslim leadership.

In attendance were representatives of the following organizations:

Jamiat ul Ulema of South Africa
Channel Islam International
Muslim Judicial Council
Media Review Network
Jamiat ul Ulema Gauteng
Sunni Ulema Council of S.A.
Muslim Lawyers Association
Muslim Students Association – Wits
Association of Muslim Accountants and Lawyers
Call of Islam
Jameah Mehmoodiya Springs
KZN Society for the protection of Human Rights
Jamiat ul Ulema KZN
Islamic Research Organisation
Radio Islam
Somali Association of South Africa
Saaberie Chishty

1) The meeting was unanimous in its condemnation of the33as blasphemous, insulting, insensitive, and hurtful to the Muslim community and that the publication offends the religious convictions of the community.

2) The meeting also noted that the imagery of the33was grossly offensive and that the words attributed to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in the33was an absolute fabrication.

3) The meeting noted that there is widespread anger and deep seated frustration due to the wanton act of provocation.

4) The meeting noted that there were various options available to them including legal action and public participation in protest action.

5) A committee was established – United Muslim Forum of South Africa- and given a mandate to have a meeting with the Mail and Guardian to obtain an apology and appropriate assurances.

6) In the event that the apology and undertaking is not received, they were mandated to pursue the available options in the best interest of the Muslim Community.

7) Delegates resolved to embark on an education program for the Media fraternity focusing on the magnanimity of the personality of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH), all other Prophets and Islam in general.

We call upon all Muslims to exercise restraint in these trying circumstances. We take this opportunity of thanking all those individuals, organizations, and religious groups for their support and solidarity.

Issued by the United Muslim Forum of S.A.

Convener:Zahid Asmal 0847868937 – zahid@ciinetwork.net

Spokespersons:

Iqbal Jassat – 0835943749 – mrn_ij@telkomsa.net
Moulana Ebrahim Bham – 0837862859
Moulana Ighsaan Hendriks – 0833846973

Australia expels Isaraeli diplomat over dubai hit

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

(source: Reuters)

Australia’s government said on Monday it had ordered the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat over the use of fake passports in the assassination of a top Hamas militant in Dubai in January.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said a police investigation had left no doubt Israeli intelligence services had been behind the forgery of four Australian passports used by suspects in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room.

"These investigations and advice have left the government in no doubt that Israel was responsible for the abuse and counterfeiting of these passports," Smith told Australia’s parliament. "These are not the actions of a friend.

The profit system the bp oil catastrophe

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Patrick Martin

(source: WorldSocialist Website)

As oil from the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico began to wash ashore in large quantities, the Obama administration reiterated its confidence in the giant oil company. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the lead official in the oil pollution crisis, said BP had the necessary technical knowledge. Referring to the company’s CEO, Allen said, “I trust Tony Hayward. When I talk to him, I get an answer.”

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, Allen was asked why the federal government did not take over the effort to cap the well and block the flow of oil, which BP has failed to do for the past month. He replied, “What makes this an unprecedented anomalous event is access to the discharge site is controlled by the technology that was used for the drilling, which is owned by the private sector. They have the eyes and ears that are down there. They are necessarily the modality by which this is going to get solved.”

Revealed how Isarael offered to sell south Africa nuclear weapons

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Chris McGreal in Washington

(source: Guardian.co.uk

The secret military agreement signed by Shimon Peres, now president of Israel, and P W Botha of South Africa. Photograph: Guardian

Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state’s possession of nuclear weapons.

The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa’s defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel’s defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret.

The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in research for a book on the close relationship between the two countries, provide evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons despite its policy of "ambiguity" in neither confirming nor denying their existence.