Refugee claimant who has previously lived in Chicago and Dubai plays the "honour killing "card in order to remain in Canada

Jordanian mom hiding in Toronto after deportation order

First posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 07:14 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 07:22 PM EDT

Abeer Hassan Al Rifaee, 32, on the run, but believed to be in Toronto with her sons, claiming she will be subject of “honour killing” if deported to Jordan for converting family from Islam to Christianity. Jordanian community claim leaving Islam one of worst crimes in Jordan and she can be stoned to death.

TORONTO – A Jordanian mom of two now hiding in the Toronto-area claims she will be the victim of an “honour killing” if deported to Amman.

She says that is the punishment that awaits for converting her family from Islam to Christianity.

Abeer Hassan Al Rifaee, 32, has been on the run with Mohamed, 10, and Saleem, 8, since March 29 when a warrant was issued for her arrest by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for not showing up for removal.

Jordanian community and church leaders in Toronto said converting to Christianity from Islam is one of the worst crimes in that country. As a penalty Al Rifaee can be stoned to death.

“I am very scared for my life and that of my children,” Al Rifaee told the Sun from a Toronto-area hideout. “My kids haven’t been going to school and we are scared to leave the apartment.”

The family seldom venture outside fearing they’ll be scooped and placed on a flight home.

“We are very terrified for our lives,” she said on Wednesday. “The kids like me are terrified of being tortured and forced to re-convert to Islam.”

Al Rifaee, her estranged husband, and their sons, arrived here from Dubai in February 2009 as visitors and filed refugee claims that were turned down in March 2011. Subsequent appeals were also denied.

They had previously lived in Chicago for five years and her sons were born there.

Al Rifaee’s refugee claim was tossed out due to credibility issues and she had returned to Jordan four or five times after alleging she’ll be killed there, a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board ruled.

Princess Basma (formerly Basma Hasan) is third from left in this handout photo. Photograph by: Canadian Press, Handout

Princess Basmah al Hussein, formerly Basmah Hasan of Stratford and Prince Hamzah Al Hussein of Jordan at their wedding ceremony in Amman. BALKIS PRESS…

Daredevil Canadian acrobatic pilot becomes member of Jordan’s royal family
By: Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press 
Posted: 3:02 AM | Comments: 1 (including replies) | Last Modified: 6:39 AM

OTTAWA – A barnstorming Stratford, Ont. woman with a daredevil streak and a passion for adventure has quietly become a member of Jordan’s royal family.

Aerobatic pilot Basmah Hasan became Princess Basmah in January after she wed Prince Hamzah of Jordan’s Hashemite royal family.

Hamzah is the son of the late King Hussein and his American-born wife, Queen Noor, and a senior officer in Jordan’s armed forces. He is the half-brother of the current King, Abdullah II, and for a short time had been Crown Prince before being replaced by his nephew in 2004.

Azkar Khan says many members of the Pakistani community in Regina are upset over changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program. (CBC

New immigration rules slammed
CBC News Posted: May 12, 2012 2:52 PM CST Last Updated: May 12, 2012 3:00 PM CST
Azkar Khan says many members of the Pakistani community in Regina are upset over changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program. (CBC)

Anger and frustration were evident at a meeting Friday night in Regina where members of the local Pakistani community voiced their unhappiness with changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program.

The province announced changes to the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program on May 2.

Among other things, the changes put a limit on how many additional family members may apply to immigrate until the original family has settled.

The people at the Regina meeting said the changes came without warning, catching some families who had already been making plans off guard.

Azkar Khan, who recently moved to Regina, said people at the meeting shared concerns that the changes, announced just over a week ago, will create unfairness.

“If I submit my two applications on 30th of April and my friend who is also eligible has those applications ready, but somehow couldn’t make it to the office, now the rules are changes for him,” Khan said.

(…)
“This is about the community and I can see other people are upset,” Khan added. “They’re crying. Because they made this move. It’s not easy to relocate in Canada.”

A rally was being organized for Monday to protest the changes.
With files from CBC’s Dani Mario

Terror in the heartland?
A rash of attacks on Jews, pro-terrorist graffiti and schools teaching hatred of America indicate that the battle against Islamic terrorism has arrived in Alberta
Shafer Parker – May 3, 2004

In Arab countries, it is in mosques where the anti-Western education continues for adults. Though not all mosques are hives of incitement and hatred, orientalist scholars have expressed a particular concern about the ones funded by Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd. The North West Calgary Islamic Centre and Mosque on the outskirts of Calgary is one of the more than 1,500 mosques, 210 Islamic centres, 202 colleges and almost 2,000 schools for educating Muslim children around the world, financed by Saudi money, to spread the militant Wahhabi ethos worldwide. The highly respected Washington, D.C. based Foundation for the Defence of Democracies reports that Fahd is a major propagator of Wahhabism, an 18th-century fundamentalist variant of Islam that calls for spreading Islam throughout the world by means of jihad. A grade 8 Wahhabi textbook, for instance, teaches that God punishes Christians and Jews for being polytheists by turning them into apes and pigs. The hijackers who crashed planes into the World Trade Center on 9/11 were products of the Wahhabi strain of Islam, inculcated in their hatred for the West by imams preaching at mosques also funded by Saudi oil money. Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Saudi Institute, a Washington-based think tank dedicated to facilitating the advance of democracy and freedom in the kingdom, has said that in many mosques funded by Fahd, “you have a disciple of al Qaeda who is an imam.”

The Ummah Mosk gets provincially-funded gymnasium

Finishing touches on new Halifax Mosque delayed again
Provincially-funded gymnasium will be open to the public when complete
CBC News Posted: May 8, 2012 4:57 PM AT Last Updated: May 8, 2012 6:39 PM AT
The Ummah Mosque should be complete by the fall. (CBC)

The Halifax Ummah Mosque and Community Centre is facing more delays as it tries to finish the final stage of construction.

The building on Chebucto Road is nearly complete except for the basement, which will be the home of a provincially-funded gymnasium.

Worshippers fundraised most of the $6.2 million project, but the province chipped in $700,000 to pay for the gym.

The project is already two years overdue.

The project manager is struggling to find a bricklayer to finish the gym. (CBC)

The project manager is struggling to find a bricklayer to finish the gym. (CBC)

“Most of it is already wired and ready to go,” said Project manager Peter Scott. His biggest hurdle right now is finding a bricklayer to complete the stage. He said he’s desperate to find a contractor to finish the project.

“I think at the moment it’s just the time of year everybody’s busy on housing, all are committed to contracts,” he said.

(…)
The latest deadline for completion was this month, but Scott estimates it will take up to six weeks to finish the work once he finds a contractor.

Scott says he expects the building to have its official opening in the fall.

Tory MPP Rob Milligan said Wednesday that the East End Madrassah (EEM) should lose its permit to rent from the Toronto District School Board until a York Regional police investigation into a lesson allegedly containing hate language is wrapped up.

Yank Islamic school’s permit: Tory MPP
By Terry Davidson, QMI Agency

Tory MPP Rob Milligan

Jewish group says Islamic school needs to do more
Islamic school probed for teachings about Jews

TORONTO – An Islamic school that has been renting space at a Toronto public school to allegedly teach its students to hate Jews should have its permit revoked until a police investigation is finished, says Ontario’s PC education critic.

Tory MPP Rob Milligan said Wednesday that the East End Madrassah (EEM) should lose its permit to rent from the Toronto District School Board until a York Regional police investigation into a lesson allegedly containing hate language is wrapped up.

The Islamic school rents teaching space on Sundays at David and Mary Thompson collegiate in the city’s east end.