News:

Tomorrow, May 13th 2015 marks 10 years since the horrific massacre in the city of Andijan where thousands of unarmed men, women and children who had gathered for a protest against the repressive policies of the Uzbek regime were slaughtered in cold blood by security forces on the order of the butcher of Tashkent, President Karimov. Government gunmen fired indiscriminately and mercilessly that day at the demonstrators, making no distinction between men and women, nor young and old, even executing wounded people where they lay. Muqaddus, an eye-witness to the massacre told the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, "...they shot and killed the wounded....In my presence, they shot down a woman with two small children." In the aftermath of this bloodbath, Karimov not only blocked any inquiry into this murderous crime but in the months and years that followed, pursued a campaign of harassment, detention, and torture of any protestors or witnesses to the massacre to elicit false testimonies of what they had witnessed that day. There was also a crackdown on human rights defenders, political activists, and independent journalists in the country, to prevent investigation and reporting on this brutal crime.

Comment:

Last week, Human Rights Watch published a new video entitled, "Uzbekistan: Decade of Impunity for Massacre" addressing how over the last 10 years, neither Karimov or any of his henchmen have faced justice for the crime they executed in Andijan, nor for their continuing brutal and ceaseless repression of the Muslims of Uzbekistan. It discussed how Western governments for over a decade now have failed to use their political leverage to hold the Uzbek regime to account, echoing the words contained in its 2005 report, "Burying the Truth: Uzbekistan Rewrites the Story of the Andijan Massacre" in which it stated, "... it is becoming increasingly unlikely that government forces will ever be held accountable for any of the killings of May 13.... In fact, in the face of utter defiance by the Uzbek government, both the U.S. and the European Union appear to have backed off entirely rather than implement a more robust strategy to hold the Uzbek government accountable for the loss of life."

How can it be that for 10 years now, those whose hands are dripping with the blood of thousands of innocent Muslim men, women and children have never been brought to justice? How can it be that the murderer Karimov was sworn back into office last month to continue unabated and with impunity his venomous campaign of persecution and torture of the survivors of this massacre and the families of those who died, as well as others who oppose his oppressive rule? Indeed, under today's world order where justice is all too often subject to the vested political and economic interests of the dominant Western and Eastern capitalist states, this is not surprising. Despite having full knowledge of Karimov's crimes, both the US and the European Union (EU) have deepened their relationship with this butcher for the sake of financial benefits and because the regime played a crucial role as a strategic partner in their ‘War on Terror' against Muslims and Islam. In 2007, the EU dropped its call for an international investigation into the Andijan massacre from the sanctions criteria on the country and in 2009 lifted its sanctions all together, including removing its arms embargo. This March, Germany signed a 2.8 billion euro trade package with the Uzbek regime. The Kremlin has been providing billions in military aid to Karimov and other Central Asian states for years. And this January, the US announced that Uzbekistan would receive over 300 mine-resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles and 20 armoured recovery vehicles.

Indeed, under the current capitalism dominated world order, ‘Justice' is a term that fills the speeches of politicians but remains elusive to the Muslim victims of mass-murder as proven by the blood-baths in Srebrenica, Gaza, Rabaa al-Adawiya, Burma, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Central African Republic - whose perpetrators, whether individuals or governments, have still not faced punishment for their crimes. Dependence upon Western governments and the international community (whose conscience reaches only as far as the dollar does) to ensure accountability for such acts of murder will eternally prove futile. Indeed, the International Criminal Court has become a graveyard for cases of those seeking justice for the war crimes committed against them and their families. Hence, under the current capitalist world order, where principle stances are absent, and justice and the sanctity of human life is traded between states like a commodity in exchange for favours and benefits, bringing those rulers and regimes who execute mass-murder and repression to account will remain a distant dream for the victims of these crimes. This is regardless of the extensive efforts and good will of human rights organisations.

Justice will only be served and perpetrators of the Andijan massacre and other blood-baths against Muslims will only be brought to account through the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" based upon the method of the Prophethood. It is this state that truly values justice and the sanctity of human life. Furthermore, its principles cannot be bought by the highest bidder. This is because it is a system based upon the Laws of Allah (swt) and hence truly looks after the dignity, wellbeing and needs of humanity as well as the interests of Islam and the Muslims. Therefore, it is upon the establishment of this state that Karimov and all those tyrant rulers who have oppressed and shed the pure blood of the believers will face the severest punishment for all their brutal crimes.

((إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُحَآدُّونَ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ۥۤ أُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ فِى ٱلۡأَذَلِّينَ * ڪَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَأَغۡلِبَنَّ أَنَا۟ وَرُسُلِىٓ‌ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَوِىٌّ عَزِيزٌ۬))

"Those who oppose Allah and His Prophets will be amongst those most humiliated. Allah has decreed: "My Prophets and I will be victorious": for Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty." [Al-Mujadilah: 20-21]

Written for The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Director of the Women's Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

Hizb ut Tahrir/ Wilayah Sudan will organize a launch of political week for the 94th anniversary of the destruction of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate".

Monday, 22 Rajab 1436 AH - 11 May 2015 CE

Headlines

• East Turkestan: Shop Owners Forced to Sell Alcohol to Weaken Islam

• "Israeli" Soldiers Call ‘Breaking the Silence' Report on Gaza War a ‘Total Lie'

• Yemen's Five-day Ceasefire Backed

Details

East Turkestan: Shop Owners Forced to Sell Alcohol to Weaken Islam

Authorities in northwestern China's Xinjiang region have ordered shop owners and restaurateurs in a mainly Muslim Uyghur village to sell alcohol and cigarettes or face closure of their establishments, despite a public backlash against the products discouraged by followers of Islam, an official source said.

Last week, authorities in Laskuy township, in Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) prefecture's Hotan county, issued an announcement in the town seat of Aktash village that "all restaurants and supermarkets in our village should place five different brands of alcohol and cigarettes in their shops before [May 1, 2015]."

In addition to directing owners to create "eye-catching displays" to promote the products, the April 29 announcement stated that "anybody who neglects this notice and fails to act will see their shops sealed off, their business suspended, and legal action pursued against them."
Perhat Rozi, chairman of the Political Law Committee of Laskuy township's party leadership, refused to comment on the announcement, but Aktash village party committee secretary Adil Sulayman told RFA's Uyghur Service that the new policy was part of an effort to undermine Islam in the area.

"We have a campaign to weaken religion here and this is part of that campaign," he said.
Sulayman said that abstention from alcohol and cigarettes had become common in Aktash and other parts of Laskuy, with some 70-80 percent of people between the ages of 16 and 45 refraining from drinking and smoking, and while there is no official rule within the Muslim Uyghur community against selling the products, doing so was considered "taboo" for religious reasons.

‘Weaken Religion' campaign: Sulayman said authorities in Xinjiang-where China has launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in the name of fighting separatism and terrorism-viewed non-smoking Muslim Uyghurs as adhering to "a form of religious extremism."

He said that as the seat of Laskuy, Aktash was meant to serve as an example to all residents of the township, and his village party committee did not raise the issue of a potential public backlash against the decree when it was first proposed by party leadership.
"We have more than 60 restaurants and stores in our township and I was told that all of them began stocking alcohol and cigarettes within three days of the announcement, but I didn't inspect the businesses myself," Sulayman said.

"Our village is the key village-we have to implement the ‘Weaken Religion' campaign effectively ... Religious sentiment is increasing and this is affecting stability."

As the targets of "strike hard" campaigns, Uyghurs complain of pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression by China's communist government. [Source: Radio Free Asia]

Those who think they can weaken the rise of Islam are blind. Despite the severe crackdown on the Uyghur Muslims, these measures will not diminish their love for Islam and their perseverance in adhering to the Shariah rulings.

"Israeli" Soldiers Call ‘Breaking the Silence' Report on Gaza War a ‘Total Lie'

IDF soldiers from various units who fought in last summer's war between the Jewish entity and Hamas in the Gaza Strip called a recent report by NGO Breaking the Silence a "total lie."

The soldiers spoke to the Jewish entity's Channel 2 to tell their side of the story, and to counter the testimonies compiled by Breaking the Silence.

Another soldier, Lt. Oren (a pseudonym), was a platoon commander in the 7th Brigade during the previous Operation Cast Lead, which began in late 2008. The Breaking the Silence report claimed that one of the tank commanders in Oren's platoon carried out a "revenge attack" by targeting civilian houses in Gaza.

Oren refuted the claim, saying "this nonsense about ‘fire on the house that you want for revenge' is simply a total lie." He said that any "revenge" incident might have occurred after Armored Core Capt. Dmitri Levitas (26) was killed in battle, but that the Breaking the Silence testimony "simply is not true."

"While it's true there was heavy [IDF] fire, this fire was directed at positions from which we were being fired upon, or suspicious locations," he recalled.

Oren said, "They knew where the majority of the tunnels were located and where there were no civilians ... Every shell was fired only after going through the proper procedure in which we had been trained long before the Operation."

Channel 2 said many more soldiers and high ranking officers stepped forward to present a very different story from the one conveyed in the Breaking the Silence report, emphasizing the IDF's strict adherence to international law - which sometimes goes beyond the requirements of the Law of Armed Conflict - and the caution the army exercised to prevent Palestinian civilian deaths.

Breaking the Silence offered a response to the interviews, saying, "In the book that was published this week, testimonies of dozens of soldiers and officers who served in Protective Edge are presented... Among all of the testimonies that have been published in the last few days by those other than us, not a single one of them disproved the central point related to the policy of indiscriminate fire which led to the harm of innocent civilians," the statement read, even though the Channel 2 testimonies seemed to indicate otherwise. [Source: The Algemeiner]

The Jewish entity recognizes no rule against Muslims. The usurper enemy takes advantage of their media to spin their narrative without being held to account by an international court.

Yemen's Five-day Ceasefire Backed

Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies in the country's armed forces have said they would accept a five-day humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid to reach civilians after more than a month of daily Saudi-led airstrikes. The ceasefire, scheduled to begin Tuesday, would help ease the suffering of civilians who increasingly lack food, fuel and medicine since the bombing campaign began on March 26.

However, all sides in a conflict that has seen the exile of president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi have warned they will retaliate if the ceasefire is broken.

Col Sharaf Ghalib Luqman was quoted as saying rebels in the armed forces agreed with the ceasefire, warning against any violation of the truce. The Houthis earlier issued their own statement saying they will cooperate with the ceasefire.

On Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition's spokesman, Ahmed Ali Asiri, also warned that the ceasefire will be cancelled if the rebels violated it.

The conflict in Yemen has killed more than 1,400 people since March 19, according to the United Nations. [Source: Irish Independent]

They are trying to start a war between Sunnis and Shiites, but the consciousness of the Ummah will break the game soon.

News

On 5th May 2015, Utusan Malaysia reported the suspension of Chief of Police for Satun Region due to being associated with a police investigation regarding active human trafficking activities near the border in southern Thailand. This is the result from the discovery of 32 large tombs believed to belong to migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh which were found in the area of human trafficking syndicate route. All bodies found had decayed and a Bangladeshi person found still alive was in a state of bones. The graves, located in the District of Sadao, Songkhla province were found in an old camp that is often used in the human migration process from Thailand to Malaysia. Tens of thousands of immigrants mainly Rohingya and Bangladesh Muslims use the sea route to reach the south of the country, to enable them to enter Malaysia and nearby countries.

Thailand's Chief of Police, General Somyot Poompanmoung stated he will convert five of the most senior Police Officers at the Padang Besar Police Station in Songkhla from their jurisdiction, in addition to the seven policemen in Padang Besar who were believed to have received bribes from members of the syndicate. Thailand authorities so far detained four of the eight suspects connected with extortion and murder in a camp in the southern Thailand border province, Songkhla.

Comment

The discovery of 32 large graves in southern Thailand which is often used in the human migration process from Thailand to Malaysia have exposed the crime of human trafficking between Thailand and Malaysia. The case masterminded by the Chief Police of the Satun province proved fraud and betrayal committed by the person holding important posts and structure in the country. Cases of human trafficking that has never resolved in Malaysia and Thailand apparently is the result of betrayal of ‘significant people ' in the country.

The Rohingya and Bangladesh ethnique who ran away from their home country aim to find aid and protection due to cruelty from the regime rulers in their country. However, the assistance rendered is certainly not as they expected. Their plight has been manipulated by certain parties to obtain personal benefit. Indeed, it is they who should have given full protection to these refugees but what happened is otherwise. This is the poison of the capitalist democracy system which promotes inhuman attributes. Greedy human beings have manipulated the suffering and distress of others to gain profit.

What is most devastating is that their fate has never been guaranteed or defended by any party despite the fact that they attain protection in Muslim community countries such as Malaysia. Do you not realise that we (Muslims) are all brothers and sisters? When a brother or sister suffers, we will definitely feel and empathize their sufferings. The affliction felt by Muslims in all corners of the world are our affliction also. Since the destruction of the Khilafah "Caliphate" Islamiyyah, the agony of the Muslim Ummah has never ended. The nationalistic barriers have gripped the Muslims and caused them to separate and weaken. When a Muslim brother or sister is oppressed and asks for help, the rest of the Muslim Ummah are incapable of doing anything except watching and hearing in despair.

Where are the helpers and protectors of this Ummah? Hasn't Allah (swt) mentioned in the Quran,

((وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ))

"And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help" [Surah Al-Anfal: 72].

O Muslims, let us rise again! Our Ummah needs justice and protection. We have suffered too long due to the brutality of the regime from this capitalist democracy system which has separated us. Let us fight again for Islam which will definitely shade us from all types of oppression.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Sumayyah Ammar
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut tahrir