Al -Turki Praises Geneva Islamic Cultural Foundation

GENEVA - Dr. Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Turki, secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL) has thanked the Islamic Cultural Foundation in Geneva for its efforts in the service of Islam and Muslims. He was speaking at a gathering conducted for the reunion of newly converted Muslims in Switzerland.

Dr Al-Turki said Muslims who are considered a minority in the country should know the local environment in which they live and how to cope with the circumstances and deal with others. Muslims should also know how to hold fast to their religion and invite others to Islam. The responsibility of introducing Islam to others is the duty of every Muslim who should do what they can in this regard, he said.

A lecture was given by Khaldoun Dhiya, who said Muslims in Germany face the challenges from the society as well as from the media, which have to be dealt with. He called on the Muslim society in Switzerland to set up links between them and the local community in which they live.

Swiss Muslims came with their families in the gathering to know more about Islam. A brief report on the first meeting for newly converted Muslims that was held in 1998 was presented by Abdul Hafeez Al-Wardeghi, public relations officer of the foundation.

Earlier Dr. Al-Turki chaired the meeting of the Foundation, which reviewed the annual report and closing of accounts as well as its new budget and organizational charter. The meeting also reviewed the outcome of the agenda for the administration of King Faisal Waqf in Basel in addition to the achievements made over the previous period for the benefit of the Muslims in the country.

Preachers Urged to Shun Deviant Ideas

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh Bin Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh has urged the imams, preachers, and religious scholars to shun deviant ideas and the fatwas of infidelity-labeling and terrorism.

Aal Al-Sheikh's comments came in a meeting with religious scholars and imams in Hail, the Arabic daily Al-Riyadh reported last Sunday.

He stressed that imams and orators should adhere to Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) course in directing people.

He said that religious people should remove any illusions about the deviancy of the terrorists marketing their deviant ideas to young people, especially through the Internet. - SG

Israeli Interrogators in Iraq

LONDON - The US officer at the heart of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal says she has evidence that Israelis helped to interrogate Iraqis at another facility.

Brig Gen Janis Karpinski told the BBC she met an Israeli working as an interrogator at a secret intelligence centre in Baghdad.

A BBC reporter says it is the first time a senior US officer has suggested Israelis worked with the coalition.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the reports were completely untrue.

Gen Karpinski was in charge of the military police unit that ran Abu Ghraib and other prisons when the abuses were committed. She has been suspended but not charged.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she met a man claiming to be Israeli during a visit to an intelligence centre with a senior coalition general.

"I saw an individual there that I hadn't had the opportunity to meet before, and I asked him what did he do there, was he an interpreter - he was clearly from the Middle East," she said in the interview.

"He said, 'Well, I do some of the interrogation here. I speak Arabic but I'm not an Arab; I'm from Israel.'"

Until a 1999 ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court, Israeli secret service interrogators were allowed to use "moderate force".

The US journalist who broke the Abu Ghraib scandal told the programme his sources confirm the presence of Israeli intelligence agents in Iraq.

Seymour Hersh said that one of the Israeli aims was to gain access to detained members of the Iraqi secret intelligence unit, who reportedly specialise in Israeli affairs.

The BBC reporter, Matthew Grant, says that whatever the truth, these allegations could cause anger in the Arab world.

One soldier has been sentenced and six others are awaiting courts martial for abuses committed at Abu Ghraib jail.

Gen Karpinski has said she was being made a "convenient scapegoat" for abuse ordered by others. - BBC Online

Iran, Syria Call Rapid Departure of Foreign Troops from Iraq

TEHRAN - Iran and Syria gave a show of unity against the presence of US troops in their common neighbour Iraq. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on his third visit to the Islamic republic, had met with a string of top regime officials here including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. After meeting with President Mohammad Khatami, the two called for the rapid departure of foreign troops from Iraq.

"This crisis was predictable, and its source was the aggression and occupation of Iraq by the United States," Khatami said. "There is no ambiguity between us and Syria where Iraq is concerned. The solution is the quick end to the occupation, the installation of a government comprising all elements of the Iraqi people and the cooperation of the international community to bring stability and reconstruction," he said. For his part, Assad said "Iraq is on the top of our list of preoccupations" although he said his talks here would also cover "Palestine and the halt in the peace process".

"Regarding Iraq, we have always been in agreement with Iran on the need for Iraq's territorial integrity, a representative government and the departure of the occupying forces," he added. Both Syria and Iran have been accused by the United States of supporting anti-coalition insurgents inside Iraq.

Just Monday, The New York Times quoted US government officials and a prominent Iraqi of saying a broad network of Saddam Hussein's extended family is helping fund and arm the anti- US insurgency in Iraq. It said the network operates in part from Syria and Jordan and actively smuggles weapons, fighters and money into Iraq for the cause.

According to a British newspaper report Sunday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government had gathered information from intelligence services showing support for the insurgents from some neighbouring countries.

Zebari did not name the foreign powers, but the Sunday Telegraph quoted "senior Iraqi officials" as indicating "that Iran and Syria were the worst offenders".

Meanwhile, in a separate report, Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan told the Iranian state news agency IRNA that Assad would discuss here the alleged presence of Israeli forces inside Iraq.

"Unfortunately, the Israelis are active in northern parts of Iraq and their presence poses a serious threat to Iranian and Syrian security," he was quoted as saying. In June, the New Yorker magazine alleged that Israeli intelligence agents had infiltrated Iraq's Kurdistan and slipped across into Iran to monitor nuclear facilities. - AFP

Internet for Teaching the Holy Qur'an

JEDDAH - An agreement was recently signed between the Holy Qur'an Memorization International Organization and Harf company for information technology calling for the establishment of a website to assist in the memorization of the Holy Qur'an through the Internet.

The agreement was signed at he headquarters of the organization in the holy city of Makkah by the the Secretary General, sheikh Abdullah ibn Ali Basfar who said this effort reflects the organization's keenness to improve Qura'nic work by benefiting from modern technology in different areas.

He said the objective of the organization is to encourage people to memorize and understand the Holy Qur'an and to spread it's teaching among Muslims all over the world. The organization has a special section for the development of the means that help in the memorization of the Holy Qur'an.

Sheikh Basfar said the agreement is an important step forward and will give a big boost for the organization enabling it to further develop and enhance its projects in this area.

We took this step to benefit from modern technology and encourage the teaching of the Holy Qur'an thorough the Internet to enable Muslims in remote areas of the world to easily access the service quickly and at the lowest possible costs, he explained.

He said the cost of the project, which is expected to be high would be met through floating shares at the value of SR100 each and praised the efforts being made by Harf company and its cooperation with the organization in this regard. - IINA