Spat over plans for Russian visit to Georgia raises tension
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI

The Associated Press
02/16/05 16:24 EST

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – Tension rose ahead of Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov’s planned trip to Georgia, as officials in the ex-Soviet
republic assailed him for refusing to visit a monument to Georgians
who died in fighting against separatist regions that have close
Russian ties.

Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Gomiashvili said the ministry
called the Russian ambassador in to explain after Russian authorities
asked Georgia to change the program of Lavrov’s visit, saying he would
not visit the memorial to Georgians who died fighting separatists in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Lavrov is due to arrive Thursday. In meetings Friday, he is to
discuss military disputes, border demarcation, the prospects for
a broad treaty outlining relations between Russian and Georgia and
other issues in relations between the neighbors, which are marred by
persistent mutual recriminations.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia have run their own affairs since separatist
wars in the early 1990s, and the Georgian government views Georgians
killed in the fighting as heroes who died for the country’s territorial
integrity.

Russia has close ties with both separatist regions, and has granted
the majority of their citizens Russian citizenship in what Georgian
authorities say is part of a Russian strategy to keep Georgia
fragmented and unstable. Disputes over the breakaway regions are a
major source of tension between Russia and Georgia.

Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili lashed out at Russia
at a news conference, saying that the refusal to visit the memorial
“adds to all the steps that throw many things between us into doubt.”

“We don’t know what Russia wants,” she said. “What does a country want
that comes to on a friendly visit and foes not have the elementary
maturity to bow its head before the fallen?” she said.

The chairman of Georgia’s parliamentary committee on foreign relations
called the refusal a “bad political sign” and likened it to a foreign
official visiting Russia and refusing to make the customary visit
to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin. “It would be
impossible to offend a country more,” he said.

Lavrov, in Armenia on Wednesday, said the dispute would not create
artificial barriers for progress in his talks in Georgia, the Interfax
news agency reported. He said that the suggestion that he visit the
memorial came at the last minute and that it would be ill-advised to
do so because of high emotions surrounding the issue.

Russian vice-speaker voices astounding proposal

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 17 2005

The Russian Duma (parliament) vice-speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky says
that the most appropriate solution for the problem over Upper Garabagh
would be its entering the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Zhirinovsky said that Moscow is afraid of taking either side in the
conflict settlement to avoid hurting their interests.

He added that neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia will ever accept losing
Upper Garabagh.

“Upper Garabagh is a historic territory and a part of Armenia, which
is called ‘Artsakh”, he said.

Such statements were made by the Russian vice-speaker before with
regard to the Turkic states, in which he even resorted to insulting
entire nations. Russian media report that Kazakh prosecutor general
Rashid Tusupbekov has forwarded a letter to his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Ustinov requesting to hold Zhirinovsky criminally accountable.

In January, the Russian vice-speaker told “Echo of Moscow” radio
station that “the state of Kazakhstan has never existed in the entire
history of the mankind”.

The Milli Majlis (parliament) first deputy chairman Arif Rahimzada
regarded the statement as nonsense. He did not rule out that this
statement may be put on discussion in the Azerbaijani parliament,
since it was made by the second top official of the Russian parliament.

Armenia : Diamond industry registers decline

Fibre2fashion.com, India
Feb 17 2005

17th February 2005

The country’s diamond cutting industry dropped by almost 20 percent
in 2004, but government predicts turnaround in 2005. Diamonds driven
exports contribute for the country’ export earnings (39 percent
overall,) and the country has more than 50 cutting firms.

In year-end 2003, Armenia embarkd on a programme to double its annual
cut-diamond production to $500 million, with prospects of creating
10,000 new jobs in a three-year time span.

However, even as the diamond production value for 2004 reached $280
million, it was the fall in dollar by 20 percent versus local currency
that further dragged the industry down.

In addition, Russia failed to deliver the anticipated rough diamonds
complicating future plans. As per the bilateral agreements between
the two countries made in 2001, Armenia firms were to process up to
400,000 carats of Russia rough, but only about 155,000 carats were
imported in 2004, as per report filed by Eurasianet. Meanwhile,
Israel and Belgium carried the bulk of the total of 970,000 carats
imported for processing in 2004.

OSCE chairman to visit Baku

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 17 2005

The OSCE chairman-in-office and Slovenian Foreign Minister, Dimitrij
Rupel, is expected to visit Baku in April as part of his tour of the
South Caucasus region.

During the visit, Rupel will meet with President Ilham Aliyev to
discuss issues relating to democratic development, human rights
and freedom of press, as well as preparations for the parliamentary
elections due in Azerbaijan in November.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh and the role
of the OSCE in the conflict resolution will be in focus as well.
The OSCE chairman is due to meet with the Milli Majlis (parliament)
Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

World comes to Cape Girardeau for Girl Scout International Fes

Southeast Missourian, MO
Feb 17 2005

At the Girl Scout International Festival held on campus at Southeast
Missouri State University Saturday ScoutsÀinteracted with citizens from
cultures outside the United States and gained an understanding of their
cultures. Pictured from left, are Cape Girardeau Junior Girl Scouts,
Chelsea Schutt and Kaylen Martin, both of troop 9, Palestinian speaker
Hanin Wadi, Benton Junior Girl Scout, Michaela Gean, of troop 19,
Palestinian speaker Noor Wadi, Advance Junior Girl Scout Jacqueline
Maddox, of troop 263, Advance Junior Girl Scout Vicky Baker, of troop
263. Front from left are Lebanese speaker Shadan Roumary and Advance
Junior Girl Scout, Sierra Metcalf of troop 263.

More than 150 Girl Scouts and adults participated in the Girl Scout
International Festival held at Southeast Missouri State University’s
Dempster Hall Saturday. The Scouts dressed in attire from other
countries, learned songs, played with toys and board games and
sampled various confections from Germany and Mexico to learn about
and experience different cultures.

Cultural representatives included students and individuals recruited
through Southeast Missouri State University’s International Center
and community members.

Lixia Li taught the Scouts about Chinese paper art and how to create
detailed scenes with a scissor.

Martial arts and origami demonstrations were provided by Arisa Yasui,
Etsuko Kanegae, Ayaka Uchino, Meiko Zenta, Noriko Obata and Takuko
Furuhata, representing Japan.

Scouts also learned from live and PowerPoint presentations about
Armenia, France, India, Sri Lanka and Mexico.

Girl Scouts donned native costumes and learned to write their names
in Arabic from Hanin Wadi, Noor Wadi, Shadan Roumary, Rania Majed,
representatives of Palestinians, Jordan and Lebanon.

The event culminated with an African percussion performance by Central
Middle School’s music group Shere Khan. The performance included
African music with drums, recorders and xylophones.

–Boundary_(ID_Cvp4hbCPGHuPVZJfjuRxbQ)–

Wails of grief and protest mark funeral for Hariri
By MARK MacKINNON

Globe and Mail, Canada
Feb 17 2005

An estimated crowd of 200,000 pays its respects to former PM while
calling for withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon

Thursday, February 17, 2005 – Page A24

BEIRUT — The funeral of assassinated former Lebanese prime minister
Rafik Hariri turned into an angry protest yesterday as wails of
mourning mixed with demands that Damascus withdraw the 14,000 Syrian
soldiers stationed in Lebanon.

Many of the estimated 200,000 mourners who flooded central Beirut
hailed Mr. Hariri as a martyr who was killed because he wanted true
independence for Lebanon, which has had Syrian troops on its soil
since 1976.

Although a previously unknown Islamist group has claimed
responsibility for Monday’s massive bomb, which killed Mr. Hariri and
16 others, most funeral-goers were firmly convinced that the
assassination was ordered in Damascus.

“Hariri was killed because he represented something that was not part
of their plans: namely, prosperity and independence for Lebanon,”
said Asma Andraos, a 33-year-old public-relations consultant.

She was carrying a banner that read “It’s obvious, no?”, quoting the
response of Mr. Hariri’s son to reporters when asked who was behind
his father’s murder. “We know it means Syria,” she said.

Other mourners shouted “Syria is the enemy of God!” and waved signs
that read “Syria out!” as they made their way through the streets.

The Lebanese opposition has directly accused Syria of playing a role
in the assassination. Although Mr. Hariri had never publicly called
for a withdrawal, he had become increasingly linked with groups
opposed to Syrian involvement in the country.

Last fall, Mr. Hariri resigned in protest after Damascus pushed the
Lebanese parliament to amend the country’s constitution in order to
postpone the election and allow pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud to
stay on beyond the end of his term.

After losing that power struggle, Mr. Hariri was believed to have
used his close ties to Paris and Washington to promote last fall’s
passage of United Nations Resolution 1559, which calls for all Syrian
troops to leave the country.

Yesterday’s emotional outpouring came amid fears of renewed
instability in a country that is still recovering from the 15 years
of a civil war that ended in 1990. Mourners marched under the
watchful eye of the Lebanese army, which was placed on high alert. A
pair of black helicopters circled overhead throughout the day as
gunboats patrolled the capital’s Mediterranean harbour.

Soldiers in jeeps were stationed along the funeral route, which began
at Mr. Hariri’s mansion in West Beirut and ended at the giant but
incomplete Mohammed al-Amin mosque in the city centre. Mr. Hariri was
buried on the grounds of the mosque, which the billionaire
businessman had funded with millions of dollars of his own money.

Outside, mourners piled white roses and posters of Mr. Hariri on
Martyr’s Square, at the foot of a monument to Lebanese patriots who
were hanged early in the 20th century for demanding independence from
the Ottoman Empire.

The funeral briefly turned chaotic when the procession reached the
mosque and Mr. Hariri’s casket was lifted out of its ambulance
hearse. Several people were injured as the crowd surged forward,
hoping to touch the flag-draped coffin.

Mr. Hariri’s eldest son, Bahaaedine, had to ask the crush of mourners
to back off. “We don’t want his last minutes to be like this,” he
pleaded.

Despite worries of violence, the funeral was a peaceful testament to
the type of Lebanon that Mr. Hariri spent much of his life trying to
build.

Christian priests and clerics from the Druze and Shia Muslim sects
all joined in the mourning for the 60-year-old moderate Sunni.
Whenever the minarets of the city’s mosques fell silent, the pealing
bells of nearby Maronite Christian and Armenian Orthodox churches
could be heard.

In a sight that would be remarkable in almost any part of the Middle
East except Beirut, old men in traditional dishdasha marched in
procession beside young women in tight blue jeans.

“He was a great leader. He did a lot of great things in this country.
Without him, we would have stayed in the Stone Age,” said Ramzi
Yassin, a 17-year-old clutching a handmade sign praising Mr. Hariri
as a “martyr-general.”

Foreign dignitaries who visited Beirut to pay their respects were
nearly as effusive in their praise of a man who used his extensive
international contacts to attract aid and investment to Lebanon.
French President Jacques Chirac, a close friend, told reporters that
the slaying of Mr. Hariri represented “a horrible crime” and a
“horrible loss for Lebanon, democracy and freedom.”

Although the Hariri family rejected the government’s offer of a state
funeral, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa was in attendance,
along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal and Saudi
Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. Canada was represented by
Ambassador Michel Duval.

Conspicuous by their absence at the funeral were members of Lebanon’s
pro-Syrian government, whom the family told would not be welcome.

The United States sent assistant secretary of state William Burns,
who later met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud to press
Washington’s demand for an “immediate and complete” Syrian
withdrawal. The White House has already recalled its ambassador to
Damascus.

Buthaina Shaaban, a member of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s
government, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the U.S.
position was “baffling,” claiming that whoever was behind the killing
had targeted Syria as much as Lebanon.

“To point to Syria in a terrorist act that aims at destabilizing
Syria and Lebanon is exactly like blaming the United States in 9/11,”
she argued.

Armenian, U.S. authorities working together
By Alex Dobuzinskis , Staff Writer

Pasadena Star-News
Los Angeles Daily News
Feb 17 2005

Crime rings targeted

GLENDALE — Armenian officials are working with local law enforcement
agencies to fight organized crime rings that victimize residents in
the Southland and Armenia, officials said Wednesday.

The cooperative effort was discussed at the Glendale Police Department,
where John Evans, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, met with local
police officials.

“It’s the flip side really of globalization. So much of what happens
in the world today knows no international boundaries, and the same
can be said of crime today,’ Evans said.

Of particular concern are the crimes of money laundering, smuggling
and immigration fraud, officials said.

“There’s been significant amounts of money that have flown back
and forth that we’re concerned with,’ said Glendale police Chief
Randy Adams.

As many as 500 criminals are believed to be associated with Armenian
organized crime gangs in the Los Angeles area, said Sgt. Steve Davey of
the Glendale Police Department’s Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force.

Adams said his department has sent detectives to Armenia to teach in
police academies there.

The contacts developed with Armenian police have led to the
apprehension of suspects, he said.

Within the past year, three fugitives have been brought back to
Los Angeles from Armenia to face murder or attempted murder charges
stemming from incidents in the east San Fernando Valley, officials
said.

One of the suspects, a former truck driver from Burbank, was listed
as one of the FBI’s most wanted. Shahen Keshishian was arrested by
Armenian authorities in November and handed over to U.S. officials.
He is charged with murdering a Canoga Park man during a road- rage
incident in Universal City in 2000.

Armenia does not have an extradition treaty with the United States,
but that has not prevented authorities there from helping local law
enforcement agencies.

“When there is a will to be cooperative more things are possible then
when there is the opposite,’ Evans said, adding that officials hope
to negotiate an extradition treaty with Armenia, which does not have
the death penalty.

Near East Foundation To Be Honored at Armenian Genocide Tribute

Reuters Alert, UK
Feb 17 2005

Source: NGO latest

By 1930, Near East Relief had raised more than $110 million for this
humanitarian work, fed more than twelve million people, gave medical
aid to six million, cared for and educated over 135,000 orphans,
and saved at least a million lives.

Rabih Yazbeck, Near East Foundation

Ryan LaHurd, president of the Near East Foundation, and the consul
generals from Cyprus, Syria, Ethiopia and Uruguay will be among those
honored by the Armenian community for their efforts in supporting
survivors of the Armenian Genocide at the “International Relief,
Refuge, and Recognition Tribute.”

The tribute, to be held February 24 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in
Los Angeles, is one of a series of local, national and international
events commemorating and raising awareness of the 90th anniversary
of the Armenian genocide. Founded in response to the genocide,
the Near East Foundation also celebrates its 90th anniversary in
2005. The Armenian event is being organized by the Armenian Assembly,
the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the Western Diocese of the
Armenian Church.

>>From 1915 until 1930, Near East Relief (the Near East Foundation’s
original name) administered $117,000,000 to those in need. Very early
in the relief effort, attention focused on helping rescued orphans
to become self-supporting and contributing members of the communities
that absorbed them. Cyprus, Syria, Ethiopia and Uruguay opened their
doors and now are home to well-established Armenian communities.

Commented Western Office Chairman Richard Mushegain, “Near East Relief
is credited with saving hundreds of thousands of Armenians and making
possible productive futures for more than 130,000 orphans.”

Last October the Near East Foundation received the 2004 Freedom Award
from the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region–their
most prestigious “for your organization’s longstanding history of
aiding the Armenian people and others in their darkest hours.”

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and
not of Reuters. ]

Christian minority in Azerbaijan gets rid of Armenian eye sore

Agence France Presse — English
February 17, 2005 Thursday 4:23 AM GMT

NIJ, Azerbaijan Feb 17 — When a Christian people in this predominantly
Muslim republic ground away the Armenian inscriptions from the walls
of a church and tombs last month to erase evidence linking them to
Azerbaijan’s foe, they thought they had the interests of their small
community in mind.

But now the tiny Christian church in the former Soviet republic of
Azerbaijan has become the focus of a big scandal as the Udi minority
struggles to find its identity in an ideological minefield.

The church, which has not been used since Azerbaijan became part
of the Soviet Union, has become the center of a dispute between the
Norwegian backers of the reconstruction, who consider the alterations
to be vandalism, and the Udi community.

“We have no God, our people lost their religion under communism and
this church is our only hope of reviving it,” said Georgi Kechaari,
one of the village elders who doubles as the ethnic group’s historian.

“But we live in Azerbaijan, and when people came into the church and
saw Armenian letters, they automatically associated us with Armenians,”
he said.

The Udi, who once used the Armenian alphabet, have struggled to
separate their legacy from that of their fellow Christians, the
Armenians, who fought a war with Azerbaijan and have been vilified
here.

Erupting just before the break-up of the Soviet Union, the war
cost both countries tens of thousands of lives but Azerbaijan lost
Nagorno-Karabakh – an ethnic Armenian enclave – and seven other
surrounding regions which have been under Armenian control since the
two countries signed an uneasy ceasefire agreement in 1994.

Since then nearly everything associated with Armenia in Azerbaijan
has been wiped away, although hundreds of thousands of Armenians
lived here before the war.

Armenian-sounding city names have been changed, streets named after
Armenians have been replaced with politically correct Azeri surnames,
while Soviet history glorifying Armenian communist activists has been
rewritten in school textbooks.

But the white-stone church in Nij, some two centuries old, had not
been tampered with until the Udi undertook to reconstruct it with
help from the state financed Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise (NHE).

“It was a beautiful inscription, 200 years old, it even survived the
war,” Norway’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Steinar Gil told AFP. “This
is an act of vandalism and Norway in no way wants to be associated
with it.”

But the Udis insist they erased the inscriptions to right a historic
wrong.

Kechaari alleged that the Armenian inscriptions, which stated that
the Church was built in 1823, were fakes put there by Armenians in
the 1920s so that they could make historical claims to it.

The Udis are the last surviving tribe of the Caucasus Albanians,
a group unrelated to the Mediterranean Albanians, whose Christian
kingdom ruled this region in medieval times before Turkic hordes
swept in from Central Asia in the 13th and 15th centuries.

They number under 10,000 people and Nij is the only predominantly Udi
village to survive to this day, and although they call themselves
Christian, there is little that Christians from other parts of the
world would find in common with them.

The Udis have not had a pastor for nearly a century and celebrate
Islamic holidays together with their Muslim neighbors.

But while the Udis soul search for an identity, Azerbaijan has used
their legacy to strengthen its claims to Karabakh.

Armenians argue that the multitude of churches in the occupied region
proves that they as a Christian people can lay a historic claim to
it. But Azeris, who consider themselves to be the descendants of
Albanians who were assimilated into a Turkic group, say the area is
rightfully theirs because the churches were actually built by their
ancestors the Albanians.

To the Udi, who used Armenian script when their church was built,
toeing the official Azeri line has become more of a priority than
historical accuracy.

The perception that they are one with the Armenians has meant that
there has been little trust from the authorites; Udi men for example
were only allowed to start serving in the Azeri Army two years ago.

But their use of power tools to fit the status quo took their Norwegian
sponsors by surprise.

“They think they have erased a reminder of being Armenian … instead
they have taken away the chance to have a good image when the church
is inaugurated,” the director of the NHE in Azerbaijan, Alf Henry
Rasmussen said, adding that a visit to the church by Norway’s prime
minister will probably now be cancelled.

“Everyone will stare at the missing stones, I’m not quite sure if we
can continue our work there,” Rasmussen said.

National Council of Churches USA, NY
Feb 17 2005

NCC Board Acts on Development, Security, Middle East, Genocide, Due
Process
NCC Endorses U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals

Halving global poverty by 2015 and ultimately ending it altogether is
the aim of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. The
National Council of Churches USA, at its quarterly Governing Board
meeting Feb. 14-15, 2005, in New York City, endorsed the goals and
pledged to work for their achievement.

The Millennium Development Goals set specific targets within
categories of extreme poverty and hunger; primary education; gender
equality and empowerment of women; child mortality; maternal health;
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and environmental
sustainability. They call for establishment of a global partnership
for development.

The NCC pledged “to support, through advocacy, education and other
appropriate means, programs that work toward the achievement of these
goals, and urges its member communions to work together with one
another and other church and ecumenical organizations that work
toward these same ends.”

SMART Security Platform Promotes Peace, International Cooperation,
NCC Says

What foreign policy alternatives exist to better assure America’s
security and address terrorism? The organization Physicians for
Social Responsibility offers its “SMART” Security Platform, and the
NCC endorsed the platform at its quarterly Governing Board meeting,
Feb. 14-15, 2005, in New York City.

“SMART” is the acronym for “Standing for Sensible Multilateral
American Response to Terrorism.” The platform makes specific
recommendations for strengthening international institutions and
supporting the rule of law to prevent acts of terrorism and future
wars; reducing the threat and stopping the spread of nuclear and
other weapons of mass destruction, and changing budget priorities to
reflect “SMART” security needs.

Statement of NCC Middle East Delegation Commended to Member Churches

“Barriers Do Not Bring Freedom,” the statement of the National
Council of Churches USA’s official delegation to the Middle East Jan.
21-Feb. 4, has been commended to the Council’s 36 member churches for
their consideration.

Delegation members reported Feb. 14 to the NCC’s Governing Board at
its regular quarterly meeting. The 11-member delegation met with
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and
Palestine, with the aim of understanding current on-the-ground
realities in the context of renewed optimism for peace, expressing
solidarity with Christians in the region and meeting with new
leadership of the Middle East Council of Churches.

The statement, which offers a sobering assessment of the current
situation, reflects the delegation’s experiences and insights gleaned
from the various meetings. The Board voted to receive the report and
commend it to the Council’s members.

NCC Commemorates 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

On April 24, 2005, it will be 90 years since the start of the
Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey
died and almost the entire Armenian population was deported from its
ancestral lands in Asia Minor.

Many of the methods employed in that genocide – the first of the 20th
century – would become models for subsequent genocides, such as under
the Nazi regime and in the Soviet Union, Cambodia and Rwanda.

Despite copious documentation and the inter-disciplinary consensus of
serious scholars, the Armenian Genocide is still not acknowledged by
the present-day Republic of Turkey – nor, officially, by the U.S.
government. And despite the lessons of the past, the horrors of
genocide continue to the present day, most recently in Darfur, Sudan.

In response, the NCC Governing Board, meeting Feb. 14-15, 2005, in
New York City, resolved to ask the Republic of Turkey and the U.S.
government to grant official recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
and to ask that the world community heed the lessons of the Armenian
Genocide.

Specifically, the Board asks recognition and unambiguous
acknowledgement of “the early ‘seeds’ of genocide when they arise, to
act speedily and decisively in these early stages, so as to pre-empt
full-blown genocide” and “to resist and rebuke the deniers of
genocide.”

Finally, the NCC joined other faithful, including members of the
Armenian Church, in remembrance of the souls of those who perished in
the Armenian and other genocides in the past 90 years, in prayers for
the peace of those who survived, and in petition that “in the century
just beginning, God will free humankind of the scourge of genocide
once and for all.”

NCC Weighs In, Again, on Due Process for National Security Detainees

The National Council of Churches USA Feb. 15 heard a concern
expressed by the NCC’s Interfaith Relations Commission on the effects
of the USA PATRIOT Act on civil rights and due process for Muslim
people.

The Governing Board of the Council, at its quarterly meeting (Feb.
14-15), voted to receive a statement which noted that in the past the
NCC has joined with other organizations “to advocate for tighter
controls on current anti-terrorism efforts and the highest standard
of scrutiny in laws and policy changes related to civil liberties,”
and has spoken out on civil rights and due process for detainees at
Guantanamo Bay and Abu Graib.

The statement asked that the NCC speak out more directly about the
USA PATRIOT Act in order to express its solidarity with Muslims and
others whose well-being continues to be threatened by some of its
provisions. “This is especially important in view of the upcoming
Congressional debates on certain provisions of the Act,” it said.

The Interfaith Relations Commission, in meetings last weekend in St.
Petersburg, Fla., with representatives of a Florida social advocacy
organization, HOPE (Hillsboro Organization for Peace and Equality)
and the Tampa chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR), heard about the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian.

Emphatically noting that it is not taking any stand on Dr. Al-Arian’s
guilt or innocence but rather on his right to due process and humane
treatment, the Council resolved to make known the plight of the
former professor at Florida State University, arrested in February
2003.

CAIR “shared with us statistics and concerns about civil rights in
the Muslim community since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act,” the
Commission reported. “The Muslim community came to us as an
authoritative Christian body and said, ‘We are hurting over this.
Please stand up and be counted,'” said Betty Gamble, a member of the
NCC Interfaith Relations Commission.

Asserted Mia Adjali, United Methodist Church, “We are using this
person as an example of so many others. Whatever this man may have
done or not, the issue is the inhumane treatment that’s befallen
Muslim people, Arab people, anyone who looks like an Arab.”

In addition to the Board’s action, the NCC’s Justice and Advocacy
Commission is developing a new policy on civil liberties.