Myrtus

Ahmed Marcouch Petition Update

Hello friends

I got word from Ahmed Marcouch himself and one other source who's a close friend/associate of his saying how moved he is, expressing his appreciation for all our support with this petition.  And I too must thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your support and helping raise awareness. 

 

A great big hug to all! :)

Normally I don't put all that much faith in politicians, but with Ahmed Marcouch it's different, mainly because when I read the newspapers, it appears that he didn't set out to be where he's at right now with his political career, he's paving the way as he goes purely with his NO-nonsense approach to whatever ails the community and just takes care of things.  He's now in the position to possibly become a key lawmaker and a staunch advocate for minorities, the disadvantaged and education at a national level, purely by popular vote.

At the recently held municipal elections in The Netherlands he was positioned last on the list of candidates by his political party (PvdA) in Amsterdam (at #29), but he ended up coming in 2nd (with a little over 12000 votes), securing a spot as a city councilman in Amsterdam.  This was probably due to all the great things he has accomplished in the few years that he's been district mayor in a highly troubled part of Amsterdam.  During that time, not only did he manage to ease tensions caused by widespread ETHNIC CLASHES and clamp down on HOMOPHOBIA, which had reached a critical level among Muslim youth, he actually succeeded in tearing down the entire neighborhood where the Muslim extremist who murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh grew up, to root out evil and send a strong message of TOLERANCE, DIVERSITY and FREEDOM above all.  And the fact that he's a practicing Muslim fighting against homophobia....I myself as a (non-practicing Muslim) find it truly remarkable. 

Take THAT Ahmadinejad!

Supporter Bryan F. writes:

Thanks for the update.  It is very interesting for me to learn of Ahmed Marcouch's message to be one of hope of TOLERANCE, DIVERSITY and FREEDOM.  

Unfortunately in the world today, Islam and Muslims, and even those who appear to be of Arab ethnicity have been unfairly classified and categorized as being radical fundamentalists who threaten and plague the Western World.  That fabrication must be addressed and corrected. I applaud you for taking the time to thoughtfully post a petition on Change.org to enlighten all regarding this issue.

Keep up the good work, and please keep me informed accordingly.

Be well or as a friend of mine says,

Salaam alaikum,

Bryan :-)

I dare you sign this PETITION! :)

Petition

Support Milouda!

Sign petition here

orrrrrrrr here

Fouad Mourtada deserves to be free!

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Please scroll down for newer post.

Thanks for your support.

[Help Free FOUAD / Soutenez la libération de FOUAD]

Update 3/13/08

Fouad Mourtada Committee sends...

Hi Najia,

BBC radio aired a program yesterday and they talked about Fouad Mourtada, by the occasion of the first international day of freedom of expression on the internet (organized by Reporters Sans Frontieres RSF).

Here is a link to the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7291699.stm

-As you will read in the article, the moroccan government spokesperson, Mr Khalid Naciri, said that he finds Fouad's sentence excessive.

-Tahar Ben Jelloun, a famous moroccan writer who writes in french, said in a switzerland radio show, about Fouad's condamnation "it's ridiculous and scandalous"

-Sion Assidon, a huge moroccan intellectual (an ex prisoner of opinion who was also tortured in the past), said in a moroccan 2M TV show, that Fouad's sentence is excessive

-Letters were sent by associations and parties to moroccan ambassadors in Chile, Belgium (see website helpfouad.com) and in Canada (by Global Importune (http://www.globalimportune.org, letter not available online ) and in France (by a group of independent people, letter not available online)

Fouad's lawyer, Mr Ali Ammar, was told that the date of the appeal will be announced next week.

As of today, it's been 38 days that the prisoner of opinion Fouad Mourtada is incarcerated in jail Oukacha, Casablanca.

As for the international support, here are some statistics:

-About 93,000 citizens have visited the website www.helpfouad.com
-over 8,500 citizens have signed the petition to freeing Fouad http://www.helpfouad.com/7437/index.html
-over 5,300 citizens have joined the "Help Fouad Mourtada - Aidez Fouad Mourtada" facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10427212196
-Photos of Support are still pouring from all countries
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24156360@N07/

Check www.helpfouad.com for more articles and information.

Thank you.

Committee of support for Fouad Mourtada
Comité de soutien à Fouad Mourtada
www.HelpFouad.com

Free Fouad Mourtada!

Morocco please, I beg you to do the right thing. 

Free Fouad, he clearly meant no harm.

He may have broken a royal policy rule, which may call for reprimand, but for goodness sakes he doesn't deserve to be treated like a criminal.

Facebook | Help Fouad Mourtada - Aidez Fouad Mourtada

There are on Facebook 41 Nicolas Sarkozy, 10 prince William of England, Many Jackes Chirac (Former France president), Roger Federer, Georges Bush, Osama Benladen and so on.


Fouad Mourtada, 26 years old IT engineer, was arrested and imprisoned in Casablanca, Morocco, on Tuesday February 05 2008, for creating a fake profile on Facebook of his royal highness Prince Moulay Rachid, brother of the king Mohamed VI of Morocco.

This is a premiere in the world; there has never been such prosecution anywhere in the world.

Fouad's initiative was a pure innocent act without any personal gain or harmful intent. Since Facebook Launch on 2004, a big number of young adults in many countries profile public figures and stars on Facebook for reasons of admiration or entertainment, without malicious intent.

The purpose of this group is to help Fouad. With your support, there will be a public opinion on this case. Please ask as many friends as possible to join.

We ask the Moroccan authorities to release FOUAD.

To sign our petition for freeing FOUAD, please visit There are on Facebook 41 Nicolas Sarkozy, 10 prince William of England, Many Jackes Chirac (Former France president), Roger Federer, Georges Bush, Osama Benladen and so on.


Fouad Mourtada, 26 years old IT engineer, was arrested and imprisoned in Casablanca, Morocco, on Tuesday February 05 2008, for creating a fake profile on Facebook of his royal highness Prince Moulay Rachid, brother of the king Mohamed VI of Morocco.

This is a premiere in the world; there has never been such prosecution anywhere in the world.

Fouad's initiative was a pure innocent act without any personal gain or harmful intent. Since Facebook Launch on 2004, a big number of young adults in many countries profile public figures and stars on Facebook for reasons of admiration or entertainment, without malicious intent.

The purpose of this group is to help Fouad. With your support, there will be a public opinion on this case. Please ask as many friends as possible to join.

We ask the moroccan authorities to release FOUAD.

To sign our petition for freeing FOUAD, please visit http://www.helpfouad.com/

The Dutch want to restore tolerance

A group of Dutch politicians, celebrities, and many other prominent Dutch came together and launched an appeal to the public on the cover of Dutch Newspaper Trouw, calling out for more respect and tolerance in 2008.

While they did not directly criticize right wing extremist politician Geert Wilders in their statement, their initiative is nevertheless regarded as a direct attempt to counteract the "Wilderisation" of Dutch society, because Wilders' anti-Islam campaign has been having a tremendous adverse effect on the political debate in The Netherlands.

Of course Geert Wilders had to add his own spin to the appeal.  He simply dismissed the group as "dhimmis", calling them "foolish and naive", saying that "Islam does not deserve respect, but must be fiercely fought against as an intolerant and fascist ideology,"

Those who signed the appeal in Wednesday's paper claim that "the socio-political debate regarding the multicultural coexistence has become rigid.  Serious, complicated issues are oversimplified and turned into unnuanced and polarizing oneliners.  This does not solve any problems, it makes them worse instead.  This is exactly how The Netherlands gets caught up in a downward spiral of intolerance and indifference."

Say NO to Martial Law in Pakistan

Several people I've talked to in the last few days came to me saying they don't have the slightest clue about what's going on in Pakistan, to please explain.  Hah!  As if I'm the expert.  I tried not to confuse them even more basically saying: Musharaf was a military dictator pretending to be a democratic president.  Just when he was about to be forced to hand over his dictatorship he forced his country into a state of emergency, so he can continue to have absolute control, but now without pretending to be anything but a military dictator.

Umar Farooq at MEY explains this grave situation in mush more detail here, along with a plea to petition against Martial Law in Pakistan.

Please let's give Pakistani citizens a helping hand and get rid of this Musarraf Menace once and for all.  You can start by signing this petition here.

Thanks you!

Free Burma!

Free Burma! Petition Widget

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Bloggers take action, join the Free Burma campaign!

International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.

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Des blogueurs dans le monde entier préparent une action pour supporter la révolution pacifique en Birmanie. Il s'agit d'exprimer sa solidarité avec tous les Birmans qui se révoltent sans armes contre la dictature. Les blogueurs sont invités à ne pas alimenter leur blog pendant la journée du 4 octobre, en ne publiant qu'un seul billet avec le texte “Free Burma”.

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Bloggers overal ter wereld bereiden zich for een actie om steun te verlenen aan de vreedzame revolutie in Burma.  Wij willen een teken van vrijheid geven en ons medeleven tonen aan deze mensen die zich zonder wapens tegen hun gruwelijke regering verzetten.  Deze bloggers zijn van plan om hun normale blog activiteiten voor de hele dag op te geven op 4 oktober en dan slechts maar een banner met de text "Free Burma!" te posten.

~~~

Blogers de todo el mundo están preparando una acción para apoyar la revolución pacifica en Birmania. Queremos dar un señal de paz y mostrar nuestra simpatía con esta gente que está luchando contra su régimen cruel sin armas. Estos blogers están planeando de parar sus blogs el 4 de octubre para poner solamente un solo artículo: Un banner rojo con la palabras: „Free Burma!“ o „Birmania libre!“.

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هل سمعت عن أزمة بورما؟

تخضع بورما لسيطرة أسوء حكم عسكري ديكتاتوري في العالم. منذ أيام قلائل خرج الرهبان البوذيين إلى الشوارع و أطلقوا مسيرات راحوا يترنمون فيها بالدعوة إلى الديمقراطية، و انضم إليهم مئات الآلاف من الشعب، لكن الجيش لم يرحمهم وهاجم الرهبان و المتظاهرين بشكل وحشي مما أودى بحياة الكثيرين منهم."

إن شعب بورما – بلدة تقع في جنوب شرق أسيا – يخوضون واحدة من أكبر المعارك من أجل الحرية في العالم. لقد أدار الحكام العسكريون البلاد بقبضة حديدية طيلة خمسة عشر عاما مضت، منذ إنتقال السلطة إليهم خلفا لنظام ديكتاتوري آخر حكم البلاد ستة و عشرين عاما. و في عام 1988، خرج الطلاب و الحرفيين و غيرهم في إنتفاضة انضم إليها الشعب من جميع أنحاء البلاد، بهدف وضع حد للحكم السلطوي، وقد أشترك فيها ملايين المواطنين الذين طالبوا بشجاعة بالغة بتحقيق الحرية و الديمقراطية في بلادهم.

وما كان من الجيش إلا أن شن هجوما مسلحا على المتظاهرين أودى بحياة آلاف و سجن آلاف منهم، في واحد من أبشع المشاهد الدموية في جنوب شرق أسيا في التاريخ المعاصر. و قد تم اعتقال زعيم المتظاهرين "مين كو ناينج" منذ ذلك الحين مع ما يقارب 1400 معتقل سياسي آخر.

و الآن بوصفنا عرب، يجب علينا الوقوف إلى جانب شعب بورما في كفاحه من أجل الحرية. لأن في إتحادنا تكمن القدرة على إحداث الفرق. ندعوكم للانضمام إلى المعركة الآن، أنشروا الخبر، و اتخذوا موقفا!

الحرية لبورما!"

MEY

Hillary's Petition

Hillary Clinton started a petition to win the hearts of the "invisivible people".

Do You Feel Invisible to Your Government? Petition

Sign-up for the Hillary Clinton for President campaign! Hillary Clinton has spent her life standing up for people others don't see. When Hillary is in the White House, no American will be invisible to the president of the United States.

Join our movement to pass universal health care, achieve energy independence, stop the corruption and cronyism in Washington, and end the war in Iraq - sign up with the campaign today!

I figured hey, I'm sort of invisible too because she can't see me sitting here behind my computer reading her deceptions, so I signed the petition and left this comment:

As long as America has a two-party political system and a free market economy, it will never have the kind of social system the so-called "invisible people" dream off.  What Hillary and her fellow politicians running for office need to do is stop deceiving people who are in need and direct them to the proper channels that are already in place to provide essential human services instead.  Visit http://www.211.org/ for more info.

And I found this Hillary nutcracker at Sticky Notes.  Lovely, ain't it?

SOS Morocco

As Child sex tourism continues to grow at an alarming rate causing serious harm to millions of children around the globe, Morocco is contributing its share doing whatever possible to fight sexual predators who are increasingly targeting Moroccan children. 

Thanks to Kenza, I just discovered this nonprofit organization that was recently founded by a group of caring individuals to help raise awareness on children's rights and say NO to sex tourism in Morocco.

Please let's join them in this noble effort by signing this petition and do whatever we can to help spread the word.  Thank you!