RI asks OIC to help settle Syrian issue

Antara News, Mon, February 20 2012

 "The minister said Indonesia had written to Kazakhstan as OIC chairman asking the organization to play a greater role in solving the Syrian issue."

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government appealed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday to play a greater role in addressing various global issues including a conflict in Syria.

"Of course, the OIC has the potential to voice its views and becomes part of solution. What is more, Syria has not shown signs of improvement. This commission can be part of solution," Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said at the Presidential Office here on Monday.

The minister said Indonesia had written to Kazakhstan as OIC chairman asking the organization to play a greater role in solving the Syrian issue.

He said the OIC`s Human Rights Commission should have a commitment to continuously encourage the protection of human rights in the region.

Meanwhile, Chief of the OIC`s Human Rights Commission for Indonesia Siti Ruhaini Dzuhayatin said the commission was set up only in July 2010.

"The structure of the commission has just been completed. We are also in the process of discussing rules and procedures and identifying issues," she said.

She said the commission was set up to respond to issues following the Cairo Declaration.

Earlier in the day, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received a visit from OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and a delegation of the OIC`s Permanent Independent Commission for Human Rights.

The commission is holding a meeting in Jakarta to discuss a number of issues related to the exercise of human rights as well as other international issues.

The meeting which opened on Monday will end on Friday.

Editor: Heru

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Inside fraud job costs ING millions

RNW, 17 February 2012

ING insurance and banking group has lost about 20.5 million euros from a massive fraud committed by one of its own accountants in Australia.

Court documents released last week after Fajina Subramaniam was sentenced to seven years in prison revealed the 42-year-old woman had stolen 37 million euros from the bank over a period of five years.

As a senior accountant, Subramaniam made 200 illegal transfers into her personal accounts or directly to shops and real estate agents. She then used the computer log-ins of former staff to delete the records or change them so the transactions appeared legitimate.

Above market price

The employee started to enjoy a life of luxury with expensive jewelry and various waterfront apartments. While ING has recovered most of the haul of luxury goods and property, the bank has still taken a substantial hit as Subramaniam paid above market rates for the real estate she bought.

She developed a personal relationship with staff from the super luxury Paspaley jeweller's and was reportedly wined and dined on a regular basis.

The court documents also highlighted the poor levels of internal security at the section of ING where Subramaniam worked, ING Australia Holdings.

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China backs Assad before Syrian forces open fire at funeral

Beijing's deputy foreign minister argues for 'stability' as regime continues to target protesters

guardian.co.uk, Conal Urquhart and agencies, Saturday 18 February 2012 

An image grab taken from a video uploaded to YouTube showing
Syrian mourners coming under fire. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

China has expressed support for President Bashar al-Assad's regime as Syrian security forces continue to target pro-democracy protesters.

The endorsement of Assad by Chinese deputy foreign minister Zhai Jun on Saturday came shortly before Syrian troops opened fire on a funeral procession in Damascus.

Zhai, who met Syrian opposition and government representatives before backing Assad, said China was "deeply concerned by the escalating crisis" but added that "the Chinese experience shows a nation cannot develop without stability".

The Chinese official said his government supported Syria's plan for a referendum on constitutional reform next week. "China supports the path of reform taking place in Syria and the important steps that have been taken in this respect," he said.

A few hours later, Syrian forces opened fire on the funeral of three men killed by security forces on Friday, killing at least one person.

"They started firing at the crowd right after the burial. People are running and trying to take cover in the alleyways," a witness told Reuters by telephone.

The opposition Syrian Revolution Co-ordination Union said the gunfire near the cemetery had killed one mourner and wounded four, including a woman who was hit in the head.

Up to 30,000 demonstrators had taken to the streets in the capital's Mezze district, near the headquarters of air force intelligence and that of the ruling Ba'ath party.

Footage of the funeral broadcast on the internet showed women ululating to honour the victims. Mourners shouted: "We sacrifice our blood, our soul for you martyrs. One, one, one, the Syrian people are one."

YouTube footage from the Damascus suburb of Douma showed several thousand protesters at the funerals of two people said to have been killed there by security forces. The bodies were carried though crowds of mourners waving pre-Ba'ath Syrian flags.

The Chinese embassy said Zhai held separate meetings with moderate opposition figures Qadri Jamil, Louay Hussein and Hassan Abdulazim, but gave no details.

"We told the Chinese envoy that most of the opposition accept a dialogue if that dialogue is serious and responsible, meaning that the Syrian authorities would implement what is agreed. But the problem with dialogue is that the authorities have lost credibility," Hussein told Reuters.

Fighting has continued across Syria during the envoy's visit. In Homs, there was no let-up in the bombardment of the city by government forces. Rebels set fire to a fuel tank at a refinery in the city.

The state news agency, Sana, said that 10 members of the security forces were buried on Saturday. A soldier and a local councillor were killed by gunmen in Idlib and Aleppo, the agency said.

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Tibetan monk sets himself on fire

Chinese VP visits Int'l Studies Learning Center in L.A.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L) and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden

 show T-shirts with messages on them presented by students at the

 International Studies Learning Center in Los Angeles, the United States,

Feb. 17, 2012. (Xinhua/Liu Jiansheng)

N. Korea rejects S. Korea call for talks on reunions

Antara News, Sat, February 18 2012

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Seoul (ANTARA News/AFP) - North Korea Saturday rejected the South`s call for talks aimed at restarting reunions for families separated since the Korean War, saying Seoul should first respond to its conditions for dialogue.

South Korea`s Red Cross Tuesday proposed the talks to discuss a resumption of the temporary reunions for family members separated since the 1950-1953 war.

Pyongyang`s Minju Joson newspaper accused Seoul of talking about reunions and other exchanges while secretly seeking sanctions.

If the South was genuinely interested in family reunions and other exchanges, the paper said, it should reply to a "questionnaire" addressed to Seoul`s leaders this month.

The questionnaire told the South`s leaders to "repent of their crimes" following the December 17 death of the North`s leader Kim Jong-Il and to honour past summit agreements.

It accused them of showing disrespect during the mourning period for Kim and told them to halt major exercises with US troops and halt "vicious" smear campaigns.

The South has dismissed the demands as unreasonable.

Hundreds of thousands of family members were separated during the war, which sealed the division of the peninsula. There are no civilian mail or phone connections across the border, and many do not even know whether their relatives are alive or dead.

The last temporary reunions, arranged by the two Koreas` Red Cross authorities but authorised by governments on both sides, began in October 2010.

Plans for further events were scrapped after the North shelled a frontline island in the South in November that year, killing four people.

Since 2000 sporadic events have briefly reunited more than 17,000 people face-to-face and an estimated 3,700 -- usually those too frail to travel -- via video link.

But 80,000 people in the South alone are on the waiting list for reunions and thousands die every year before getting their chance.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Tibetan monk sets himself on fire

Reports say Tamchoe Sangpo died after setting himself alight at monastery, in latest in wave of protest self-immolations

guardian.co.uk, Associated Press, Saturday 18 February 2012

Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet, which took place in Los
Angeles this week. Photograph: David Mcnew/Getty Images

Another Tibetan Buddhist monk has set himself on fire in western China amid a wave of such protests against China's handling of the vast Tibetan areas it rules, overseas groups have said.

Tamchoe Sangpo set himself alight on Friday during a prayer ceremony at Bongtak monastery in a remote region of Qinghai province, the advocacy group Free Tibet said. It gave no details about his current condition, although US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia said he had died.

The reports said Sangpo was around 40 years old and had served as one of the monastery's leaders after returning from three years of study during the 1990s in India, where Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, resides. They said he had strongly objected to the presence of Chinese security agents who took up positions in the monastery last month, warning them of extreme acts if they did not leave.

A police officer in the county of Tianjun, where the monastery is located and an official at the surrounding Haixi prefectural government said on Saturday that he had no information about the case. Calls to Tianjun county government offices rang unanswered. The monastery's phone number was unlisted.

As many as 21 monks, nuns and ordinary Tibetans have set themselves on fire over the past year, and Free Tibet says at least 13 died from their injuries.

Such acts show no signs of abating, even as China ratchets up security and seals off Tibetan areas to outsiders, making it impossible to know what is actually happening inside.

China blames supporters of China's exiled Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama for encouraging the self-immolations and anti-government protests that have led to the deaths of an unknown number of Tibetans at the hands of police. Authorities have reportedly detained and forced into re-education classes hundreds of Tibetans who went to India to receive religious instruction from the Dalai Lama, who China accuses of campaigning to split Tibet from the rest of China. The Dalai Lama says he is seeking only increased autonomy for Tibet.

Tibetan activists say Tibetans are being pushed into ever more radical acts because of intense pressure from the police and military, who maintain a highly visible presence in towns and occupy monasteries while forcing monks to endure hours of political indoctrination at the expense of their religious studies.

Many Tibetans are also resentful over the migration of ethnic Chinese to their areas and what they see as economic marginalisation and the snuffing out of their traditions. China says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, while many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that time.

The latest self-immolation comes at an especially sensitive time, ahead of Wednesday's traditional Tibetan new year celebrations and the anniversary of the 14 March 2008, riots in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, which left 22 people dead.

Controversial Islam scholar can travel to Netherlands

 RNW, 16 February 2012

Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten has written to parliament that there are no grounds to bar controversial Islam scholar Haitham al-Haddad from entering the Netherlands.

Haitham al-Haddad

The minister’s letter came in reaction to questions from the Christian Union, Freedom Party, the conservative VVD and the Christian democratic CDA.

Mr Opstelten wrote that the sheikh’s statements on Jews and women were reprehensible, but in themselves insufficient grounds to bar him from entering the Netherlands.

Amsterdam venue De Balie has invited the Islam scholar after VU University Amsterdam cancelled his invitation to take part in a symposium organised by the VU’s Islamic Students’ Association because of the commotion over his intended participation.

In his letter, the minister pointed out that Mr al-Haddad has British nationality. EU citizens can only be denied entry to the Netherlands if they pose a threat to public order, national security or public health. “Of course, you can assume that action will be taken should such a threat occur after all,” according to Mr Opstelten.

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"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator,Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience? 

.

"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

".. If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening. ... "


"The New Paradigm of Reality" Part I/II – Feb 12, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)

UN General Assembly passes Syria resolution

Deutsche Welle, 16 February 2012

The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for an end to violence in Syria and an end to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The United Nations General Assembly has passed an Arab-led resolution condemning rights violations in Syria and calling on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The measure would be non-binding and is expected to make little difference on the ground.

The resolution passed 137-12, with 17 abstentions. China and Russia were among the countries their votes against the measure. Both countries vetoed a similar resolution earlier this month at the UN Security Council. Vetoes are not allowed in the 193-member General Assembly.

Killing continues

As the General Assembly convened to discuss Syria, violence on the ground in opposition hotspots around the country intensified. At least 41 people were reportedly killed when regime tanks moved on protest hubs. 

Tanks have been bearing down on
Syrian opposition cities for weeks

Assad's troops pummeled the central city of Homs for a 13th straight day, with 18 people killed in central Hama province and four others dying in the southern city of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported.

The group also said it feared security forces had carried out killings in Daraa province, where dozens of civilians disappeared on Wednesday.

"There are fears regime forces carried out a massacre in Sahm al-Julan," the Britain-based group said in a statement.

"Witnesses said security forces shot at the civilians and then piled them onto pick-up trucks. Their fate is unknown," said the Observatory, which provided the names of 14 of those feared killed.

There were also reports Thursday that the well-known blogger Razan Ghazzawi and rights activist Mazen Darwish had been detained by security forces.

Human rights groups put the cumulative civilian death toll from 11 months of crackdown and conflict in Syria at around 7,000.

Ban condemnation

Earlier Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had called for an urgent end to the "indiscriminate" shelling of civilians in Syria, highlighting the likelihood that the regime had committed crimes against humanity. 

Homs has been under bombardment
for nearly two weeks

"We see neighborhoods shelled indiscriminately, hospitals used as torture centers, children as young as 10 years old killed and abused. We see almost certain crimes against humanity," Ban told reporters in Vienna.

"What is important at this time is that first the Syrian authorities must stop killing their own people," Ban said after meeting Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

International attention continues to focus on Syria away from the United Nations forum, with China announcing that Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun would visit Damascus on February 17 and 18 for talks aimed at ending the violence.

The United States, meanwhile, has announced new sanctions against the Iranian intelligence ministry, claiming it has supported the crackdown on dissent in Syria.

dfm/rc (AFP, dpa)

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Former Olympus executives arrested over accounting fraud – video

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 February 2012

The former CEO of Olympus, Michael Woodford, says there are still questions that need answering after three former Olympus executives – including ex-president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa – were arrested. Woodford, who was sacked from the company when he exposed accounting fraud, said he was encouraged by the Tokyo prosecutors' action

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People walk past a signboard of Olympus Corp outside
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(Credit: Reuters/Issei Kato)

President voices need to harmonize ASEAN`s judicial systems

Antara News, Fri, February 17 2012

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Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has stressed the need for ASEAN member countries to harmonize their legal systems and laws as part of the process to form an ASEAN community.

Speaking at the opening of the 11th General Meeting of the Association of ASEAN Laws (ALA) here Thursday, Yudhoyono said he believed harmonizing the legal systems and laws would contribute positively to the formation of the ASEAN Community in 2015.

"A just and effective legal system is one of the foundations for the formation of the ASEAN Community in 2015," he said.

He said he did not mean that all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations must combine or merge their legal systems.

"That is not what I mean. But there must be a process of harmonization of the legal systems," he said.

In connection with that he said he hoped the ALA could play a role in three main issues in ASEAN.

"The first issue is you must provide a framework for learning and analyzing laws in ASEAN countries with regard to harmonizing them," he said.

He said by identifying the legal issues of common concern ALA would contribute a lot to ASEAN members and the region.

Secondly, he said, ALA must increase the professionalism and integrity of legal practitioners in member countries including prosecutors, judges, lawyers and teachers.

"The association could facilitate exchange of experience and knowledge among members," he said.

Thirdly, he said, ALA could expand cooperation and collaboration with all stakeholders.

"You must cover government institutions, private sector, academics and other parties concerned," he said adding that inclusiveness could promote public knowledge of ALA better.

President Yudhoyono praised ALA that has successfully accommodated legal practitioners in Souteast Asia harmoniously.

ALA is a non-governmental organization established in 1979 to accommodate various kinds of profession linked to law enforcement namely judges, law teachers, legal practitioners and prosecutors under one roof.

ALA was set up with an aim of developing joint efforts with regard to understanding harmonization of laws in the region.

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

Dutch stand up for Saudi Twitter apostate

RNW, 13 February 2012, by RNW News Desk

(Photo: Twitter)

               

Twenty-three-year-old journalist and Twitterer Hamza Kashgari was extradited from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia on Sunday. He faces a possible death sentence for apostasy. Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has expressed his concern. And Dutch politicians are calling for more action from the government.

Based on a report by Jannie Schipper

“On your birthday, I shall not bow to you,” tweeted Hamza Kashgari in the run-up to Mawlid, the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth. “I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more.”

The former columnist’s imaginary Twitter conversation with the Prophet caused a storm in Saudi Arabia. “When I saw the tweets it made me cry,” tweeted Saudi Information Minister Aziz Khoja.

Rushdie

Kashgari tweeted a profuse apology in response to the outrage. But by this time he was already at the airport fleeing the country, says rights group Amnesty International.

Kashgari’s apology has done nothing to stem calls for his prosecution in Saudi Arabia, where he has become the subject of a hate campaign in both the traditional and social media. According to a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, apostasy is punishable by death, but not if the apostate has expressed remorse. Nevertheless, Kashgari has been put on a par with Salman Rushdie by his enemies in the Saudi press.

Asylum

Dutch Human Rights Ambassador Lionel Veer says he will be raising the case during his current visit to Saudi Arabia. Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has expressed his concern and is adding his voice to calls for an EU protest to the Saudi authorities. In response to Dutch appeals, the EU urged Malaysia not to agree to the young journalist’s extradition.

The opposition Labour Party and Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party have called on the foreign minister to do all he can to secure Kashgari’s release. And the Labour Party says the Netherlands should offer him asylum.

The anti-Islam Freedom Party wants Minister Rosenthal to summon the Saudi ambassador and demand the journalist’s release. What’s more, the party says Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten should investigate the role of Interpol in the case. Kashgari was reportedly arrested in Malaysia in response to a tip-off from the international police organisation.

Crossed the line

The uproar surrounding Hamza Kashgari’s case is not unusual, according to Dutch Saudi Arabia specialist Paul Aarts: “It goes in waves. Sometimes the royal family give the religious lobby what they want, and then it’s time to give more room to the liberals.”

The Saudi king personally gave orders for Kashgari’s arrest, according to some media reports. However, it’s wrong to think that that any kind of criticism in Saudi Arabia is impossible, Mr Aarts adds: “There is a range of opinion, there are liberal and conservative newspapers. There is more debate in the Saudi media than people often think here, also about religious matters, and about the Saud family. But there are lines that can’t be crossed, and this Twitterer has clearly done so.”

Kashgari apologised for his comments
and said he was being made a 
"scapegoat for a larger conflict"

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‘God Does Not Exist’ Comment Ends Badly for Indonesia Man

The Thinker: Is Atheism Allowed?

"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience? …. “

'Israel a bully on verge of global isolation' - Israeli diplomat

'Israel should put an end to pointedly hawkish political discourse towards Iran because a preemptive assault might cost it a loss of global legitimacy,' - warns Elan Baruch, a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa. RT talked to Mr. Baruch to discuss the position his country occupies on today's worldwide political stage.

RT on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_com

RT on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTnews

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"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

".. If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening. ... "

Malaysia deports Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari

BBC News, 12 February 2012

Related Stories 

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Mr Kashgari's controversial tweet
sparked more than 30,000 responses,
including death threats

Malaysian authorities have deported a Saudi journalist accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a tweet.

Police confirmed to the BBC that Hamza Kashgari was sent back to Saudi Arabia on Sunday despite protests from human rights groups.

Mr Kashgari's controversial tweet last week sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats.

Insulting the prophet is considered blasphemous in Islam and is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Kashgari, 23, fled Saudi Arabia last week and was detained upon his arrival in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

He had tweeted his doubts about Muhammad on the prophet's birthday last week. Saudi clerics condemned his remarks as blasphemous.

Injunction

Mr Kashgari apologised and deleted the tweet, but when he continued to receive threats, he left for Malaysia.

The two countries do not have a formal extradition treaty but Malaysia has good relations with Saudi Arabia as a fellow Muslim country, says the BBC's Jennifer Pak, in Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Kashgari's lawyer obtained an injunction on Sunday to allow him to stay in Malaysia until his case was heard, but it was too late, our correspondent says.

"The nature of the charges against the individual in this case are a matter for the Saudi Arabian authorities," Malaysia's home ministry said in a statement.

Amnesty International has warned that Mr Kashgari could be executed in Saudi Arabia if he is found guilty of apostasy.

"If the Malaysian authorities hand over Hamza Kashgari to Saudi Arabia, they could end up complicit in any violations he suffers," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty's Middle East division.

Kashgari apologised for his comments and said he

was being made a "scapegoat for a larger conflict"

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"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience? …. “