Sunday, January 30, 2011

Man arrested with explosives outside Mich. mosque

A 63-year-old is arrested on explosives charges in a mosque parking lot after reportedly making anti-Muslim remarks

By Justin Elliott

Roger Stockham, a 63-year-old California man, was arrested on explosives charges last week after police allegedly found him with M-80s in the trunk of his car in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of America, a Dearborn, Michigan, mosque.

Stockham was arraigned on Wednesday on one count of false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possession of explosives with unlawful intent, police said in a statement. Bail has been set at $500,000. The chief of police told the Detroit Free Press that Stockham has a history of anti-government feelings and he was attracted to Michigan because of its large Arab and Muslim population.

A spokesman for the Dearborn police told Salon today that no more information is being released and the investigation is ongonig.

But Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Salon some more details of what allegedly happened, according to his conversations with police and mosque officials: He says Stockham had been heard by an employee of a Detroit bar making anti-Muslim remarks, including "describing Muslims as the enemy." The employee took down Stockham's license plate and alerted police. When they found him in the mosque parking lot, police found a concealed knife on Stockham and a large amount of fireworks, including M-80 exlposives, in the trunk of his car, Walid says.

He adds that he heard Stockham had praised Timothy McVeigh as a hero; but that and the other details could not be independently confirmed.

Walid says there were roughly 500 people inside the mosque on Monday for a funeral when Stockham was arrested in the parking lot. Asked how the community is reacting, he said:

"I've heard a couple of different reactions: What they were saying is that this guy, whether he has some mental instability or not, he could have caused a lot of damage." And, he added, "if his name was Ali or Muhammed and he did a similar thing at a synogogue, he would have been immediately labeled a domestic terrorist."

This Web profile of Stockham suggests he is a Vietnam veteran with two children and a granddaughter. And Talking Points Memo reports on his apparent MySpace page:

[H]e writes that he's happy with how much he's lived. "Ready for it to be over, but have a policy I contend with often: So long as I am alive, I can't play dead," Stockham apparently writes.

He writes that he has "four ex-wives" is "on meds and doing better than my history would predict." He lists his heroes as Thomas Jefferson and "Tom Payne" [sic].

* Justin Elliott is a Salon reporter. Reach him by email at jelliott@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More: Justin Elliott

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/01/30/michigan_mosque_charges_roger_stockham/index.html

Egypt shuts down al-Jazeera; 100 dead in protests

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, January 30th, 2011 -- 11:00 am

CAIRO — Egypt moved on Sunday to shut down Al Jazeera's coverage of mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak's regime, but the pan-Arab broadcaster vowed that it would not be silenced.

Outgoing information minister Anas al-Fikki has "ordered the closure of all activities by Al Jazeera in the Arab republic of Egypt and the annulment of its licenses," Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

The press cards of all Al Jazeera staff in Egypt were also being withdrawn, it added.

Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat meanwhile halted its relays of Al Jazeera programming, although the Qatar-based television channel could still be viewed in Cairo via Arabsat.

On Twitter, an Al Jazeera correspondent, Dan Nolan, wrote: "Aljazeera Cairo bureau has been shut down. Just visited by plain clothes govt security, TV uplink is now closed."

In a statement, Al Jazeera said the shutdown -- on day six of unprecedented and often violent street protests -- was aimed at "censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people."

"Al Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists," it said.

"Al Jazeera assures its audiences in Egypt and across the world that it will continue its in-depth and comprehensive reporting on the events unfolding in Egypt," it said.

It added: "In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society, it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard.

"The closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.

"The Al Jazeera Network is appalled at this latest attack by the Egyptian regime to strike at its freedom to report independently on the unprecedented events in Egypt," it added.

More than 100 people have been killed since mass protests against Mubarak's regime -- ignited by popular unrest in Tunisia -- erupted last Tuesday. While moving to change his government, the president is defying calls to stand down.

Al Jazeera has revolutionized the Arabic-language media and reporting on the Middle East since its foundation in 1996.

Media analysts have credited its blanket coverage of this month's unrest in Tunisia with contributing to the ouster of the North African state's longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Last week Al Jazeera angered the Palestinian Authority when it began releasing the first of 1,600 files detailing more than a decade of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

The files alleged that Palestinian negotiators offered unprecedented concessions on such sensitive subjects as Jerusalem and refugees.

They also claim that of members of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority cooperated closely with Israel in confronting Hamas, Fatah's more militant rival, which controls the Gaza strip.

In December, Kuwait shut down Al Jazeera's bureau in Kuwait City over its coverage of the use of police force at a public gathering. Al Jazeera denied meddling in Kuwaiti affairs, saying it was just doing its job.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/egypt-shuts-aljazeera/