By Hardeep Singh

Last month at the GG2 Awards, the director of the Indian tourist board UK was given a rare award for the most creative media campaign using ethnic imagery. The award handed to the Indian Tourist Board UK by Cherie Blair was for the ‘Incredible India campaign’ – a campaign showcasing India as a destination of choice for global tourists.

 Undoubtedly, India has much to offer the discerning tourist. Scratch a little under the surface of glossy marketing campaigns, reveals a darker side to India – which few often contemplate. I sat in the audience with a hint of cynicism.

Twenty-five years ago thousands of innocent Sikh men, women and children were brutally murdered on the streets of Delhi and the surrounding area by furious mobs out for revenge following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Outraged by Operation Bluestar, a military siege of Skihism's holiest shrine, they had turned on their employer and gunned her down. 

For the international Sikh community the events following on from the 31st of Oct still arouses unforgettable spectres from the past.  As soon as the killings began it was clear that the rent-a-mobs were meticulously organised and directed from above. John Fraser in Canada’s Globe and Mail described how ‘for three horrific nights and four days, the violence was allowed to proceed…by which time the worst atrocities had been committed.’

The Prime Minister's murder provided a pretext for unprecedented brutality with days of unrelenting violence, rape & pillaging. An estimated 4,000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone. British Sikhs like me, although only a child at the time, watched on helplessly as we followed reports in the media of the massacre of our brethren in India’s capital.

Worst still, the authorities were allegedly complicit, in what was the worst carnage across the country since partition. A quarter of a century later and the perpetrators (those who are still alive along with victims) have not been brought to book in the world's so called ‘largest democracy’. The fact that the planners of the Delhi pogroms allegedly were elected members of the ruling Congress party, some of whom are still incumbent should not be a barrier to justice for the victims. In a recent report Amnesty International described India's inability to prosecute the perpetrators of the violence as a "national disgrace".

So why has justice been denied?
( Read more... )

Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman called on California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today to close down a website where people who visit prostitutes in the UK can rate their experiences. 

Other than the slightly crass nature of the headline grabbing soundbytes that she used ("Surely it can't be too difficult for The Terminator to terminate PunterNet" was just one), there's something else that bothers me about her demands.

At first glance her call for Arnie to shut down PunterNet (which I understand is hosted in the US but written by UK punters) appears a worthy cause. 

"There is now a website ... where pimps put women on sale for sex and then men who've had sex with them put their comments on line," she said. "It is PunterNet and fuels the demand for prostitutes. It is the ultimate commodification of women and puts women at risk. It is truly degrading."

Punter Net, of course, (which I doubt many people - myself included - would have even heard about till today) are no doubt loving the free publicity. But if you look more closely at the website and what it does, you realise that it not just a meat market for punters to boast about their financially acquired "conquests". 

In the end it is not websites like Punter Net that are fuelling the demand for prostitutes. Like it or not there will always be men willing to pay for sex and a small number of women who are willing (or forced) to accept their money. What a site like Punter Net does do, however, is take a small step towards making the buying and selling of sex a slightly safer and more transparent transaction.

The Government, of course, should be doing that but they're far too terrified of thinking outside the box when it comes to prostitution - so instead punters and sex workers are using the internet to regulate their own industry. 

First of all it is clear that Punter Net is very much a website created by and for people who buy sex - and there are a number of very disparaging comments on there by some rather sad, misogynists. But many of the comments also act as advisories and warnings to fellow punters, some are even touchingly sweet remarks about the women who provide them with something they cannot ordinarily get without paying.

And while the prostitute visiting male is not exactly the most sympathetic of creatures, there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to advise others whether a massage parlour or brothel is clean, safe, above board and good value.

Sex workers are, of course, the people who are most likely to be on the receiving end of often profound, disturbing and unacceptable violence. But punters need protection too from violent pimps or rip-off merchants who operate in a virtually unregulated industry. If they can warn each other of the pit falls, surely that can only be a good thing?

There is also a section on the website which prominently encourages people who visit sex workers to report any place that they think is selling sex with trafficked or under age women. Whether the punters do that or not, who knows, but at least the site is telling them to do so. 

There is also a forum which is used by sex workers to warn each other of violent or abusive customers. One of the threads that has lots of traffic at the moment is about a man who often phones up for a "foot fetish" session and then violently robs the girls. He seems to have hit a number of places in the south east very recently and, according to one thread, has been caught thanks to the fact that various sex workers were able to warn each other online about where he had hit and when. 

Of course, if prostitution was fully legalised, regulated and taxed punters and sex workers alike would not have to be forced to self-regulate and warn each other online about the darker sides of the trade. But unfortunately there are very few British politicians willing or brave enough to make such a radical suggestion. 

But say you closed down all sites like Punter Net, what happens next? Inevitably punters will be forced to go back to reading anonymous adverts for massage parlours in the back of local newspapers and phone boxes or go curb crawling. And the sex workers will also have no way of warning each other about violent customers other than through word of mouth.

If you really want to stop the dark side of the sex industry then you need to crack down on the traffickers and pimps, while giving punters and voluntary sex workers support and help in setting up a fully regulated and transparent industry.

Good looking sound bytes will never be enough.  

There was something painfully predictable about watching events unfold in Harrow on Friday night.

One thing's for sure, the so-called "English Defence League" (who could only muster 15 supporters on Friday) will be rubbing their hands in glee. As will the equally unpleasant Al Muhajiroun, who sent a small but vocal number of their supporters to the mosque in Harrow, an area of London where neither side have much influence whatsoever.

Both these groups - and the virtually unknown Stop the Islamization of Europe - thrive off creating an atmosphere which breeds polarisation and contempt among different racial groups. They vehemently believe in a "them and us" philosophy and those who wish to oppose them should do everything in their power to show them that Britain is stronger than that.

Unfortunately, throwing bottles, rocks and fireworks at the police is not the best way to do that - a nuanced argument that is a little difficult to get across to young, angry Asian youths who feel increasingly marginalised and have been waiting all day to have a pop at either their political opponents, or the police (who let's face it have hardly endeared themselves to Muslim youths over the past eight years).

( Read more... )

Music, films, books, fashion and a hefty helping of God will be served up in a new magazine out next month aimed at Christian teenagers.

Streetbrand has had a relatively successful website for the past few years (10,000 hits per month+) and is bringing out its first new print edition next month.

The magazine is the brainchild of Kofo Baptist, a Pentecostal mother of two from Dagenham, who believes there's a gap in the market for Christian teens who may be turned off by the Nuts and Zoos of this world and are looking for something a little more wholesome but streetwise. 

"What we want to do is create a space where Christian teenagers of all denominations can come together and talk about their experiences," she tells me. 

In the States Christian bookshops are now filled with a vast array of trendy but godly magazines so it will be interesting to see whether Streetwise catches on here.

In the current climate of scant advertising revenue and free content on the internet launching a new magazine is a notoriously tricky affair, but specialty subjects like religion may be able to sail against the prevailing winds. 

Over the past few years, for instance, there has been a real flourishing of trendy Muslim lifestyle magazines - Emel, Q-News and Sisters to name just a few. So it will be interesting to see whether a similar sort of Christian magazine can do the same. 

Kofo tells me the mag will get a soft launch to begin with - an initial print run of 3,000 which will just go out to Christian bookshops. The money behind it is all her own and she's just recently left her job as a charity worker to set up a graphic design business and run the magazine. Good luck to her, the more magazines on our bookshelves the merrier. 

It's a bit late because I've been out the office for most of this week but there's a great new music video from Riz MC - a Muslim rapper who is going places rather fast.

Otherwise known as Rizwan Ahmed, most people will recognise him from the controversial Channel 4 drama Britz, which told the lives of a British-Pakistani brother and sister - one of whom joins MI5 to combat radicalism while the other becomes a suicide bomber.

Riz is very good at telling it like it is and this latest song on the legacy of 7/7 is pretty powerful. It's a lot different from the song he did on 9/11which launched his career and was a lot more satirical. I'll post that below as well.

WARNING - SOME VIDEOS HAVE VERY GRAPHIC CONTENT

A women lies shot through the chest, a growing pool of blood flowing out from under her black veil. As people rush to her aid and desperately try to ply pressure on the gunshot wound, the woman's eyes roll into the back of her head and blood pours out her nose. Within seconds she is dead.

No one knows the woman's name but Iranian protestors are already calling her "Neda" - Farsi for "The Call" or "The Voice". The concept of martrydom is key to Iran's Shi'a culture and in the terrible footage of Neda dying on the floor they have something macabre but incredibly powerful to rally around. 

</lj-embed>

In this video a man has been shot in the lower abdomen and lies dying. Once again their appears to be little attempt to get the man to hospital. Many of the roads have simply been closed down by protestors and police. Hospitals are fast filling up and protestors have been sending each other details of which foreign embassies are taking in wounded. 



In this video a cameraman walks up a street in Tehran on 20 June. Every so often the sound of gunfire is heard. At one point two women - one old, one young - hand out pieces of paving slab to protestors. The cameraman walks to the top of an intersection as fellow protestors shout "Margh-bar dictator!" (Death to the Dictator). As the rate of gunfire increases the crowds bring out the body of man who has been shot. He too is greeted with cries of "Allahu Akbar".


In yet another gutwrenchingly harrowing video, a young man's life ebbs away on a Tehrani street after being shot in the throat, allegedly by armed basijis.



If there are more videos you think should be catalogued here please email me on j.taylor@independent.co.uk and I'll put them up.

Just got back from Al Muhajiroun's "relaunch" which had to be abandoned. Here's what I filed:

Jerome Taylor
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

The public relaunch of the controversial Islamist group Al Muhajiroun descended into chaos last night as a debate between the sect’s UK leader and the director of a centre right think tank had to be abandoned.

Scenes of angry confrontation broke out at the Conway Hall in central London between members of Al Muhajiroun and secular attendees of the debate who refused to segregate themselves into separate sections for men and women.

The owners of the Conway Hall, the South Place Ethical Society, eventually cancelled the debate altogether after declaring that they would not tolerate any segregation within their venue.

Members of Al Muhajiroun – an politically extreme and socially austere radical Islamist group which has little support within the wider Muslim community – greeted the decision with angry cries of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) before marching out into the street. Police were called although no arrests were made.

Al Muhajiroun’s British based leader, Anjem Choudary, had been due to hold a debate with Douglas Murray of the Centre for Social Cohesion on Sharia law. The event was supposed to have been independently adjudicated by a group calling itself the Global Issues Society, however, it quickly emerged that doormen acting on behalf of the group were siding with Al Muhajiroun.

Led by the Syrian born preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad, who is banned from the UK and lives in exile in Lebanon, Al Muhajiroun supposedly disbanded in 2004 when the government threatened to outlaw them. Two offshoot sects led by Bakri Muhammad were outlawed the following year by the Home Office for “glorifying terrorism”.

Until recently Choudary and Bakri Muhammad’s followers have kept a low profile, operating under the name Ahl us-Sunnah wal Jamma'ah. Last night’s appearance was the first public outing for Al Muhajiroun in over five years. Membership remains in the low hundreds but a number of followers and former followers have been convicted of terrorist activity.

Ideological intransigence from both sides in the debate effectively led to the event’s cancellation. Scuffles began after a group of bearded and heavy set doormen initially insisted that all women – including non-Muslims – would have to sit upstairs drawing angry responses from some attendees, particularly members of the Council of ex-Muslims – an atheist group of former Muslims who are strongly opposed to Islam.

At one point a non-Muslim man, Michael Jones, marched upstairs and insisted on sitting down next to a small group of women dressed in full veils prompting an even angrier reaction from the doormen. “As soon as you say the words “segregation” I think of apartheid,” he said. “I won’t stand for that.”

Eventually Al Muhajiroun agreed to allow non-Muslim women into the downstairs section but Giles Enderson, the president of the Conway Hall, cancelled the debate anyway. “A group of thugs on the door refused to let women into the downstairs section so I’m cancelling the meeting,” he said. “Anyone who has issue with that can go to the police.”

Mr Choudary, who believes Sharia law should be introduced into Britain, said: “The brothers did not want women downstairs and some people would not abide by that. We will not accept people who interfere in our debate.”

Universities are wonderful places that should always promote the principles of free speech and vibrant intellectual debate - even if the subject matter is highly controversial. But where does that tolerance spill over into allowing hate preachers to pollute young minds with a single-minded, intolerant and bigoted message of hate?

Take the University of East London, for instance. This afternoon their Islamic Society is hosting its annual dinner - a three course meal followed by sermons from a number of popular preachers.

One of those preachers is Abu Usama Adh Dhahabee (pictured) who believes, among other things, that women are "deficient", that gays should be "thrown off a mountain" and that non-Muslims (kuffars) should be "hated".

Abu Usama was secretly filmed over a four week period for the Dispatches "Undercover Mosque" documentary which uncovered how a number of Saudi influenced mosques are secretly peddling an intolerant message of hatred towards non-Muslims.

Here are just a few choice snippets from Abu Usama, a charismatic American convert who regularly preaches in the UK, particularly in the Birmingham area.

On non-Muslims: "No one loves the kuffaar [non-Muslims]. No one loves the kuffaar! Whether these kuffaar are from the UK, or from the US … We love the people of Islam and we hate the people of the kufr [non-Muslims]. We hate the kuffaars."

On apostasy: "Whoever changes his religion from al-Islam to anything else kill him in the Islamic State."

On homosexuality: "Do you practise homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain."

And finally, on women: "Allah has created the woman, even if she gets a Phd, deficient. Her intellect is incomplete. Deficient. She may be suffering from hormones that will make her emotional. It takes two witnesses of a woman to equal one witness of the man."

( Read more... )

My post yesterday detailed raids conducted by Iranian revolutionary guards over the weekend against Tehran University.

Further reports indicate that a number of students may have even been killed in that raid, as detailed in today's Independent by Robert Fisk who is on the streets of Tehran as I write this now.

A source of mine in Isfahan has forwarded me details of another raid that took place at the city's main University which paints a wider picture of sustained attacks by Iran's security forces against students. 



Students are saying two people were killed in this raid, however, I stress that figure is unconfirmed. What this video does clearly show is that a number of students were clearly beaten by the basij.

The Iranian government has made it all but impossible for foreign journalists to get outsude of Tehran but it is clear that protests have been taking place in a number of other cities. 

The image on the left shows students at Zahedan University protesting against the recent election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a second term in office. 

Iran's Guardian Council has agreed to hold a recount of the disputed vote - it will be intersting to see whether such a move will be able to head off further protests. 

Although dissident groups - particularly those based abroad - are keen to portray these protests as some sort of Iranian Revolution Mark II, most of the Mousavi supporters I've spoken to over the past couple of days are staunch supporters of Iran's Islamic Republic. 

What they desperately want is effective governmental reform that keeps Iran as an Islamic country but loosens up its dogmatic social conservatism and begins to provide jobs for the millions of young, unemployed youths in a country where 60% of the population is under the age of 25.

Iran's leaders may decide to brutally surpess this revolt as it has done in the past but whatever happens these sort of protests - such as this one in Mazandran -  will become increasingly  common unless the grievances of pro-reform Iranians is addressed.

The sign held by the protestor at the front of this image says "Death to the Dictator". Usually those sort of signs are used in anti-Western marches. Now it is being used by Iranians against their own government.

No-one wants any more bloodshed but Iran's people have faced the guns of both the despotic shah and its mullahs before. They are incredibly brave people and will no doubt risk life and limb once more. 

A contact of mine at Tehran University has told me that Basij militiamen conducted a raid on a dormitory at Tehran University last night looking for students who have been involved in the protests following the Iranian presidential election. 

According to our source the attack began at 2am. Basiji forced their way into the dorms and beat students with truncheons before searching theur belongings and making a number of arrests. 

The picture to the left shows a plainsclothes policeman, back by riot cops, trying to force his way into a building near Fatemi Square in Tehran. 

There are also unconfirmed reports that Basiji have been going around hospitals looking to arrest injured protestors. According to one report from a banned Iranian dissident group, the PMOI, revolutionay guards conducted a raid on the Hezar Takhtekhabi hospital at 01.30am on Sunday morning. 

I have also been sent pictures of protests in Shiraz although for some reason I'm having trouble uploading them.

The Iranian government has made it all but impossible for foreign journalists to leave Tehran and find out what is happening outside the capital although there are reports that riots and protests have spread acorss the country. The Iranians have also refused to extend journalist visas meaning most foreign correspondents will now have to leave the country today or tomorrow. 

There's a fascinating snippet in today's Washington Post that sheds some light on the BNP's close relationship with neo-Nazis on the other side of the Atlantic.

James W Von Brunn (left), the 88-year-old man that police say was responsible for yesterday's shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, used to attend meetings of the American Friend of the British National Party - the now defunct organisation set up by BNP leader Mark Coterill as a fundrasing body for the BNP. 

In gathering details about Von Brunn, who was deeply involved in American neo-Nazi groups, the Post spoke to one Todd Blodgett, a former Reagan White House aide who went on to mix and associate with a variety of far-right groups. He met regularly with Von Brunn throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

At the time the BNP were forging close links with a variety of US white supremacists and the party's leader Nick Griffin remains close friends with powerful American neo-Nazis such as David Duke, a former Klu Klux Klan leader and Don Black, another KKK chap who went on to found Stormfront and was placed on the UK's banned list two months ago. (Below is a pic of Mr Griffin sharing a stage with them at a 2005 conference in the States).

According to the Post, Von Brunn and Blodgett would regularly attend meetings in Arlington County of the American Friends of the BNP, which raised funds for the British white supremacist group. 

The American Friends was wound up by Coterill in 2001 after the Southern Poverty Law Centre, which investigates American white supremacists, started looking into its fundrasing - but the links between the BNP and their sympathisers stateside remain strong. 

Obviously there is little the BNP can do to stop someone attending their meetings in the US but the very  fact that someone like Von Brunn - who used to say he fought on the wrong side during World War Two - was a fan reveals the kind of company these people keep. 

As this month marks the 25th Anniversary of Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh pogroms following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Sikhs across the world are remembering the tragic events that led to thousands of deaths.

This very powerful video has been doing the rounds and was sent to me by a Skih friend. It makes you realise why these scars still run deep.

By Hardeep Singh

Almost twenty five years after operation Bluestar, the emotional scars following the attack on Sikhism’s holiest shrine are far from being healed. The victims of the highly organised atrocities against Sikhs throughout India continue their lengthy battle for justice.

A major mistake was the assumption that Bluestar, a military operation would be a solution to the Sikh issue.

As a British Sikh born in London, I was only a child when the news of the showdown between the Indian Government and so called "Sikh militants" was being intermittently reported in the media. Even at this tender age, I sensed Sikhism the faith in which I was born into was under attack.

( Read more... )

Didn't think it would be long.

Yesterday I blogged about how Tamils have been emailing pictures to each other which purportedly show Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers, alive and safe.

The picture had him reading a Tamil paper and watching the news of his reported death.

Well here is the original pic which (I think) shows him meeting Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's chief negotiator who really did die in 2006. 

Let's compare and contrast...


I particularly like the way someone has gone to the trouble of photoshopping a moustache into VP's face on this one.

No doubt there will be a few Tamils who believe the picture above is in fact the faked version.

Either way it doesn't really matter.

The remnants of the LTTE know that as long as their supporters believe Prabhakaran is alive, they will continue to fight for the cause with extra zeal. 

Pictures like this will certainly add to the ongoing rumour mill that LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran is still alive. 

I've been speaking to lots of people within the Tamil disapora and have been shocked by how many people are utterly convinced that the Tiger leader is safe and well. 

There's a general feeling amongst Tamils that you simply can't trust the Sri Lankan government to tell the truth.

I've heard suggestions that he was never there in the first place. That the pictures of the dead body the SL government showed earlier this week were a look alike etc etc. 

Most disapassionate observers, experts and diplomats believe Prabhakaran is indeed dead but I can see why Tamils think otherwise. 

This picture was sent to me by a Sri Lankan friend of mine who told me that it has been buzzing through Tamil cyberspace all day. 

For all we know it's a fake, or a lookalike pretending to be Prabhakaran (he employed many lookalikes). It doesn't really matter either way. 

As long as Tamils believe Prabhakaran is still alive, they have something to rally around, something to cling on to. The war against the LTTE may have been won, but it'll take a long, long time before the peace is also won. 

UPDATE: For the original picture, see here.

Fiery words from the Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, today over the ongoing parliamentary expenses scandal.

The bishop has reminded our elected officials that they are "not the lords of the manor but servants of the people" and predicts that many will lose their jobs come the next general election.

He said: "We have fooled ourselves for a long time that because we have 'western democracy' we have something perfect which only needs small adjustments here and there. But we now have a Government that is largely unaccountable to Parliament."

"The question about expenses is one of a thousand that has gone wrong and shows there is a problem at the heart of the situation. The whole system of government and parliament needs to be gone right through."

He added: "They need to stop thinking they are lords of the manor and they can do what they like. The idea of being public servants needs to be reinstated. It wouldn't surprise me if many of the MPs were voted out at the next election."

By Hardeep Singh

When I first came across the bizarre story about Sikh police officers hoping to develop a bullet proof turban it reminded me of a sketch from Only Fools and Horses.

In this sketch Del wisecracks about a Dr. Singh not wearing a crash helmet because of his huge turban. Del’s entrepreneurial spirit leads him to developing prototype ‘Trotters Crash Turban’. With all the best will in the world, Del innovation was doomed from its inception

Under the Motor-Cycle Crash Helmets (Religious Exemption) Act 1976, "any follower of the Sikh religion" is exempt from having to wear a crash helmet if he is wearing his turban instead.

A newly formed National Sikh Police association (BPSA) has made bullet proof turbans a top priority, so that Sikh officers can serve within specialist firearms units and as riot officers. The chairman of the group is pushing for more research into finding the ideal material for a ballistic Turban.

As a Turban wearing Sikh I noticed that the coverage in the press circumvented some very obvious practical points of consideration.

The first point takes us to the grounds of International Cricket. Cricketers on the Global stage such as Monty Panesar (pictured) and Harbhajan Singh are both Sikhs. In order for them to fulfil their contractual obligations, they both wear a smaller ‘Under Turban’ beneath their helmets.

As a consequence they preserve their identity whilst adhering to safety regulations of the sport. The English Cricket Board needless to say has not made any special provision for them, nor have any demands been made.

( Read more... )

Davender Kumar Ghai, the septuganerian Hindu guru from Newcastle, has just lost his High Court battle to legalise open air cremations.

The verdict has only just come through and I'll post more later but his supporters are already telling me that they are willing to take their fight to Court of Appeal and European Court of Human Rights.

I must admit I thought they had a very good chance of winning but it appears the High Court thought otherwise.

This will rumble on for a couple of years to come nonetheless.

The Indy's been following this story closely over the months. For background, here an interview we did with Ghai last year...

...and here's one of our all-you-can-eat Big Questions to explain the issues.

UPDATE: Have just filed the words below for the paper.

Jerome Taylor
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

A septuagenarian Hindu guru who wants to be cremated outdoors when he dies has vowed to continue his fight after the High Court today ruled that funeral pyres are illegal.

Davender Kumar Ghai, 70, had travelled to the High Court to challenge a decision by Newcastle City Council which forbade his son Sanjay from cremating his father outside in the event of his death.

Mr Ghai and his supporters had hoped to overturn the ruling by arguing that denying him a traditional funeral pyre contravened his right to practice religion freely under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But Mr Justice Cranston disagreed, ruling that funeral pyres are currently not allowed under UK law and that the prohibition was “justified”. In his ruling the judge said: “The Cremation Act 1902 and its attendant 2008 regulations are clear in their effect: the burning of human remains, other than in a crematorium, is a criminal offence. This effectively prohibits open air funeral pyres.”

Justice Cranston gave Mr Ghai permission to appeal against the ruling to the Court of Appeal, which he has now vowed to do. The Ugandan-born father of three is also willing to go to the European Court of Human Rights if his appeal fails.

During the test case Mr Ghai, who is currently seeking medical treatment in India, told the court of his wish to “die with dignity” and not to be “bundled in a box” following his death.

A devout Hindu guru who has a sizeable following of supporters from across the country, he believes his soul will only be fully released from his body if he is cremated on a traditional pyre that is commonly used by Hindus across South Asia.

He fears an ordinary crematorium forces his soul to mingle with others and leads to a “bad death” that will adversely affect his reincarnation.

Support for Mr Ghai’s cause in the wider Hindu community was initially relatively limited with none of the major Hindu umbrella organisations throwing their weight behind his campaign. But in recent months most of the main representative Hindu bodies have voiced some level of support for a compromise. 

In his summing up, however, Justice Cranston observed that “typically Hindus in this country” did not share Mr Ghai’s belief in open air pyres.

But Mr Ghai's supporters, who have been vocally crtical of Hindu community leaders for not backing them, believe that if traditional funeral pyres ever did become legal in the UK many devout British Hindus would opt for an outdoor cremation rather than a mechanised crematorium.

Speaking from Delhi yesterday, Mr Ghai said he was saddened by the ruling and upset that he had not been informed that verdict was due yesterday.

But he also vowed to appeal the decision as soon as possible.

“I respect the decision of the Court but, for me, this is quite literally a matter of life and death,” he said. “I shall appeal until the very end, in the faith that my dying wish will not go unheard. A matter of such magnitude deserves to be heard by the highest courts in our land and I shall not tire until all legal avenues are exhausted.”  

There's an interesting academic spat hotting up at Oxford University today.

Taj Hargey, a very controversial Muslim academic and self-styled "liberal imam", has accused Wolfson College of stifling free speech by forcing him to reorganise a debate that he was intending to hold with an equally controversial anti-Zionist rabbi.

Prof. Hargey invited Rabbi Ahron Cohen (pictured) from Manchester to the post-graduate college in order to present a paper entitled: "Zionist is not Judaism, Anti-Israelism is not Anti-Semitism."

But Wolfson College has informed Hargey today that Rabbi Cohen is not welcome and that they will have to find another venue.

Rabbi Cohen is a deeply controversial character within Britain's Jewish community. He belongs to Neturai Karta (Guardians of the City), an international ultra-Hasidic sect of a few thousands people that is deeply opposed to Zionism. Three years ago their members even attended an international conference in Tehran which critics dubbed "The Holocaust denial conference".

The Neturai Karta are theoligically opposed to Zionism because they believe it goes against the teachings of the Jewish faith. They believe the Talmud insists that the creation of the Jewish state prior to the coming of the Messiah must not be done by force and have called the state of Israel a "poison" that "threatens true Jews".

Needless to say Neturai Karta's opinions are rather incendiary within the Jewish community.

Taj Hargey is also a very controversial character. He runs the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford and describes himself as a Muslim reformer who is trying to create a liberal and progressive Islam. He has a small following around Oxford where he encourages men and women to pray together and even once invited a female academic to lead Friday prayers.

But his following remains miniscule within Britain's mainstream Muslim community who are deeply skeptical of him.

Hargey says Wolfson's decision to ban Rabbi Cohen is stifling free speech on campus.

But Wolfson insist otherwise. I've just been on the phone to Edward Jarron, the college bursar, who said they told Hargey to find another venue because they only found out that Rabbi Cohen had been invited at the last minute.

Jarron said the debate had been on the college's books for a couple of months but there was no indication that someone as controversial as Rabbi Cohen had been invited.

Mr Jarrow said: "I don't want anyone thinking Wolfson College does not support free speech. But if you're going to invite someone as close to the knuckle as Rabbi Cohen then we should have been informed two months ago in order to allow the governing body to decide whether the person should be allowed in and whether, in the interest of academic fairness, there should also be speakers from an opposing side."

My understanding is that the debate is still taking place but in order to counter any mass demonstrations the venue will only be disclosed at the last minute. It will be interesting to see if this argument heats up.

Isreal's deputy health minister said swine flu should be renamed "Mexican flu" today in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork.

According to this AP report, Yakov Litzman, who belongs to the United Torah Party - one of Israel's ultraorthodox parties - said Mexican flu would be a more sensitive term because pork is forbidden in both Judaism and Islam.

Personally I'm not sure the Mexicans would agree - afterall the virus was first spotted in the US.

Whilst Jews and Muslims consider pork unclean to eat or touch, surely saying the word (or swine) is not haram/unkosher?!

The World Organisation for Animal Health, meanwhile, says the flu should be renamed because there's no evidence to show that the disease has been isolated in animals. They recommend calling it "North-American influenza" which at least doesn't stigmatise all of Mexico.

The National Farmers Union has become concerned that pig farmers will now suffer because of the term. They released a statement today reminding people that all the evidence suggests this current strain is passed by human to humans, not from animals, and that you cannot get swine flu from eating pork products.

On a lighter note, here's an online petition (signed by just two people at the moment - and no, one of them isn't me) recommending swine flu is changed to "piggy flu" to make it sound less scary.

The petition reads: "Swine are disgusting, gross, edible creatures that we think of as disturbing and scary. On the other hand, piggies are cute, lovable, and associated with piggies going to market, their homes being blown over by evil wolves (also scary), and Babe, Pig in the City. Therefore, I believe that the right course of action to address and abate public panic is to change 'Swine Flu' to 'Piggy Flu', a much less offending name."

Personally I'm in favor of Piggy Flu, just so all the headlines will start to look ridiculous. "Piggy Flu Pandemic Propagates Panic" anyone?...