Police in Halifax are investigating a complaint about a political cartoon that some members of a local Islamic group claim is a hate crime.
The cartoon, published April 18 in the Chronicle Herald newspaper, depicts a woman in a burka holding a sign that reads, “I want millions,” and she says, “I can put it towards my husband’s next training camp.”
The cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon is a reference to Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, a woman from Nova Scotia whose husband was arrested in 2006 in an anti-terrorism raid. Qayyum Abdul Jamal was released from jail after charges against him were stayed on April 15.
Zia Khan, director of the Centre for Islamic Development in Halifax, said the cartoon goes beyond what can be considered free speech.
“You would not put a native American Indian with feathers and say I need money in order to cull white people’s heads. You wouldn’t do that. This would be libelous,” he said.
Khan’s group called police on April 21. He said the group also filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.
It seems that half the complaint is that the woman is a Muslim and is pictured wearing a burka. But look at her - pictured below - the cartoon is hardly stereotyping her - it’s actually a pretty accurate representation:
Want to know more about this woman? - read Canadian Muslim leader, Tarek Fatah, on her. He’s not known for biting his tongue - the word ‘cult’ does appear once or twice.
As for the suggestion that she would use the money to fund her husband’s terrorist activities? Well here are the words of Ms. Jamal and her associates - what do you think? Is it completely absurd to satirize her as an extremist nut?:
[I]f he ever refuses a clear opportunity to leave for jihad, then i want the choice of divorce.
You can read more on Jamal here, and here. For more on the “Human Rights Commissions” the Halifax Chronicle Herald will be facing - check out this backgrounder.
I think you quoted the wrong jihadist. The quote about wanting a divorce if her husband misses an opportunity for jihad came from Mississauga’s Nada Farooq, not Ms. Jamal.
[corrected. thx. - Robert]
What all these radical Islamic zealots fail to grasp is that it is the Canadian tolerance toward dissenters that enables them to carry on with their anti free speech pogroms. Once they have pushed Canadians beyond that tolerance threshold, and they are rapidly approaching that threshold, they may find that they have unleashed the latent xeophobia that always lurks below the surface of the national conscience. Didn’t they learn anything by watching the reconciliation and accomodation enquiries that just wrapped up in Quebec. This continued paranoia that sees a conspiracy in every word or glance is self-defeating. They have already brought these dreadful HRCs (Hateful Repressive Commissariats) in disrepute by their frivolous claims against people who simply have adhered to what is considered, by most Canadians, as reasonable dissent and they may find that they are dragging the whole muslim community down with them.