Former defense lawyer for ex-Gitmo prisoner alleges that the lack of a fair legal hearing and exposure to torture led to Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi to terrorism:

• Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Joined Iraq Suicide Attack (Washington Post)

“Landmark ruling” in Malaysia upholds ethnic Chinese woman’s Qur’anic and Prophetic rights to leave Islam:

• Malaysian Woman Can Leave Islam (BBC News)

Using Bill Cosby as their template, American Muslim filmmakers use the Internet’s power to depict themselves as ordinary while humorously identifying with other Muslims:

• Young Video Makers Try to Alter Islam’s Face (New York Times)

In a rare legal success, civil liberties groups successfully fight off another FBI abuse of national security letters:

• FBI Backs Off From Secret Order for Data After Lawsuit (Washington Post)

PM Gordon Brown uses electoral fear-mongering and politicization of a top Scotland Yard counterterrorism official to push for more Big Brother powers:

• Police ‘Being Used to Push 42-Day Detention’ (Telegraph)

Columnist Dan Froomkin opines that the latest buzz about Bush torture officials being subpoenaed to testify before Congress will not lead to greater accountability:

• Torture Showdown Coming? (Washington Post)

Delays over restoration of deposed judges and parliamentary elections strain the new Pakistani government’s popular credibility:

• Coalition Falters Amid Taunts of Descent Into ‘Collision Government’ (The National)

The 60^th anniversary of Israel has Palestinians like Akram al-Shamali bitter over he and his parents being forced out of their home by the violent birth of the Zionist state:

• Turning 60, Israelis Feel Pride, Palestinians Pain (Reuters/Wiredispatch)

Gitmo defense lawyers make the “most specific [assertions] to date” about the government eavesdropping on their conversations with detainees:

• Lawyers for Guantánamo Inmates Accuse U.S. of Eavesdropping (New York Times)

Hardliners slam leading reformist figure Mohamed Khatami for giving a speech on Ayatollah Khomeini that may implicate possible Iranian military involvement in Iraq:

• Iran Hardliners Condemn Khatami (BBC News)

Lebanon’s presidential crisis turns more ugly as a politicized workers strike morphs into a violent clash between pro and anti-government supporters:

• Clashes As Strike Grips Lebanon (BBC News)

Members of a heterodox Turkish Muslim sect fight to free themselves from state-controlled and state-imposed courses on religion in public schools:

• Turkish Alevis Fight Back Against Religion Lessons (Reuters/Washington Post)

Failure of London’s Big Brother surveillance to combat ordinary crime sheds doubt on its supposed value as role model for terrorism prevention in New York and Washington DC :

• CCTV Boom Has Failed To Slash Crime, Say Police (The Guardian)

After a scathing GAO review, the US finally conducts minimal oversight of its massive military assistance to Pakistan, rejecting small portions of its total annual billion-dollar aid package:

• Pentagon Rejects Some Pakistan Aid Requests (Los Angeles Times)