A legislative aide who joined an anti-Islam group and became obsessed with its mission crossed the line and illegally used state resources to promote its interests, a state ethics panel concluded in a ruling released Friday.

Minutes after the ruling was made public, Karen Sawyer's new boss, state Rep. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, announced that Sawyer resigned her job.

Sawyer's activism on behalf of Stop Islamization of America became an issue when she was chief of staff to Palmer Rep. Carl Gatto before his death this year. Hughes was appointed to replace Gatto on May 1.

The House subcommittee of the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics recommended that Sawyer be fired and permanently banned from rehire by the Legislature.

The far-right, anti-Islam group describes its goals as support of human rights, religious liberty and freedom of speech, and opposition to Sharia, or Islamic, law. But the Southern Poverty Law Center calls it an anti-Muslim hate group, as does the Anti-Defamation League.

Sawyer allowed an operative for the anti-Islam group, a man named David Heckert, to set up shop inside the Wasilla Legislative Information Office, where he worked for months, according to one of two reports about the ethical lapses by the ethics panel that were released Friday. Sawyer let Heckert use her personal laptop and Internet card, and provided him a cellphone number under her family plan. She herself used state equipment to plan events for the group. She even gave Heckert her key to the Wasilla LIO so he could get in while she was out of town, the report said.

Anchorage Daily News, 14 December 2012

See also Associated Press, 14 December 2012

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More than 800,000 Muslims live in Burma currently. These Muslims belong to the Arakan state of western Burma, the area being known as the Rohingya. Thereby, these Muslims are referred to as the Rohingyan Muslims. Being a minority, these Muslims have always been mistreated by the ethnic and religious clashes in Burma. These classes include Buddhists. For many decades, more specifically since 1920, violence against Muslims has increased. The Buddhist community has been increasingly violent towards the minority Muslim community. Since June 2012, many Muslims have been killed, raped, and burnt alive and slaughtered. There is no specific reason for the violence. But, since the Arabs have started to settle in Arakan state, the tolerance of the Buddhists for the Muslim community has reduced drastically. Based on these facts, the Buddhists never let go of any opportunity of being violent to the Muslims.

The fact is not related to an increase in violence, but to the silence adopted by the international community on the levels of the tortures and injustice being endured by the Burmese Muslim community. A number of international and well known public figures are turning their backs on the status of these Muslims in the Burmese community. There are a number of public figures who support the violent behaviors of the Buddhists with the Burmese Muslims.

One of the main examples of such personalities includes Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a well-known Nobel Laureate. An important and a disturbing statement as given by Aung San Suu Kyi is that Muslims living in Burma are not to be given the status of citizens. Adding to this, she has never condemned to the killings of Muslims in Burma. The only statement made by her during any important press conference mentions the fact of the existence of ethnic and religious conflicts between Buddhists and Muslims. She has always been found saying that the ethnic and religious conflicts need to be dealt with in a better manner. These kinds of cold statements are a source of shock for the society as Aung San Suu Kyi is a Nobel peace prize winner.

The second important example is the Dalai Lama who is a well-known undercover CIA agent. He has never uttered a single word of sympathy for the Muslims of Burma. The intolerance of the Buddhists against Muslims is increasing day by day and it needs to be noticed. This is the kind of behavior that results in an increase of violence from the side of the Buddhists, consequently an increase in pains of the suffering Muslims. When there is no one from the international community to answer for the pains of these Muslims, the Muslims will somehow start preparing for their own defense. Many Muslims have started forming resistance groups in order to combat the attacks launched at them by the Buddhist community.

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A "constructive" and "positive" meeting has been held between police and the Sikh and Muslim communities following a protest at a Luton police station.

The groups held talks on Wednesday after hundreds of Sikhs gathered at Buxton Road on Tuesday night. The protest was over allegations a Muslim man had assaulted a Sikh woman. Police said officers were working with the two groups and wanted any concern about criminal activity to be reported.

Speaking after the meeting, Sikh representative Jaswinder Singh Nagra said: "I think it was very constructive. We need to educate the police about our cultural sensitivities."

His thoughts were echoed by Qazi Abdul Aziz Chishti, president of the Sunni Mosque Council in Luton, who was also at the meeting. "We will work together not only on this issue, but on all issues," he told the BBC. "We have formed a working group with the Sikh community."

Bedfordshire Police Ch Supt Mike Colbourne said: "We want the public to report any issues, fears or concerns that they have."

BBC News, 31 May 2012

This will come as a disappointment to the English Defence League, who have tried to exploit the issue in an attempt to set the Sikh and Muslim communities against each other.

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