Mike Tyson menangis di Raudah

MADINAH, 7 Julai: Bekas juara tinju heavyweight dunia, Mike Tyson, kelihatan menangis ketika berada Raudah semalam dan menganggap dirinya bertuah kerana berada di satu daripada taman syurga. (Gambar:TYSON dengan pakaian ihram bersiap untuk ke Makkah bagi menunaikan umrah, dua hari lepas.) Lawatan Tyson ke Arab Saudi untuk mengerjakan umrah ditemani Ketua Persatuan Dakwah Kanada, Shahzad Muhammad. Kata Shahzad, Tyson menjadi begitu emosional ketika mengucapkan salam kepada Rasulullah (SAW) “Dia menangis lebih setengah jam ketika berdiri di depan makam Nabi sambil mengangkat tangannya. “Tyson terus berada di kawasan Raudah selama beberapa jam untuk bersolat, membaca al-Quran dan berzikir,” katanya. Dia kemudian menukar pakaian untuk mengenakan ihram sebagai persediaan mengerjakan umrah. Sementara itu, kedatangan Tyson menarik perhatian orang ramai yang berpusu-pusu untuk melihatnya dari dekat. Sesetengah pihak sanggup menunggu berjam-jam di hotel didiaminya berhampiran Masjid Nabawi semata-mata mahu mengambil gambarnya. Malah, dia terpaksa diiring pengawal keselamatan untuk ke masjid bagi menunaikan solat Zuhur kerana orang terlalu ramai berada di laluan berkenaan. Tindakan Tyson mengenakan tutup kepala bagi mengelak daripada dikenali juga gagal dan dia terus diekori peminatnya. Tyson berkata, dia memang gembira diterima baik orang ramai di Tanah Suci. “Cuma, saya harap tidak diganggu dan biarkan saya menikmati pengalaman beribadah di sini,” katanya. Selain Masjid Nabawi, Tyson turut meluangkan masa menziarahi Masjid Quba, Masjid Qiblatain (Masjid Dua Kiblat) dan Universiti Islam Madinah. Tyson memeluk Islam ketika di penjara selepas didapati bersalah mencabul kehormatan seorang model kulit hitam. Ketika berada di Kazakhstan minggu lalu, bekas peninju itu berkata, dia amat takut kepada Allah. - Agensi

Call to extend Thai emergency laws

Thai security officials have recommended the government extend the country's state of emergency laws for three months. The laws banning public gatherings and giving police powers to detain suspects for 30days without charge cover 23 provinces, as well as the capital, Bangkok.The sweeping emergency laws were introduced on April 7 in response to growing red shirt unrest [AFP] The measures came into force in April, after 90 people were killed and almost 2,000 injured in clashes between the military and anti-government protesters known as the red shirts. On Monday the government unit set up to oversee security during the unrest unanimously backed the call to maintain emergency rule "because of security concerns," said spokesman Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd. "It might be revoked earlier in the situation improves," he told the AFP news agency. The recommendation to prolong the state of emergency for another three months will be presented on Tuesday to the Thai cabinet. Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai prime minister, has said previously that emergency rule would likely be lifted in many areas but not Bangkok, rejecting a call from the opposition for it to be revoked ahead of a parliamentary by-election in the capital due on July 25. A red shirt leader detained on charges of terrorism during the unrest earlier this year is running in the Bangkok by-election as a candidate for the opposition Puea Thai Party. In April two months of mass protests by the red shirt movement calling for Abhisit to resign and call fresh elections, sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead, mostly civilians. In response Abhisit invoked emergency rule in Bangkok on April 7, banning public gatherings of more than five people and giving broad powers to the police and military. Human rights campaigners have voiced concerns that the government's use of the sweeping emergency powers lacks transparency and violates freedom of expression. Enraged red shirt protesters went on a rampage of arson across central Bangkok after a deadly army crackdown ended their rally on May 19. The unrest also spread outside the capital, particularly in the red shirt heartland in Thailand's impoverished northeast. al-Jazeera