MUSLIM HATE FOR WOMEN
Cairo mob brutally assaulted CBS reporter Lara Logan
By Michael Winter, USA TODAY
Feb 15, 2011
A mob in Tahrir Square brutally beat and sexually assaulted CBS News' chief foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, who was covering Friday's celebration of the departure of former president Hosni Mubarak, the network says. She is in a U.S. hospital recovering.
CBS says Logan, who was reporting for 60 Minutes, was surrounded by more than 200 people "whipped into frenzy." She then became separated from her TV crew and security and then suffered a "brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating." She was saved by a group of women and about 20 Egyptian soldiers, and reconnected with her colleagues CBS says. Saturday she flew back to the United States and is now in a hospital. The network said it would have no further comment.
The Washington Post notes that 39-year-old Logan, who joined CBS in 2002, is the mother of two young children. She met her husband, Joe Burkett, a defense contractor, in Baghdad while covering the war.
The attack highlights the risks female journalists face, The Atlantic's Garance Franke-Ruta writes.
Most mainstream American news outlets have a policy of not naming the survivors of sexual assault and it is hard to imagine that CBS would have issued this statement, which landed like a thunderbolt in the close-knit media world, without Logan's permission. That makes her one very brave woman, as news of the attack ricocheted across Twitter and newspapers with lightning speed.
Islam: A Religion Custom Made For Men
26 Dec 2010
Muslims, by belief and practice,
are the most blatant violators of human rights. We hardly need to detail here
Muslims’ systemic cruel treatment of the unbelievers, women of all persuasions,
and any and all minorities across the board. To Muslims, human rights have a
different meaning, and its protective provisions are reserved strictly for
Muslims—primarily for Muslim men. Just a couple of examples should suffice for
now.
Oppression of women, for one, is so systemic in Islam that to this day women
are, at best, second-class citizens under Islamic law. Saudi Arabia, the
custodian of Islamdom, denies women the right to drive, vote or hold elective
offices—the most basic rights of citizens in democratic societies. Arabs and
Muslims are masters of double-acts. They do all things in private, yet the
public display of morality, decorum, and even piety is something you wear as you
would your Keffiyeh even under the sizzling sun.
In model Islamic states such as
Saudi Arabia and Iran, for instance, women do not dare complain about their
Allah-decreed chattel status. If they protest in the least, they are beaten by
their husbands. And if they dare to demonstrate in public for equal family
rights with men, they get severe beatings by the police and are hauled to jails
for additional indignities and violence.
One may wonder then why is it that millions of Muslim women meekly submit to
their subservient rank and thank Allah for it. These women are virtually
imprinted by their parents and the clergy from birth to adopt the gender
inequality as well as the entire pathological Islamic ethos.
Islam can be a “forgiving” religion, specifically for the male. If you neglect
to say your prayers or you simply don’t want to, you can hire someone,
preferably an imam or a mullah, to pray on your behalf. Going to the Hajj is too
onerous and takes you away from the pleasures and comforts of your life? You can
deputize someone else to go in your stead. You have a few drinks of the
forbidden brew and it is time to say your prayer? Simply rinse your mouth and go
ahead with praying. But, always remember the will of Allah and serve him. Do
your duties to vanquish the unbelievers, promote the rule of the Sharia, and
make the earth Allah’s.
In Islamic societies, freedom of expression, worship, and assembly are taken
away. Women are indeed treated as chattel. Young girls are subjected to barbaric
genital mutilation to make them sex slaves and birth channels without the
ability to enjoy intercourse. Minors are executed, adulterers are stoned to
death, thieves have their limbs amputated, and much much more. Isn’t that
everyone’s idea of paradise?
Women, by the very nature of their second-class status expressly stipulated in
the Quran, are occasionally allowed a token high position in government, while
non-Muslim minority citizens are virtually barred from securing any positions at
all.
“Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the
others and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are
obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for
those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart
and beat them. Then if they obey you take no further action against them. Allah
is high, supreme.” Quran 4.34
This misogynist religion of Allah is custom-made for the savage male. A faithful
follower of Allah is allowed to have as many as four permanent wives-and replace
any of them at any time he wants-as well as an unlimited number of one night or
one-hour-stands that he can afford to rent. But, woe unto a woman if she even
has a single love affair with another man. Nothing less than death by stoning is
her just punishment.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran and under the Islamic Sharia that became the
unofficial law of the land, a religiously sanctioned ceremony immediately filled
the void. Many mosques provided the service of Seeghe—temporary marriages—.
Women interested or forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek this
type of ‘marriage’ would register with a local Mullah. Men seeking a temporary
wife would contact the Mullah and specify what kind of woman they desired and
for how long. Depending on the marketability of the candidate woman, a fee is
levied on the man and the Mullah pronounces them husband and wife for a
stipulated duration. Once the patron satisfies his urges, the same Mullah simply
annuls the marriage. Viola. No problems. The pair parts company and the Mullah,
a replacement for the former pimp or madam, pockets his fee.
Thanks to Western technology, the Seeghe business has also joined the 21st
century world. In some of the bigger cities and Tehran, a man can pick up a
woman and call in for a Seeghe authorization which is granted over the phone and
the fee is charged to the patron’s credit card. Islam is a custom-made religion
for men. Well, as long as men rule and the rule serves them, the horrific plight
of women plays out. It is a great deal for men.
What is incredible is the gall and audacity of Muslims in demanding that Western
and other democracies legalize Sharia in their societies. Due to large
populations of Muslims, mostly recent arrivals, in countries such as Canada,
Great Britain, and Sweden, these countries are experiencing the insistent
demands by Muslims to have Sharia rule their Islamic communities. This is just
the beginning and it may seem relatively harmless to the simpletons in our
midst. Yet, once Sharia is recognized to any extent, it will reach out to rule
not only on matters that concern Muslims, but also those that may involve a
Muslim and non-Muslim. Under Sharia, a Muslim man married to a non-Muslim woman
is able to divorce the woman at will, automatically have custody of the
children, and literally toss the wife out of “his” home with practically no
compensation.
“Death to the Islamic Republic, Stop stoning women, Death to the Criminal
Mullahs and Democracy for Iran, are the banners read almost routinely in most
European countries by the Iranian ex-patriot sympathizers condemning the Islamic
Republic’s brutality against women. They demand equal rights and treatments for
the largest oppressed minority in the world.
As the world turns, we become convinced that the Islamic system is custom-made
for men, by men and for the pleasure of men. And the men in power, the clergy,
the prime beneficiary of the system, do not intend to voluntarily relinquish
their privileged status.
There is a hope that Muslims themselves may leave this Bedouin slaveholder
religion. Yet, the hope is slim. Islam has a stranglehold on its slaves and will
neither let them go, nor do the Muslims seem to have the insight or the will to
leave it in large numbers. But hope, as slim as it is, keeps me sounding the
alarm before the fire of Islam engulfs us all.
Imani is the author of the riveting book “Obama Meets Ahmadinejad”.
Court in UAE says beating wife, child OK if no marks are left
October 19, 2010
(CNN) -- A court in the United Arab Emirates says a man is permitted under Islamic law to physically discipline his wife and children as long as he leaves no marks and has tried other methods of punishment, the country's top court ruled.
The ruling came in the case of a man who slapped his wife and slapped and kicked his 23-year-old daughter, the document said.
The daughter had bruises on her right hand and right knee and the wife had injuries to her lower lip and teeth, the ruling said.
The court ruled that a man has the right to punish his wife and children. That includes beating them, after he has tried other options, such as admonition and then abstaining from sleeping with his wife.
However, the court ruled that in this case the man exceeded his authority under sharia, or Islamic law. His wife was beaten too severely and his daughter was too old to be disciplined, the ruling said.
"Although the [law] permits the husband to use his right [to discipline], he has to abide by the limits of this right," wrote Chief Justice Falah al Hajeri in a ruling issued this month and released in a court document recently. It was reported in the English-language publication The National.
"If the husband abuses this right to discipline, he cannot be exempted from punishment," according to the ruling.
Several experts said it is against Islamic law to permit wife-beating.
Jihad Hashim Brown -- the head of research at Tabah Foundation, which specializes in the interpretation of Islamic law -- couldn't comment specifically on what the courts did and didn't say because he hadn't read the ruling.
However, he said he feels confident that the UAE court didn't sanction injury or abuse. He said sharia law is complex and has been open to interpretation.
But he argued that in Islamic law it is "absolutely unlawful" to abuse a wife, injure her, or insult her dignity.
"When a situation in a marriage reaches the point where people feel like they need to hit someone, that is time for divorce. Anyone who would abuse, injure or even insult the dignity of their wife, this has now become a criminal offense which can be prosecuted in a court of law."
Canadian-Egyptian scholar Dr. Jamal Badawi, who has written about this topic, said "wife beating is not allowed in Islam" and said the Quranic verses and sayings back "the prohibition of any type of wife beating," especially on the face.
Summer Hathout, a lawyer and an activist for women's rights in California, argued that the UAE rulings are based on maintaning a patriarchal elite power structure.
"To those of us who know Islam and the Quran, violence against women is so antithetical to the teachings of Islam," she said.
Iran stoning woman 'tortured' to confess on TV
(AFP)
August 13, 2010
LONDON — A lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning in the Islamic republic told a British newspaper she was tortured before confessing on state television to involvement in her husband's murder.
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani's lawyer told The Guardian newspaper on Thursday that his client, a 43-year-old mother of two, was forced to give the interview, recorded in Tabriz prison where she has been held for the past four years.
"She was severely beaten up and tortured until she accepted to appear in front of camera," lawyer Houtan Kian said on the newspaper's website.
The lawyer said he feared the Iranian authorities would act quickly to carry out the death sentence, which was reportedly commuted to hanging after an international outcry against her sentencing last month.
The Guardian gave no details of where the lawyer was speaking.
Another of her lawyers, Mohammad Mostafaie, fled Iran this month and is now in Norway after Iranian officials issued an arrest warrant for him and detained his wife.
He said Thursday that the television programme Mohammadi-Ashtiani had appeared on was designed to "justify the actions of those who abuse their power".
"In my opinion this programme is produced by the security apparatus, particularly the ministry of information. They broadcast mostly lies and misinformation," Mostafaie told BBC television.
"I know that she said those things under duress."
The sentence against Mohammadi-Ashtiani was initially for "having an illicit relationship outside marriage," which drew condemnation from many countries.
But in the interview broadcast on state television, she said that a man with whom she was acquainted had offered to kill her husband and she let him carry out the crime.
In a separate interview with The Guardian last week, she said she had been acquitted of murder, "but the man who actually killed my husband was identified and imprisoned but he is not sentenced to death."
The television interview of the woman in Muslim face-covering was aired on Wednesday during a political broadcast condemning Western "propaganda" over her case as part of pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.
The chief justice of East Azerbaijan province, where the alleged murder took place in 2006, told the TV show that Mohammadi-Ashtiani injected her husband with a substance that made him unconscious before the killer electrocuted him.
Iranian officials have maintained the death sentence was for murder, although initial reports said she was acquitted of that charge and convicted for "having an illicit relationship outside marriage."
The stoning sentence has been temporarily suspended by Iranian judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani.
Iran's ambassador to Brazil said meanwhile that Mohammadi-Ashtiani would not be transferred to the South American country, which had offered her asylum.
"We have not received any official demand or offer that this woman be transferred to Brazil. There is no written document or exchange of (diplomatic) notes," Moshen Shaterzadeh told Agencia Brasil news service.
The British foreign ministry said it was "appalled" by the televised confession and "deeply concerned by her lawyer's claim that the confession was a result of torture."
Amnesty International criticised both the television interview and the Iranian authorities.
"Televised 'confessions' have repeatedly been used by the authorities to incriminate individuals in custody. Many have later retracted these 'confessions,' stating they were coerced to make them," it said in a statement.
"Statements made in such televised exchanges should have no bearing on Iran's legal system, or the call to review her case. This latest video shows nothing more than the lack of evidence against Sakineh Ashtiani."
The Guardian reported Friday that Iran was quietly changing the sentences of Iranians awaiting death by stoning to hanging in the wake of the international outcry.
Mariam Ghorbanzadeh, 25, was initially sentenced to death by stoning for adultery but her sentence has been commuted to hanging, said the paper, citing her lawyer Kian, who also represents Mohammadi-Ashtiani.
Palestinian says women's rights forgotten in Gaza
Activist Naila Ayesh says political and economic upheaval in the territory has forced women to give priority to more immediate needs, such as finding work and providing for their families.
By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times
June 27, 2010
Reporting from Ramallah, West Bank —
Naila Ayesh's path to becoming a Muslim activist for women's rights began when she miscarried in an Israeli detention center in 1987 after being arrested for belonging to a Palestinian student union.
Today Ayesh, 49, founder of the Gaza Strip-based Women's Affairs Center, has become one of the only feminist voices in the seaside territory that was seized three years ago by Hamas, an armed Palestinian group that aspires to impose Islamic law.
Besides being married to Jamal Zakout, a top advisor to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority — Hamas' political rival that rules the West Bank — Ayesh also raises eyebrows in Gaza as she moves in public without covering her head and sometimes even partakes of a shisha water pipe.
Speaking to The Times during a trip to Ramallah, Ayesh said women's rights had been forgotten amid Gaza's political and economic upheaval.
Q: Can you be a feminist in Gaza today?
A: We try. Things in Gaza now are not like before, when there were some openings to express different ideas and to have more freedom. Hamas controls everything, and they know everything that is going on. The situation in Gaza may look normal, but it's not the real picture. Now, even speaking to journalists makes us a little afraid.
Q: What has been Hamas' approach toward women's issues since it took over three years ago?
A: The social agenda was always very important to Hamas, but they have not been very public or formal about [imposing] it. There is no official statement, for example, that women must cover their heads. But people know that's what Hamas wants. So I can walk freely on the streets, like this, without a cover. But often I use taxis whenever I can.
Covering is not something that is new, by the way. Since the first intifada [in 1987-1993], Hamas has pushed women to cover because they said they didn't want Israeli soldiers to see Palestinian women without cover. So even back then, women who didn't believe in it started covering. I was threatened several times by people saying they would throw acid at me if I didn't cover. Gaza society has always been perceived as a little more traditional and conservative, even before Hamas took over.
Q: But haven't we seen cases recently of uncovered women being harassed at the beach, being banned from riding motorcycles, female attorneys having to cover in courtrooms and men being prohibited from working in beauty salons? Hamas recently even put up posters in which a woman wearing pants is labeled "satanic."
A: These are individual cases, to tell the truth. It's not a widespread phenomenon. Hamas doesn't want to raise this issue in the society right now because they know they will lose. They are very eager to have good relations with Europe and the West. So they don't want to touch this issue.
But sometimes they will put their ideas out there. For example, they will push elementary school girls to cover their head. Then, after women's rights groups voice concerns, they back off. So it's not an official decision, really. They put things out there, and then ease off.
But the result is the same. Even if people don't really believe in the agenda of Hamas, they comply. They get the message without being forced. So even though women are not technically required to cover their heads in court, female judges are now doing it.
Q: Violence against women in Gaza is rising. In one recent study, 52% of women reported physical violence and 14% said they were victims of sexual violence. Honor killings are also rising. What's driving this?
A: In the current environment in Gaza, it's not surprising to see an increase in violence, especially after three years of [Israeli-imposed border restrictions] and following the Israeli war on Gaza [in the winter of 2008-09]. Violence is related to poverty, which is at about 80%, according to a Palestinian Human Rights Center study in 2008. Unemployment rates have reached unprecedented levels. Unemployed men spend their time at home without doing anything, and they take all this pressure, frustration and despair out on their wives and children.
Gaza has very few entertainment venues, if at all. No cinemas, no clubs, no parks, and therefore mosques became the main place where people meet, socialize and even conduct activities such as collecting donations and so on. People do not go to mosques just for praying. And, of course, in the mosque they hear traditional views about the role of women. It's a kind of brainwashing.
It's not just the men. Women are also going more to the mosque. They didn't go so much before. But now they go mainly to find support, such as money or food. Men might be able to prevent them from going to one of our workshops about raising awareness, but they can't stop women from going to the mosque.
Q: What sort of effect has that had on women and on your work?
A: It's made our work more difficult. Our purpose is to empower women's status and involvement in the Palestinian society, through raising awareness and advocating for human rights and women's rights. We focus on ordinary women from different backgrounds.
But now sometimes we encounter resistance from women, who are becoming more aware about religious matters, and when we discuss women's rights they usually debate it from a religious point of view.
To give you an example, if we advocate that a man should have only one wife, women might debate that religion allows for four, and that the prophet had more than one wife. If we speak against underage marriage, women might note that one of the prophet's wives is claimed to have been underage when he married her. Some will even defend violence [against women] in the household.
Q: It sounds as if women's issues are not a priority to many in Gaza right now.
A: People are worried about the central needs. Ask people now about their priority, and they will say food and work. They don't care about politics right now. A lot of other issues are more important to women now than women's rights.
Q: How have women been affected by the economic collapse?
A: Women represent less than 11% of the working force in Gaza. Due to the failure of the political process to change their reality, and the very difficult economic situation and the increasing unemployment rate among men, women became responsible for providing for their families through seeking support from humanitarian agencies. This became the main purpose in their lives rather than their rights as women or political participation. Women are trying to find support wherever they can.
In our center, we try to find work for 250 women each year through our job-creation projects. But it's a small number. It's the responsibility of international donors and other aid groups to not just provide money and food, but work on the long-term development of the society.
Because of this deterioration in the socioeconomic situation, there have been some cases of women who provided sexual services for men in return for money. Even married women. Even young women. It's not a lot of cases, but it's there.
Even Hamas is concerned now. Before they opposed us when we tried to open a shelter for women. They thought it would encourage bad behavior of women. Now they have a number of cases in which it would be dangerous to send a woman back to her family [after a case of perceived sexual misconduct]. They can arrest the man, but what do you do with the woman? The family might kill her. Last year, there were more than 14 honor killings [in which male family members killed a female family member who was perceived as bringing shame to the family].
Q: What have been some of the biggest effects on women in Gaza during the last three years?
A: In cases where wives have lost their husbands in the conflict, we are seeing the husband's brother marrying the widow. If the woman doesn't agree, she is thrown out of the house and the children are taken. She's just a piece of furniture.
There is another phenomenon now, which is the collective weddings. We think they are humiliating. Hamas is arranging for hundreds of men to marry at the same time, paying for the wedding and giving the men money to encourage them to marry widows. Thousands have been married like this, and who knows how many of these marriages will last?
Also, families have been divided by the political split between Hamas and Fatah. If a woman's father is Fatah and she's married someone from Hamas, the woman might be prevented from visiting her family.
Q: Are there any female leaders within Hamas?
A: Women are represented in Hamas as … members of the party. However, from our experience they have no influence and thus they are not decision-makers.
Pakistan edges closer to banning domestic violence
By NAHAL TOOSI (AP)
April 8, 2010
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — For seven years, her husband taunted, threatened and thrashed her, she says. After she filed for divorce, he struck again, throwing enough acid on her face to destroy her left eye.
Why didn't she leave sooner? Or turn to the police for help? Zakia Perveen's scarred lips are quick to explain: She would have become a pariah in her conservative Pakistani town of Jhelum.
"People don't appreciate women who go to police stations," the 38-year-old says. "I just thought it was my destiny, my fate."
Rights advocates hope a proposed law banning domestic violence will chip away at such attitudes, giving women a more even playing field and bringing Pakistan in line with a growing number of developing nations that have outlawed spousal abuse.
But Islamist lawmakers in Parliament are objecting, claiming the law could tear apart the social fabric by undermining families.
Violence against women is a widespread phenomenon in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation of 175 million where most people are poor, only half the adults can read and extremist ideologies, including the Taliban's, are gaining traction.
In 2008, there were at least 7,571 incidents of acid attacks, rapes, spousal beatings and other violence against women, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women's rights group. Because the group relied mostly on media reports, the figure is likely a vast undercount.
Other surveys have shown up to 80 percent of wives in rural parts of Pakistan fear physical violence from their husbands, while 50 percent of women in urban areas admit their husbands beat them, according to a 2009 U.S. State Department report on Pakistan.
"It happens even in good families — wealthier families," says Yasmeen Rehman, the sponsor of the bill now stuck in a committee in Parliament. "In the rural areas, it's almost like a habit for the men."
The bill lays out a broad definition of domestic violence beyond assault, including emotional abuse, stalking and wrongful confinement. Depriving a spouse of money or other resources needed to survive is also considered a violation.
The bill strives to cover everyone in a household, including elderly parents, children and husbands. It also sets up local "protection committees," which are required to include women and empowered to file complaints on behalf of victims.
Abusers can face months or years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines if they violate court protection orders, the bill says.
Under current Pakistani law, women could turn to anti-assault statutes, but unless they are severely beaten, such claims are hard to prove, activists say. Police are rarely willing to interfere in domestic matters and often don't take women seriously.
Most women are unwilling to report on a family member, especially if he's the breadwinner, and they give in to societal pressure to just put up with the abuse.
It's one of the many paradoxes in a country that has tried to blend Islamic strictures with a more secular legal tradition inherited from the British, a place where a woman has served as prime minister and yet militants regularly torch girls' schools.
"Laws are very good, but unless and until you change the mindset of the people, things won't change," said Nayyar Shabana Kiyani, who has worked on the legislation as part of the The Aurat Foundation.
One person these women are working hard to persuade is a leading Islamist lawmaker, Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani.
In a lengthy interview with The Associated Press, Sherani insisted domestic violence was not a big problem in Pakistan until advocacy groups appeared and created the "issue" of women's rights.
Because of this, he explained, women became "contenders" to men in the public realm, and were no longer content in the home. The new law led to more divorce and disrupted family life by allowing police and other authorities to interfere, he said.
"We oppose this law because it is not the solution — rather it is a possible cause of more chaos in society," he said. The solution, he suggested, was striving for a truer Islamic society.
Pakistan is behind many other countries when it comes to banning domestic violence.
Among the growing number of developing nations that have passed laws against domestic violence are Bangladesh, Indonesia and India, all of which have majority or substantial Muslim populations.
Zakia Perveen is supportive of the bill, even though no law will restore her face to what it once was. With her husband on trial following the acid attack last year, Perveen says she's focusing on her children.
"I will teach my son to look after his wife when he gets married," she said. "God forbid if something happens to my daughters. I will tell them not to conceal the facts."
Uzbek filmmaker convicted of slander
By MANSUR MIROVALEV (AP)
February 10, 2010
MOSCOW — An Uzbek film director was convicted of slander on Wednesday for making a documentary on wedding rituals in the authoritarian ex-Soviet state, but released on amnesty, the artist and her lawyer said.
Umida Akhmedova said the court in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, found her guilty of slander and "offense through mass media."
Akhmedova's film, "The Burden of Virginity," describes hardships young women face in the mostly Muslim nation during and after the traditional nuptial ceremonies, including the public demonstration of a bloodstained bedsheet after the first night.
The film has never been shown in Uzbekistan, but is available online.
Akhmedova's public trial before Judge Bekzod Irmatov used a conclusion of government-appointed experts that found her film "offensive for the Uzbek nation" and a media campaign that lambasted her films and photographs.
Akhmedova also said the experts negatively evaluated her photo album on the life of rural Uzbeks, concluding the pictures prompt foreigners to think that Uzbekistan "lives in the Middle Ages."
Her lawyer, Sergei Mayorov, said the court "completely ignored" his arguments and evidence proving Akhmedova's innocence. He said the judge could have used the conviction to sentence the director to three years in jail, but instead used an amnesty to release her.
Uzbek officials were not available for comment.
Since the 1980s, Akhmedova, 55, has filmed more than 20 documentaries. Her recent films cover topics tabooed in the official Uzbek media such as ordeals of Uzbek women whose husbands earn a living abroad, the life of ethnic Russians amid rising nationalism, and the official condemnation of the country's Soviet past.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov, the nation's former Communist boss, has ruled the Central Asian nation with an iron fist since before the Soviet collapse, wiping out dissent and eliminating opposition.
Karimov's government censors the media, filters unwanted Internet resources and bans "corrupting" films from Russia or Hollywood.
In 2006, folk singer Dadakhon Khasanov was given a three-year suspended sentence for writing a song about a bloody government crackdown on the 2005 popular uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan.
Rights groups and witnesses say hundreds of mostly unarmed protesters were killed by government forces in Andijan. Authorities insist 187 died and blamed Islamic radicals for instigating the violence.
Seven women shot dead in Russian sauna
8 police officers killed in separate attacks in volatile region
August 14, 2009
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Seven women were shot dead in a sauna in Dagestan and, in separate attacks, eight policemen and two separatists were also killed in Russia's northern Caucasus region late Thursday, police and media said Friday.
Growing lawlessness and Islamist violence in Dagestan, Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia are undermining the Kremlin's control of its southern flank.The attacks are the latest in a sharp upswing in violence against civilians across the region, where a local minister was shot dead in his office earlier this week.
The seven women were shot by rebels at around the same time as separatists attacked and killed four policemen manning a nearby checkpoint in Buinaksk, a town 25 miles from local capital Makhachkala. "At least four died when they attacked the traffic police. Around the same time they entered the sauna and shot seven women," a spokesman for local police said Friday. He gave no further details.
Shootout
in Chechnya
Separately, four policemen and two separatists died in a shootout in Chechnya,
Russian news agencies reported on Friday. The Chechen deaths occurred in an
abandoned house near the capital Grozny, RIA news agency said. Five other
security force officers were also injured in a separate clash in the republic on
Thursday, Interfax reported.
On Wednesday, Ingushetia's construction minister was shot at close range in his heavily guarded office. In Chechnya three human rights activists have been shot and killed in the past month, two earlier this week and one in July.
Shooting prompts tighter security
Attack on Seattle Jewish group being treated as
hate crime
William Yardley, New York Times
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Seattle -- Jewish groups around Puget Sound moved to increase security Saturday as the police identified a Muslim man who they say shot six people, killing one, in the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on Friday.
The police identified the suspect as Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, whose family lives in Pasco, in southeast Washington about 180 miles from Seattle.
The police are treating the shooting as a hate crime based on what they say Haq told a 911 dispatcher shortly before surrendering.
"He said he wanted the United States to leave Iraq, that his people were being mistreated and that the United States was harming his people," Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske of the Seattle police said Saturday at a news conference. "And he pointedly blamed the Jewish people for all of these problems. He stated he didn't care if he lived."
A judge on Saturday found probable cause to hold Haq on one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder. Bail was set at $50 million.
The police chief said Haq apparently selected the federation as a target by randomly searching the Internet for Jewish organizations in the area. The police confiscated at least three computers, he said.
A neighbor of Haq's family in Pasco said Haq had spoken of Jews as recently as 10 days ago, sometimes using stereotypes about Jewish influence in the United States.
"He was saying he wasn't trying to be racial about it but how they had control over a lot of the newscasts and things, ownership and stuff," said the neighbor, Caleb Hales, 21.
Colleagues of the victims said the gunman had identified himself as "a Muslim American" who was "angry at Israel."
Haq surrendered to police at the federation offices near downtown 12 minutes after the shootings were reported to 911.
The police have not released the names of the victims, all women. Three of the survivors were in serious condition Saturday and two were in satisfactory condition, according to the media relations office at the Harborview Medical Center.
The survivors range in age from early 20s to 40s and had gunshot wounds in the knee, groin, abdomen and arm. Amy Wasser-Simpson, the federation's vice president, said the woman who was killed was Pam Waechter, its director of annual giving.
Asked to describe her group's general relations with area Muslim groups, Wasser-Simpson said, "We have had no negative interactions with the Muslim community whatsoever."
Robert Jacobs, regional director for the Pacific Northwest Region of the Anti-Defamation League, who knew several of the victims, said the three with serious injuries are not Jewish, including Cheryl Stumbo, the federation's marketing director.
"These were really good, hardworking people who cared about the community," he said.
The gunman apparently hid behind a plant at the federation's offices and waited for someone to enter the building, then forced his way inside when a teenager opened a locked door, Kerlikowske said.
Hales, the neighbor of Haq's family, said he spoke with Haq on July 20, in a casual conversation near the Haq family's mailbox. Hales, whose family is Mormon, said he had talked about his plans to attend a business college in Salt Lake City and that Haq had talked about finding a job, perhaps in engineering. The conversation wandered, Hales said, with Haq talking about Jews and also expressing curiosity about Hales' religion. "He told me he would stay up late up at night reading about people's religions and cultural backgrounds," he said.
Officials stepped up security at synagogues and mosques around Seattle and beyond on Saturday. The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco enhanced security at its 3200 California St. building.
"We have fairly robust security as it is, but we had a few extra people come in who were not scheduled to work," said Aaron Rosenthal, the center's communications manager. "Our head security officer has been in touch with the police, but the upshot is that no one really feels like there is a need for police presence and that doing that would be taking things a step too far."
The Associated Press and Chronicle staff contributed to this report.
Taliban kill top Afghan woman
Declan
Walsh in Kandahar
Tuesday September 26, 2006
The Guardian
Suspected Taliban gunmen shot dead a leading women's rights campaigner in Kandahar yesterday in the latest assassination of a government official in the restive southern provinces.
Women's Affairs director, Safia Ama Jan, was killed on the city outskirts as she left for work yesterday morning. The assailants shot her four times in the head, through a burka, before fleeing.
Ms Ama Jan, 56, has been an advocate for women's rights in Kandahar, the former Taliban headquarters, since the fundamentalists were ousted five years ago. Her murder appeared to mark a return to a strategy of intimidation and assassination after the defeat of Taliban fighters at the hands of a Nato force in western Kandahar this month.
Relatives described Ms Ama Jan as religious and a champion of women's education for more than three decades. She stayed in Afghanistan under the Taliban to give secret classes to local girls at home.
Duchess Of Cornwall Accidentally Exposes Ankle In Pakistan
Mosque
November 3, 2006
Maira Oliveira - All Headline News Reporter
Islamabad, Pakistan (BANG) - Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, caused a panic in Pakistan on Thursday. The duchess unwittingly revealed her ankle inside a mosque.
Camilla visited the Lahore mosque with her husband Prince Charles dressed in modest slacks. However, when Camilla replaced her shoes - which she had removed for the tour in accordance with Muslim tradition - she accidentally tucked her pants' leg into her sock and flashed her ankle.
Her assistant private secretary, Amanda McManus, was heard frantically whispering "Ma'am, ma'am" and then rushed down the steps after her to rectify the wardrobe malfunction.
It is considered disrespectful to Islam for women to show too much skin.
Charles' first wife, the late Princess Diana, caused outrage when she visited the same mosque in 1991 wearing a green wrap dress which stopped above the knee.
Charles and Camilla were shown around the mosque by preacher Maulana Adbul Khabir Azad, whose father was threatened with imprisonment over Diana's visit in 1991.
Fortunately, it is not believed Camilla's mishap will cause the same controversy.
So far the tour has not gone well for Camilla. Earlier this week she was accused of insulting the memory of British servicemen after removing her Remembrance Day poppy pin, claiming it kept catching on her Islamic-style dupatta scarf.
Tom Allard and Alan Mascarenhas
The
Sidney Morning Herald
October 28, 2006
THE defence by Taj el-Din al Hilaly of his inflammatory remarks on women and sex rests on three factors - his audience already knew he condemned rape, he wasn't talking about rape and, like the Pope, was quoting a religious scholar.
The remarks were made last month to a group of men and women following one of his regular sermons at Lakemba mosque.
While his speech begins with a dissertation on adultery, it soon makes a thinly veiled reference to the gang rape by Bilal Skaf that shocked Australia. "But when it comes to this disaster, who started it?" he ponders.
It's then that he quotes an Islamic scholar, al-Rafii, saying he would discipline the man but arrest and jail a woman for life "if I came across a rape crime".
The explicit reference to rape seems to make a mockery of Sheik Hilaly's claim that the talk was about "the causes that lead to fornication for both men and women", not sexual assault.
It's when quoting the Islamic scholar Rafii that he makes the incendiary comparison between a scantily clad woman and "uncovered meat" and it's the "uncovered meat that's the problem" in the event of sexual assault.
Sheik Hilaly's spokesman, Keysar Trad, did not dispute the content of the translation yesterday, saying he had not heard the tape properly, but he offered a new defence.
He likened the quoting of Rafii to Pope Benedict's recent citing of a Byzantine religious scholar who said that Islam had been spread by the sword.
Quoting someone doesn't automatically confer endorsement, Mr Trad said. "It's a given that he doesn't support rape," he said. "When something is a given, you don't have to say it."
The explanation did little to placate Iktimal Hage Ali, a prominent Muslim woman who has heard the sermon in Arabic and say it's clearly about rape.
But Sheik Hilaly has his supporters, who offered another defence. His comments were only meant for Muslims and understandable within the prism of Muslim culture.
Worshipper Barea Kamaledine, 39, from Greenacre, said: "The sermon that everyone's chucking a big mental about was aimed at us and our men, our community and our community only. He's just telling us to do the right thing. I don't know why everybody's offended."
"You guys [the media] never understand the things he says. We understand it because we know where we're coming from. We understand our religion, whereas you don't. There are a lot of problems in our community and he's just trying to stop them."
Muslim "fanatic" kills Pakistani woman minister
Wed Feb 21, 2007
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected Islamist zealot shot dead a Pakistani woman provincial government minister on Tuesday because he believed women should not be in politics, officials said.
Zil-e-Huma, social welfare minister of the Punjab government, a women's activist and supporter of President Pervez Musharraf, was about to give a speech to dozens of people when the lone attacker shot her in the head. She died later in hospital.
The gunman, identified as Mohammad Sarwar, was immediately arrested.
Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat told Reuters the gunman had been implicated in six previous murder cases but had never been convicted because of a lack of evidence.
"He is basically a fanatic," Basharat said. "He is against the involvement of women in politics and government affairs."
The shooting occurred at Huma's party office in the town of Gujranwala, 70 km (43 miles) north of the provincial capital, Lahore.
"He considers it contrary to the teachings of Allah for a woman to become a minister or a ruler. That's why he committed this action," the police said in a statement.
Huma, 37, was married with two sons. Her husband is a doctor. She also ran a small fashion design business in Gujranwala.
Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, promotes a vision of "enlightened moderation" for the predominantly Muslim country of 160 million people and has vowed to empower women.
Women make up just over 20 percent of the lower house of parliament, according to the country's main human rights group, and there are three women ministers in the cabinet of the federal government.
But women still face widespread violence and discrimination in a male-dominated society, particularly in the countryside, where most Pakistanis live.
German Judge Cites Koran, Stirring Up Cultural Storm
By MARK LANDLER
New York Times
March 23, 2007
FRANKFURT, March 22 — A German judge has stirred a storm of protest by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim woman’s request for a speedy divorce on the ground that her husband beat her.
In a ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, noted that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu, in which it is common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote in her decision, sanctions such physical abuse.
News of the ruling brought swift and sharp condemnation from politicians, legal experts and Muslim leaders in Germany, many of whom said they were confounded that a German judge would put seventh-century Islamic religious teaching ahead of German law in deciding a case of domestic violence.
The court in Frankfurt abruptly removed Judge Datz-Winter from the case on Wednesday, saying it could not justify her reasoning. The woman’s lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, said she decided to publicize the ruling, which was issued in January, after the court refused her request for a new judge.
“It was terrible for my client,” Ms. Becker-Rojczyk said. “This man beat her seriously from the beginning of their marriage. After they separated, he called her and threatened to kill her.”
Muslim leaders agreed that Muslims living here must be judged by the German legal code. But they were just as offended by what they characterized as the judge’s misinterpretation of a much-debated passage in the Koran.
While the verse cited by Judge Datz-Winter does say husbands may beat their wives for being disobedient — an interpretation embraced by fundamentalists— mainstream Muslims have long rejected wife-beating as a medieval relic.
“Our prophet never struck a woman, and he is our example,” Ayyub Axel Köhler, the head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, said in an interview.
While legal experts said the ruling was a judicial misstep rather than evidence of a broader trend, it comes at a time of rising tension in Europe as authorities in many fields struggle to reconcile Western values with growing Muslim minorities.
Last fall, for example, a Berlin opera house canceled performances of a Mozart opera because of security fears stirred by a scene that depicts the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad. Stung by charges that it had surrendered its artistic freedom, the house staged the opera three months later without incident.
To some here, the judge’s ruling reflected a similar compromising of basic values.
“A judge in Germany has to refer to the constitutional law, which says that human rights are not to be violated,” said Günter Meyer, director of the Center for Research on the Arab World at the University of Mainz. “It’s not her task to interpret the Koran. It was an attempt at multicultural understanding, but in completely the wrong context.”
Reaction to the judge’s decision has been almost as sulfurous as it was to the cancellation of the opera.
“When the Koran is put above the German Constitution, I can only say, ‘Good night, Germany,’ ” Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of the Christian Democratic Union, said in the mass-market newspaper Bild.
The 26-year-old woman in this case was born in Germany to a Moroccan family and married in Morocco in 2001, according to her lawyer, Ms. Becker-Rojczyk. The couple settled in the Frankfurt area and had two children.
In May 2006, the police were summoned after a particularly violent incident. At that time, Judge Datz-Winter ordered the husband to move out and stay at least 55 yards away from the couple’s home. In the months that followed, her lawyer said, the man threatened to kill his wife.
Terrified, the woman filed for divorce in October and requested that it be granted without the usual year of separation because her husband’s threats and beatings constituted an “unreasonable hardship.”
“We worried that he might think he had the right to kill her because she is still his wife,” Ms. Becker-Rojczyk said.
A lawyer for the husband, Gisela Hammes, did not reply to an e-mail message and a telephone message left at her office in Mainz.