(Iraq) “a program of ‘sexual cleansing’ is being perpetrated against homosexuals in Iraq”
— torture practices by extremist death squads against Iraq gays described
— calls for elected representatives and public to “speak out decisively against the torture of gay Iraqis”
— “One of the methods, known as either ‘American Gum’ or ‘Iranian Gum,’ involves using industrial strength glue manufactured in Iran, which sticks to the skin, and can only be surgically removed. Death squads targeting homosexuals proceed to glue their anuses shut and then force feed them diarhetics, causing them to die an excruciating death.”
— alternate news link
— May 17 protests in San Francisco
Day: June 2, 2009
Malaysia: Abused Teenage Model Flees
(Malaysia/Indonesia) Teenage model who married Malaysian prince ‘flees abusive marriage’
— Manohara Odelia Pinot: “I’ve been treated like an animal. I’m like his property and I was in his room and whenever he wants to play with me he just goes into the room and plays with me. I’m like an object.”
— Manohara Odelia Pinot states she was injected with tranquilizers and threatened with torture
— Pinot says that “she was subject to a ‘daily routine’ of abuse”
— April 23, 2009: Malaysian PM dodges questions about missing model
—- Her mother, Daisy Fajarina “said the last time she saw Manohara was when she accompanied the couple on a pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia in late February”
Pakistan Karachi: When a woman’s right becomes a ‘sin’
(Pakistan) Karachi: When a woman’s right becomes a ‘sin’
— “‘Is it a crime to even think of getting married for a second time?’ is the question that Sakina, 36, posed before the magistrate of the Malir Courts on Monday.”
— “‘What was I punished for?’ she asks. The punishment that she is referring to was blackening of the face and shaving off her head, all because she, a divorcee, dared and actually dreamed of having a second marriage.”
— “She informed the court that her husband, Lemoo, had divorced her two years ago and since then she had been living at her father’s house.”
— “She wished to marry for a second time and on May 27, went to the courts to consult her lawyer for a ‘khula’ as she realised that written proof would be needed.”
— “However, when her father and brothers came to know about her intention to divorce her husband, they tortured her.”
Communist China blocks Twitter, Flickr, message boards
Communist China blocks Twitter, Flickr, message boards — alternate link
— “Beijing tightens grip over dissident community ahead of Tiananmen event”
— “Chinese authorities blocked popular Web sites like Twitter and Flickr on Tuesday after forcing dissidents from Beijing in a clampdown ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.”
— “Exiled former student leader Chai Ling, meanwhile, issued a rare public statement before Thursday’s anniversary of the bloody crackdown, calling for the release of political prisoners, an independent investigation into the events and permission for former student leaders to return home.”
— “‘The current generation of leaders who bear no responsibility should have the courage to overturn the verdicts’ on the protests, said Chai, in a statement distributed by the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.”
Communist China blocking Twitter, websites: RSF
— “China blocked access to Twitter, Flickr and other websites Tuesday, two days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said, expressing ‘outrage’ at the move”
— “Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the blockage of a dozen websites such as Twitter, YouTube, Bing, Flickr, Opera, Live, WordPress and Blogger in China”
Twitter, Bing banned in Beijing
China begins internet ‘blackout’ ahead of Tiananmen anniversary
Hong Kong: Eight Thousand March in Hong Kong
Hong Kong: Eight Thousand March in Hong Kong
— Epoch Times: “March Commemorates June 4 Democratic Movement’s 20th Anniversary”
— “The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China held a grand march to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the June 4 Democratic Movement. Over 8,000 people joined the march on May 31, 2009.”
— “Szeto Wah, Chair of the Alliance, said that the number of participants reached an all time high. He believed it had something to do with HK’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen public misrepresentation of the Movement in a speech.”
— “The subject of the march on May 31 was ‘To inherit the will of the heroes and never forget June 4; to continue democracy that will be passed down for generations.’ At 3:30 p.m. the march started from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The march was led by dozens of 20-year-old young men who were born in 1989. It symbolized passing down the tradition of democracy.”
— “Those who joined the march included Szeto, founding chairman of the Democratic Party Martin Lee Chu-Ming, and former student democratic movement activist Xiong Yan. Xiong was sentenced to two years for joining the student movement in 1989 and exiled to the United States. Xiong became a lawyer and came back to HK with an U.S. passport.”
— “Xiong said he was very moved when seeing so many people support redressing the June 4 Movement. It reminded him of the student movement on Tiananmen in 1989. ‘When the Liberation Army fired at civilians early in the morning on June 4, 1989, I was there. I helped move the dead bodies. It was something I can not forget. It was horrific.’ Xiong believes the political system in China has not improved in the past 20 years.”
— “Li Lanju came from the United States to support this activity. He said, ‘Twenty years ago, I was a representative from the HK Federation of Students who went to Beijing to support the democratic movement. I was a student in Shue Yan College at that time. I was at Tiananmen on June 3 and 4. I witnessed the bloody suppression on Chang’an Boulevard. Many people I know also witnessed how tanks rolled over unarmed civilians and how soldiers shot students from behind.'”
— original article in Chinese