Month: August 2009
Women’s Equality: Kentucky Columnist Pam Platt Defends the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)
August 18, 2009 – Kentucky Courier-Journal: “Remember the ERA” by Pam Platt
The text of the Equal Rights Amendment reintroduced on July 21:
“SECTION 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
“SECTION 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”
“SECTION 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”
Florida: Human Rights Group Calls for Florida Social Services Not to Return Christian Girl (Rifqa Bary) to Ohio
ICC Calls On Florida Social Services (DCF) to Not Return Christian Girl to Ohio — Rifqa Barry
— ICC reports: “May Face Honor Killing If Returned”
— “International Christian Concern (ICC) is calling upon officials in Florida to retain custody of a Rifqa Barry, a Christian girl who has alleged that her fundamentalist Muslim Father in Ohio threatened to kill her upon finding out about her conversion to Christianity. Rifqa faces a jurisdictional hearing Friday at 3:15 pm from Florida’s Department of Children and Family (DCF) to decide if she should be sent back to Ohio Social Services or her parents. ICC has extensive experience with fundamentalist Islam and is warning Florida officials that they must take these allegations seriously.”
“While most Americans cannot fathom how a father could kill his daughter over her religious choices, this is a common practice among fundamentalist Muslims overseas who follow Quran and Hadith injunctions against apostasy. Parents murder their own children if they feel dishonored by any number of acts, especially when it comes to apostasy. Honor killings have even happened here in the United States. On January 1, 2008, a Muslim father killed his own daughters in Irving, Texas in an honor killing (link). On January 26, 2009, Chaudry Rashid, a Pakistani born Muslim, killed his own daughter in Georgia because she wanted to leave a marriage arranged by her family. According to estimates by the United Nations Population Fund, there may be up to 5,000 female victims of honor killings annually.”
“Rifqa and her family came to the United States from Sri Lanka eight years ago. Four years ago she converted to Christianity. She kept her faith hidden until officials from her father’s mosque, the Noor Islamic Cultural Center, confronted her father with the fact that his daughter was an apostate from Islam. Following pressure from the Islamic community, her father became increasingly agitated. Rifqa told WFTV that her father took her laptop ‘and waved it in the air and he was about to beat me with it, and he said, ‘If you have this Jesus in your heart, you’re dead to me. You’re not my daughter.’ And I refused to speak but he said, ‘I will kill you. Tell me the truth.’ In these words, bad words, cuss words. So I knew that I had to get away.'”
“There are several reasons ICC has concerns over this case besides Rifqa’s allegations.”
“- Sgt. Jerry Cupp, the police officer from Columbus that did the investigation into Rifqa’s case gave a statement to the press saying Mohamed Bary (Rifqa’s father) ‘comes across to me as a loving, caring, worried father about the whereabouts and the health of his daughter.’ An ICC source that spoke directly with Sgt. Cupp says that Sgt. Cupp reported to him that he had spoken with 20 different people who warned him that Rifqa’s life was in danger.”
“- Florida’s DCF has a long history of incompetence, including turning back children to parents who end up killing the child under investigation.”
“- According to ICC sources, Rifqa, upon leaving home, left a note explaining her decision to run away was because she would never be forced to go back to Islam.”
“- It is ICC’s understanding that Rifqa’s friends urged her to go to her school counselor to report parental abuse after she repeatedly came to school with bruises. ICC sources said there had been a culture and history of violence in the family.”
“- Statements have been made by those connected with the family that Rifqa was brainwashed and kidnapped. Kidnap victims don’t typically get on a bus alone and ride across country.”
“- The Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Columbus where her father attends is known for having ties to radical Islam.”
“- Taqiyya (pronounced tak-e-ya): is the Muslim practice of disinformation, deception and keeping one’s convictions secret. Taqiyya is widely practiced by Islamists like those connected with the Noor Islamic Cultural Center. Statements from those connected with Noor or groups like CAIR in regards to an inflammatory case like this need to be evaluated carefully.”
“Jeff King, ICC’s President, says, ‘We are extremely concerned about Rifqa. As of today, DCF has not filed any petition to keep Rifqa in Florida. This lack of a petition seems to indicate that DCF intends to turn her over to either her parents or Ohio officials. DCF has a long history of making the wrong decision in child endangerment cases. In fact, in some cases DCF has returned children to their parents who ended up killing the child. Will this happen again? Based on our extensive international experience with fundamentalist Islam, we strongly believe that Rifqa’s life will be in danger if FDCF decides to send her back to Ohio. We call upon authorities in Florida to retain custody of Rifqa.'”
“Please contact officials in Florida and express your concern for the life and safety of Rifqa.”
Here is the contact information for the officials in Florida:
Governor Charlie Crist’s office:
Phone: (850) 488-4441, (850) 488-7146
Fax: (850) 487-0801
Email: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
Florida Department of Children and Family:
George H. Sheldon, Secretary
1317 Winewood Blvd.
Building 1, Room 202
Tallahassee, Florida
Phone: (850) 487-1111
Fax: (850) 922-2993
Other Reports:
— Court Expected to Send Runaway Teen Home Despite Muslim Honor Killing Fears — Rifqa Bary
— Florida: Ohio Girl Says Family Threatens to Kill Her for Converting from Islam to Christianity
Michigan: Burning cross found in Oakland County yard
Michigan: Burning cross found in Oakland County yard
— Michigan Messenger reports:
— “An African-American family in Oakland County found a burning cross in their yard”
— “Though burning crosses was an act of racist intimidation more common in the south, Michigan also has a long and disturbing history of white supremacist organizations. For decades until his death, Robert Miles led the Michigan chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and his farm was a center of racist activity for the state and the entire nation.”
— “The Southern Poverty Law Center lists 23 hate groups in Michigan, most of them classified as white supremacist or neo-Nazi groups. The election of the nation’s first black president has spurred renewed activity in this dark underbelly of America, including a new white supremacist group operating recently in West Michigan.”
— Detroit Free Press: “Black family finds burnt cross on lawn”
“Egypt – Two Copts Imprisoned after Reporting Attack”
Compass Direct News reports “Egypt – Two Copts Imprisoned after Reporting Attack”
— “Two Coptic Christians in Egypt have been arrested and are being held without charge after reporting to police they had been beaten by a mob, an attorney for the men said yesterday. On the evening of July 31, Reda Hnein, 35, his brother Nagi Hnein Fawzi, 27, and their uncle Youssef Fawzi Iskandar, 58, all Coptic farmers, were leading a cow down a road in the village of Al-Fashn when two Muslim men riding a motorbike crashed into the cow. An argument ensued, and a mob of about 10 other Muslim men joined into the disagreement and began beating the Copts with sticks, said attorney Ihab Ramzi. Reda Hnein and Iskandar received minor injuries. Fawzi, however, suffered a fractured skull and lacerations on his scalp. He was taken to Minya University Hospital, where he regained consciousness earlier this week but remains hospitalized. On the day of the incident, Hnein and Iskandar went to police to file a complaint. They were told to return the next day to file a report with an investigating attorney. But after they gave their report the next day, local police arrested the two men on orders of Egypt’s State Security Investigations. A cousin said she is ‘boiling’ with anger. ‘How can the police turn an innocent victim into a criminal?’ she said. ‘How can they treat a victim like a criminal?'”
Virginia: Ku Klux Klan graffiti found in Queens Lake
Bishop pleads for captive female converts to Christianity in Iran
Bishop pleads for captive female converts in Iran
— The London Times reports: “The case of two of them, Maryam Rustampoor, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, also suffering in Evin prison, has been taken up by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who steps down soon as a diocesan to concentrate on helping persecuted Christians around the world.”
— “Dr Nazir-Ali told me: ‘Maryam and Marzieh are being held simply because they have changed their belief. The UN Declaration on Human Rights says people everywhere should be free to do this and the Iranian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. I appeal to the Iranian President to have mercy and to release these two young women forthwith so that they can receive the medical treatment which they so desperately need.'”