Month: September 2009
UK: Muslim Woman Writes of Parental Abuse, Threats to Kill Her Over “Western Lifestyle”
Daily Mail: “My mother hired a hitman to kill me: The shocking story of a Muslim woman whose parents disapproved of her Western lifestyle”
— report from Sofia Hayat
— “Sofia Hayat was imprisoned and her mother threatened to kill her because she led a Western lifestyle”
— Sofia Hayat: “The text message forwarded to me from my younger sister Saira was concise and chilling: ‘Mum’s sent a hit man to kill you,’ it read. ‘Be careful.’ As I read those words, my first instinct wasn’t fear or even shock, but simply survival.”
— Sofia Hayat: “I’d become accustomed to behaviour like this from both my parents – behaviour that anyone else would find abhorrent – and I was emotionally numb to their threats. But I also knew that my sister’s warning was deadly serious and my life was in real danger. I’d been in hiding for several weeks when I received the text. I was born in Gravesend in Kent in 1974 and brought up there in a devout Muslim family with three sisters and two brothers.”
DC: White Supremacist/Nazi Von Brunn Denied Release, Smiles at Mention of “Killing as Many As Possible”
AP reports:
— “An 89-year-old white supremacist charged with killing a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was ordered to remain in jail Wednesday after prosecutors said the frail man was still dangerous because he had ‘no true friends’ and ‘nothing to lose.'”
— “A judge also ordered James von Brunn to undergo a competency evaluation despite objections from the wheelchair-bound suspect. He was otherwise nonchalant and even smiled when a prosecutor said he wanted to kill as many people as possible in the June 10 attack.”
— “In asking that von Brunn not be released, prosecutor Nicole Waid said von Brunn’s actions were clear on videotape.”
— “‘This isn’t a case of whodunit, your honor,’ Waid said.”
— “She said that though von Brunn may appear frail, he is still a danger because he ‘has no true friends’ and ‘nothing to lose.'”
— “Waid said that von Brunn arranged his finances and funeral plans before his ‘suicide mission’ at the museum, and that he wanted to kill as many people as possible.”
— “He shook his head when Waid recounted how he had once tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve board. He was caught outside a board meeting carrying a bag stuffed with weapons. He describes his attempt with apparent pride on his Web site. He was sentenced in 1983 to more than four years in prison for attempted armed kidnapping and other charges in his Fed assault. He was released in 1989.”
— “Von Brunn was indicted in July on charges including first-degree murder for the death of museum guard Stephen T. Johns, who was black. Four of the charges carry a possible death penalty if he’s convicted.”
— “Public records show that in 2004 and 2005 he lived briefly in Hayden Lake, Idaho, which for years was home to the Aryan Nations, a racist group run by neo-Nazi Richard Butler. He had a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled ‘Kill the Best Gentiles,’ alleging a Jewish conspiracy ‘to destroy the white gene pool.’ He also claimed the Holocaust was a hoax.”
— AP video
— Washington Post: Suspect in Holocaust Museum Shooting Appears in Court
— “Walton ordered that von Brunn undergo a mental competency exam and deferred an arraignment until tests are completed. He scheduled a hearing for Oct. 14.”
— Washington Times: Von Brunn appears in court, is denied bail
— CBS News: Museum Shooting Suspect: Frail but Defiant
An important aspect of this story that has never been addressed:
— June 11, 2009: VDARE’s Peter Brimelow describes Holocaust Museum shooter Von Brunn as “an intelligent man”
— This same VDARE leader Peter Brimelow went on to publicly appear with national politicians and elected officials:
— “White Nationalist” Web Site VDARE Promoting McLean, Virginia Conference on June 20
— Pennsylvania Mayor Louis Barletta Scheduled to Appear with “White Nationalist” Web Leader Brimelow
— June 20: R.E.A.L. Protests McLean, Virginia Conference with “White Nationalist” VDARE Web Site Speaker
Related Reports:
Holocaust Memorial Shooter Von Brunn: “Child porn on museum suspect’s computer, FBI says”
Holocaust Museum Attack: Von Brunn Links to German Neo-Nazis
Washington DC – FBI: Holocaust Museum suspect expected to survive
Holocaust Memorial Shooter – SPLC says Michigan man recently took over racist site
DC – US Holocaust Memorial Museum Attack: Additional Reports
DC: Witnesses Say Holocaust Memorial Museum Attacker Wore Confederate Soldier’s Cap
DC: Other Targets for Holocaust Memorial Shooter?
Washington DC: Two Shot at U.S. Holocaust Museum by Alleged White Supremacist Nazi
Iran: Report on Anti-Democracy Imam on Iranian Prison Rapes
Unconfirmed reports by INN state that “Iranian pro-democracy sources” have alleged that Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi has been speaking publicly on the issue of prison rape
— INN reports that Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi spoke to crowd on prison rape “in Jamkaran, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi’ite Muslims on the outskirts of Qom, on August 11, 2009”
— INN reports that this is “[a]ccording to Iranian pro-democracy sources, the gathered crowd heard from Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad himself regarding the issue”
— “Mesbah-Yazdi is considered Ahmadinejad’s personal spiritual guide”
— According to INN report, Mesbah-Yazdi is quoted as stating: “The necessary precaution is for the interrogator to perform a ritual washing first and say prayers while raping the prisoner. If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus.”
— According to INN report, Mesbah-Yazdi is quoted as stating: “If the judgment for the [female] prisoner is execution, then rape before execution brings the interrogator a spiritual reward equivalent to making the mandated Haj pilgrimage [to Mecca], but if there is no execution decreed, then the reward would be equivalent to making a pilgrimage to [the Shi’ite holy city of] Karbala.”
— According to INN report, Mesbah-Yazdi is quoted as stating: “The child borne to any weakling [a denigrating term for women – ed.] who is against the Supreme Leader is considered illegitimate, be it a result of rape by her interrogator or through intercourse with her husband, according to the written word in the Koran.”
— August 13, 2009 – Reuters: “Iran cleric says obeying Ahmadinejad like obeying God”
— “A senior Iranian cleric seen as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s spiritual mentor said obeying the head of government was like obeying God, the moderate Etemad-e Melli newspaper said on Thursday.”
— “Firebrand cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi believes the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei comes from God, not from the people.”
— “Mesbah-Yazdi has long held that democracy and elections are incompatible with Islam.”
— Similar report from MEMRI
— November 17, 2006: Ayatollah who backs suicide bombs aims to be Iran’s next spiritual leader
— Supports suicide bombings on his web site
Communist China: Zhou Yongjun’s case reviewed by John Kusumi
Communist China: Zhou Yongjun’s case reviewed by John Kusumi
— Tiananmen Square Persecution Continues, Over 20 Years Later
China Support Network’s John Kusumi:
— “We have at hand an issue — inattention to which demonstrates how the international community has sunk to lows of being inattentive to China’s human rights crisis and the plight of China’s pro-democracy movement, which garnered so much sympathy in the wake of 1989’s Tiananmen Square massacre. Indeed, for the first decade after Tiananmen, Western news organizations constantly featured Chinese dissidents, abuses committed by the regime there, and high profile cases of prisoners of conscience. Then, for the second decade after Tiananmen, Western news largely did a 180-degree turn, and while prisoners of conscience continued to suffer, newscasters themselves seemed to have no conscience.”
— “The Tiananmen crackdown is not over. The case of Zhou Yongjun is particularly galling because it can represent the entire Tiananmen Square student movement. Why? Because as the first student leader actually elected to lead the Autonomous Students’ Federation of Beijing Universities, Mr. Zhou already once did represent the entire Tiananmen Square student movement.”
— “What happened, and continues to happen, to Zhou is emblematic of China’s handling of political dissidents from 1989 all the way up to the present day. Zhou is now in his third stint as a political prisoner in Mainland China. Twice before, he was arrested and imprisoned.”
— “He was first arrested by Chinese authorities soon after the massacre of June 4, 1989. The international community raised pressure for his release, which happened in 1991 after about 1.5 years’ imprisonment. In 1992 he made his way to Hong Kong and in 1993 he resettled in the United States. He became a legal permanent resident and also applied for citizenship. He now has two children who are U.S. citizens.”
— “In 1998, he attempted a return visit to China, was arrested in Guangzhou, and became a political prisoner for the second time. He was sentenced to three years in a laogai (‘reform through labor’) camp. He was released about six months early in 2001, because the Chinese government was bidding for the Olympics to be awarded to Beijing. By making a token release of political prisoners, Beijing was able to display a fakey, staged impression of ‘human rights improvement.’ Zhou then returned to the United States in 2002.”
— “Now, he is in his third stint as a prisoner of the Chinese government. Homesickness and his ailing father led Zhou to attempt another return to China in September, 2008. He was detained by Hong Kong immigration authorities as he attempted to enter Hong Kong from Macao. At that point, he could have been turned away just like other dissidents. (Yang Jianli and Wuer Kaixi have also tried to re-enter China recently, and they were put onto airplanes that returned them to Taiwan.) Instead — and unlike their handling of other dissident cases — the Hong Kong immigration authorities turned him over to Mainland police.”
— “To enter China, Zhou had obtained a Malaysian passport which bore the name Wang Xingxiang. Authorities in China have charged him with “financial fraud,” solely on the basis of a letter that is alleged to be from Wang Xingxiang to Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong requesting to withdraw money. Zhou has made it clear that he did not author that letter, but it is the basis for the Chinese regime to continue to hold him now.”
U.S. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee’s Statement on North Korea capture
Current TV: “Laura Ling and Euna Lee make first statement regarding events leading to capture”
— Current TV reports:
— “We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained. Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.”
— AP reports:
— “Freed reporters say they were dragged into NKorea”
Related Reports:
Florida: Rifaq Bary Case – Additional Reports
Florida: Rifaq Bary Case – Additional Reports
Attorney Targets Alleged Terror Ties in Case of Runaway Girl
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,545020,00.html
— “In a 35-page memorandum filed Monday in Orange County family court, attorney John Stemberger claims Fathima Rifqa Bary, who will remain in foster care in Florida at least until a hearing on Thursday, should not be returned to the custody of her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, because of their connection to the Noor Islamic Cultural Center near Columbus, Ohio.”
— “‘The leader of the mosque, Dr. Hany Saqr, was previously an imam for another area mosque at the same time the largest known Al Qaeda cell in the U.S. since 9/11 was operating out of the mosque,’ the document read. ‘Additionally, Dr. Saqr was identified in exhibits submitted by the Department of Justice in a recent terrorism finance trial in Texas as being one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America — an international organization responsible for birthing virtually every Islamic terrorist organization in the world, including Al Qaeda.'”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,545020,00.html
— New filing in Rifqa Bary case claims ‘extensive evidence’ of Islamic extremism
http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/10715.article
— “Investigagtion and Intelligence Memorandum in Support of Petition for Dependency”
http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/noormemo.pdf
— “Affadavit of Fathima Rifqa Bary”
http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/affidavit.pdf
— An Open Letter to Judge Daniel Dawson Regarding the Rifqa Bary Case
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.4136/pub_detail.asp
— IslamOnline: “Teen Convert Stirs Muslim-Evangelical Row”
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1251021306310&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
— San Francisco Muslim Examiner: “Rifqa Bary and the Xenos Cult”
http://www.examiner.com/x-17122-SF-Muslim-Examiner~y2009m9d1-Rifqa-Bary
Florida/Ohio: Rifqa Bary Case – “Ohio mosque denies runaway convert’s allegations”
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1214123.html
Egypt Muslim Council: Building of Churches is ‘Sin’ Against God
Egypt Muslim Council: Building of Churches is ‘Sin’ Against God
— Christian Post reports:
— “Egyptian Muslim leaders are caught in a storm of controversy after a human rights group confronted them about a fatwa (Islamic edict) that stated the building of a church is ‘a sin against God.'”
— “The controversy began when the president of the Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization, Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, asked the Fatwa Council about a statement found in a textbook at Cairo University on inheritance and execution of wills.”
— “Students, both Muslims and Christians, were taught ‘it is forbidden for a person to donate money for what would lead to sin, such as donating in his will money towards build[ing] a church, a nightclub, a gambling casino, towards promoting the alcohol industry or for building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs.’
— AINA: “Building a Church is a ‘Sin’ Against God, Says Egyptian Muslim Council”
— “The Fatwa Council replied affirming the correctness of what came in the textbook and issued a Fatwa on September 10, 2008 (document number 1809), which is also published on its official website.”
— “Many Christians believe that this Fatwa has exposed the true stance of the religious authorities and the government towards churches, and the reason why it refrains from passing the long awaited bill on the ‘unified law for building places of worship,’ which would put an end to all problems related to building and restoring places of worship. It is also believed that since Islam views church building as a sin, passing this bill would therefore be in conflict with Shari’a Law — which is the main source of legislation as stipulated in the Constitution — and this would be something that the government would avoid at all costs.”
Bangladesh: “Muslims in Bangladesh Seize Land Used by Church”
Bangladesh: “Muslims in Bangladesh Seize Land Used by Church”
— COMPASS reports:
— “Bengali-speaking settlers file case against Christians; one threatens, ‘I will finish your life.'”
— “DHAKA, Bangladesh, September 1 (CDN) — Bengali-speaking, Muslim settlers have seized five acres of abandoned government property used by a church and falsedly charged Christians with damaging the land in southeastern Bangladesh’s Khagrachari hill district, Christian leaders said.”
— “Kiron Joti Chakma, field director of Grace Baptist Church in Khagrachari district, told Compass that the settlers had taken over the church building and the five acres of land in Reservechara village in June and filed a case on Aug. 4 against five tribal Christians. The Bengali-speaking Muslims had come from other areas of Bangladesh in a government resettlement program that began in 1980.”
Christian Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Aiding North Korean Refugees
Christian Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Aiding North Korean Refugees
China Aid reports on Inner Mongolia case:
“INNER MONGOLIA–Christians Li Mingshun and Zhang Yonghu were indicted by the Erlianhaote City People’s Procuratorate on July 31, 2009, for aiding North Korean refugees fleeing to South Korea through China. Li and Zhang were among several Christians helping to provide food, shelter, and transportation for the 61 refugees crossing Northern Chinese provinces into Mongolia, where neutral state laws permit residents to seek asylum in South Korea.
Alerted as the refugees crossed into Mongolia, the Border Brigade of Erlianhaote city traveled to Qindao, Heilongjiang province, and arrested Li Mingshun on April 29, 2009 [View Notice of Arrest]. The trial was held August 17, 2009 in the Erlianhaote City People’s Court. Human rights lawyers defending Li and Zhang hoped to raise awareness concerning the Chinese government’s treatment of North Korean refugees through this case. View earlier press release on Li and Zhang, 7/5/2009.
On August 30, 2009, Ms. Li was found guilty for her humanitarian activities by the Erlianhaote Procuratorate (officially charged with “human smuggling across the border). She was sentenced to ten years in prison. Ms. Li’s family in Qindao City received the verdict the morning of August 30. Mr. Zhang received a seven-year sentence for organizing transportation for the refugees to Inner Mongolia. Li’s family reports they will be submitting an appeal for Li and Zhang’s lawful release. (Visit www.ChinaAid.org to view Official Sentencing Document for Li and Zhang).
The verdict underscores years of continued persecution for North Koreans in China, who have been denied refugee-status by the Chinese government and repatriated in violation of the UNHCR Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which China signed in 1982.
The costs of repatriation are dire. Refugees face charges of treason upon their return to the home country, punishable by death, detention and/or lifelong imprisonment in labor camps. Detained Korean women and children in China are frequently sold into the sex-slave trade, disappearing from the formal record into the human trafficking void. Many Chinese and Korean Christians, like Li and Zhang, work with underground networks to aid these refugees as they seek freedom from persecution, only to be arrested and charged as criminals.
Though recent reports on the UN Council on Human Rights websiteUNHCR: “North Korean Asylum Seekers Arrive in South Korea, ” Jul. 2, 2009. http://www.unhcr.org/3b418a4cd.html show the Chinese government has taken rudimentary steps to comply with the Covenant, Li and Zhang’s case reveals the dangers for Chinese citizens who will be punished for helping the refugees.
President of ChinaAid Xiqiu “Bob” Fu responded to Li and Zhang’s sentences. “I am shocked at how the Chinese government treats its own humanitarian workers. They are innocent! We must urge the international community to voice their concerns for the persecuted North Korean refugees and the humanitarian workers who serve them in their time of need.” He further calls for the Chinese government to honor the Li family’s appeal, find them innocent under the Chinese law, and release Li Mingshun and Zhang Yonghu.
ChinaAid requests the international community to contact the Erlianhaote City People’s Procuratorate and Government to urge them to release Li Mingshun and Zhang Yonghu and to respect and uphold human rights for North Korean refugees.”
Erlianhaote City People’s Procuratorate, Tel: +86 479-7532977
Erlianhaote City People’s Government website: http://www.elht.gov.cn/
Tel: 0479-7521255
Fax: 0479-7521255
Complaint Tel :0479-7521221, fax :0479-7521255
Erlianhaote Municipal People’s Government
E-mail: elhts_xxk@163.com
Tel :0479-7523950
To further voice your support for human rights and North Korean refugee relief efforts in China, contact the UNHCR office in Beijing:
Address: 1-2-1, Tayuan Diplomatic Office Building, 14 Liangmahe Nan Lu, Beijing 100600
Tel:(86-10) 6532 6806
Fax: (86-10) 6532 1647
E-mail: chibe@unhcr.org
Website: www.unhcr.org.cn
See also:
Christians Sentenced To Long Prison Terms For Aiding North Koreans
— BosNewsLife reports:
— “Christian Li Mingshun has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for helping North Koreans fleeing to South Korea, while her fellow Christian, Zhang Yonghu, received a seven-year sentence for organizing transportation for the refugees, trial observers said.”
— “Li and Zhang were reportedly among several Christians helping to provide food, shelter, and transportation for 61 North Korean refugees crossing Northern Chinese provinces into Mongolia, where neutral state laws permit residents to seek asylum in South Korea.”