Day: October 14, 2009

U.S. – CNN iReport Says Rifqa Bary Case Indicative of Human Rights Threats to Thousands

U.S. – CNN iReport Says Rifqa Bary Case Indicative of Human Rights Threats to Thousands

‘Teen’s plight not an isolated incident’
— PunjabiPower: “This probably happens every day in families who are Muslim or who are from conservative cultures such as South Asia”
— “The plight of the Ohio teen is not an isolated incident or a simple family matter. This is a disregard of the basic human rights experienced by countless teens, men and women of Muslim Faith and conservative cultures such as South Asia and the Middle East.”

— Regarding Rifqa Bary – “the only thing that matters is how she feels.  If she feels threatened, that’s the end of story…”

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http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-327484

Indonesia: Muslim cleric cleared of sex abuse over 12 year old child bride

Indonesia: Cleric cleared of sex abuse over child bride
— AKI reports: “An Indonesian court has acquitted controversial Muslim cleric Pujiono Cahyo Widianto over child sexual molestation charges for marrying an underage girl, aged 12 last year…. The girl is his second wife.”

See also:

— September 13, 2009 – Council for Foreign Relations (CFR): “A Muslim Model: What Indonesia Can Teach the World”
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/09/13/a_muslim_model_what_indonesia_can_teach_the_world/
— July 17, 2009 – Wall Street Journal: “Indonesia Is a Model Muslim Democracy”

Netherlands: Married at thirteen

Netherlands: Married at thirteen
— Islam in Europe reports:
— “In her book Generous Betrayal Prof. Unni Wikan brings several cases where Norwegian authorities let down immigrant girls in need. I recently translated an article from the Norwegian media about children as young as 14 who are being forcibly married off by their parents.”
— Trouw reports:
— “Suat, 18 years old, has already lived an adult’s life. She had been married off, probably when she was 13, maybe when she was 15, it remains unclear if it was in the Netherlands or in her land of origin. The ‘wedding’ started off a life of rape, abuse, shelters and social help. Professionals have been discussing her case for years, and yet it went wrong. Since March, Suat has disappeared without a trace.”
— “New information makes everything even more heart-rending. This case has probably been going on for five years, and the girl was 13 when she ‘married’. This according to a source who wants to remain anonymous, who knew Suat, and knows of details. From the beginning the social workers and others at school discussed her case. They also enlisted other social authorities.”
— “The file, the explanation by the police, and the information of the anonymous source who gave this information, seem difficult to put together. Altuntas is somber. Suat has either been murdered, or she now has a miserable life. Why did she go back to her land of origin, twice even? Altuntas: ‘The Dutch authorities didn’t give her any feeling of security. They had underestimated the danger and Suat felt it.'”

forcedmarriage

Pakistan: “Mother of nine killed over honor”

Pakistan: “Mother of nine killed over honour”
— Pakistan Daily Times reports on Karachi “honor killing:”
— “A man surrendered himself to the police after killing his wife, mother of nine children, in the wee hours of Tuesday.”
— “Mochko police said that Mohammad Rehman confessed to the crime and surrendered himself to them after killing Mash Parri, 52, in Khyber Mohalla of Ittehad Town”

Pakistan: Top Pakistan university to ban kissing

Pakistan: Top Pakistan university to ban kissing
— CSM reports: “When an unsuspecting female student at Lahore University of Management Sciences turned to peck her boyfriend on the cheek during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan last month, she probably thought her private moment would remain just that.”
— “Instead the kiss – which a fellow student witnessed, documented, and then blasted in an email to the entire university as part of her “dossier” on campus PDAs (personal displays of affection) – has sparked a passionate, headline-grabbing debate about how conservative Pakistani society should be”
— “The LUMS Office of Student Affairs has promised to issue a code of conduct to ban PDAs”

love-wins-lg

Washington State: Tacoma woman finds racist graffiti at work, on car door

Washington State: Tacoma woman finds racist graffiti at work, on car door
— King 5 News reports: “After finding a swastika and the letters “KKK” carved into the side of her car door, Katrina Johnson had enough, and called police.”
— “The Tacoma African-American woman said she has found the same racist messages around her cubicle at work.”

New York: Ithaca Schools Win Appeal on Racial Harassment Case

New York: Ithaca Schools Win Appeal on Racial Harassment Case
WBNG reports:
— “The New York Human Rights Division ordered the district to pay $400-thousand in damages to Amelia Kearney and her daughter, Epiphany.”
— “The Kearney’s claim the district did nothing to stop white boys from taunting Epiphany with racial slurs and KKK signs.”
— “A State Supreme Court judge dismissed the case, saying the Human Rights Division had no jurisdiction.”
— “The judge cited a recent ruling that schools are not education corporations or associations.”
— “So, they are outside of the authority of the Human Rights Division to hear complaints.”

Nepal: UN urges swift release of Nepal’s child soldiers

UN urges swift release of Nepal’s child soldiers
— AFP reports: “The United Nations Wednesday called for the “swift and orderly” release of child soldiers from Nepal’s Maoist army, which has been confined to UN-monitored camps since the civil war ended in 2006.”
— “Almost 24,000 former Maoist fighters live in camps around the country as part of a 2006 peace agreement that ended 10 years of bloody fighting between left-wing rebels and the government.”
— “Checks by the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) found that nearly 3,000 camp inmates were minors when the war ended, and the government announced in July that they would be discharged.”
— “Coomaraswamy said Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, had assured her the discharge process would begin immediately.”

— Same Prachanda who bragged about tricking the United Nations on video

Pakistan: Meeting to suggest changes in blasphemy laws postponed until January 2010

Pakistan: Meeting to suggest changes in blasphemy laws postponed until January 2010
— Pakistan Daily Times reports:
— Federal Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti “said despite discussing the issue in the meeting, the final draft to bring amendments to the laws could not be made”
— Shahbaz Bhatti: “We have asked assembly members to discuss the issue with the leadership of their parties and then a draft would be prepared, so that when it would be brought in the national assembly, it has the support of all political parties, therefore we have postponed the meeting till January 2010”

Pakistan – IPS: “Repeal of Blasphemy Laws Still a Pipe Dream”

Pakistan – IPS: “Repeal of Blasphemy Laws Still a Pipe Dream”
— IPS reports:
— “In 2000, then President Pervez Musharraf promised to repeal the laws. ‘He retracted when the ‘mullahs’ (religious teachers) threatened protests,’ recalled Zohra Yusuf, vice chairperson of the Sindh chapter of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).”
— “Rights activist Tahira Abdullah said mobs using the law to inflict harm on others are acting ‘like private vigilante groups,’ she said.”
— “No less than governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer has called for a repeal of the blasphemy laws. But his bold call on Sep. 16 for the controversial laws’ repeal was met with a warning from the president of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who said that his party would resist any attempt to annul the blasphemy laws.”
— “Continued state inaction on the much-maligned blasphemy laws has only reinforced perceptions that ‘the present government has no intention of repealing the laws,’ said Yusuf.”
— “I.A. Rehman, noted rights activist and secretary general of the HRCP, told IPS ‘(neither) the present government (nor any) government in Pakistan is likely to have the courage to repeal the blasphemy laws”. He added that “the state has committed the folly of making obscurantist fanatics stronger than itself.” Calling for a repeal of the law “is the only rational way out’ although ‘this demand is unlikely to be met.'”

— October 12, 2009: Karachi: Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) stages rally to oppose changes in blasphemy law

— SAP-PK: government hostage to the extremists will not abolish the blasphemy law
— Asia News reports that “Irfan Mufti, director of South Asian Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-PK), who tells AsiaNews that the country lacks the ‘political will’ to reject the ‘controversial law'”

— April 16, 2008 – Rehman and Gilani at Pakistan National Assembly mtg where it passes resolution calling for U.N. to impose death penalty internationally for blasphemy
—- Pakistan Daily Times: “Karim’s resolution condemned the reprinting of the controversial cartoons in Danish newspapers and demanded that the UN make a law suggesting capital punishment for blasphemy”