R.E.A.L. – Page 167 – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

BEIJING — A group of protesters pleaded for help Tuesday from President Barack Obama before his visit to China next week, saying anyone seen as a troublemaker is often treated harshly before major events in the capital.

Chinese authorities regularly crack down on dissidents before politically sensitive anniversaries or visits from foreign dignitaries, but the protesters said ordinary people get caught up in the sweeps.

“We are here because Obama is the president of a free and democratic country, he is coming to China, therefore the Chinese government will put pressure on us, the same way it happens on special dates,” said Yang Qiuyu, a housing rights activist who was among the 30 people protesting in a central Beijing park.

The protesters want Obama to ask his Chinese hosts why such crackdowns must occur.

The protesters had come to Beijing with housing complaints — demolished homes, for example — but were drawn into demanding human rights after getting what they said was unfair treatment from authorities.

One woman flashed a “V for victory” sign at an Associated Press Television News camera and opened her black jacket to reveal a white shirt with the handwritten phrase “I want human rights.” Police quickly took her away.

“We are being detained illegally or being put under house arrest, our freedom is limited,” Yang said.

Police arrived shortly after the protest started and took a number of people away.

“Why you detaining me? Do you have a formal accusation? I am being kidnapped!” Yang said as he was pushed into a police van.

Police asked the other protesters to leave the park.

Yang could not be reached Tuesday evening because his mobile phone was off. “It’s been 8 hours since he was taken away,” his wife, Wang Yuqin, said in a phone interview. She said she was at the police station and was not allowed to see her husband.

Other appeals are emerging before Obama’s arrival Sunday, including a letter by the China Support Network, a U.S.-based rights organization, which wants Obama to help secure the release of several jailed lawyers and scholars.

Egypt: Christian Coptic Blogger in Egypt Threatens Hunger Strike

Compass Direct News reports:

Coptic Blogger in Egypt Threatens Hunger Strike

Authorities deny Christian’s application for release.
ISTANBUL, November 9 (CDN) — A Coptic Christian blogger in Egypt held in prison for more than a year without charge said today he will go on a hunger strike unless authorities grant his next application for release.

Hani Nazeer, a 28-year-old high school social worker from Qena, Egypt and author of the blog “Karz El Hob,” received word today that his latest application for release, sent to the Ministry of the Interior a week ago, was denied. His attorneys said they would re-apply for his release tomorrow.

The interior ministry did not “supply the grounds for refusal” according to Rawda Ahamad, Nazeer’s lead defense attorney.

“He has no charges against him,” Ahamad said. “He is not a criminal. He must be released immediately. He’s an innocent man – anyone exposed to this severe injustice would do the same.”

On Oct. 3, 2008, Nazeer was arrested by Egypt’s State Security Investigations (SSI) and sent to Burj Al-Arab prison. Although police never charged him with any crime, Nazeer has been detained for more than a year under Egypt’s administrative imprisonment law.

Nazeer ran afoul of SSI officers a few days before his arrest when a group of local teenagers visited his website and clicked on a link to an online copy of “Azazil’s Goat in Mecca,” a novel written under the pseudonym “Father Utah.” The book is a response to “Azazil,” a novel by Yusuf Zidane, critical of Christianity.

Insulting religion is illegal in Egypt, but the law is enforced unequally. Zidane’s critique of Christianity garnered him fame and awards throughout the Arab world. Nazeer’s website link cost him his freedom, despite the fact that police have never publicly produced any evidence linking Nazeer to Utah’s work. After Nazeer was arrested, posts continued on Utah’s website.

Nazeer has reported to his attorneys that he has been placed in prison with felons, some of them violent. He also claims that prison authorities have pressured him to convert to Islam.

Gamel Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the group representing Nazeer, stood by his client’s accusations, saying police have urged inmates to suggest to Nazeer that officers would work to free him if he were to convert to Islam.

Nazeer’s situation is complicated by the fact that his writings upset both Islamic authorities and the hierarchy of the Coptic Orthodox Church. On one hand, he criticized the increasing Islamization of Egyptian civil society. On the other, he lamented the political involvement of the Coptic Orthodox Church. In one post, Nazeer wrote that a gathering of activists at a Coptic church was inappropriate because churches were meant to be venues for prayer, not for politics.

According to Eid, Nazeer was arrested with the complicity of leaders in the Coptic Orthodox Church. In October of 2008, police detained Nazeer’s relatives at a police station and threatened to hold them until he came out of hiding. Nazeer turned himself into the police station on the advice of Bishop Kirollos of Nag Hammadi, Nazeer reported to his attorneys. Kirollos assured Nazeer he would be detained no more than four days and then be released.

Kirollos had denounced Nazeer to security, Nazeer told his attorneys.

All attempts to reach Kirollos about his alleged involvement in Nazeer’s arrest were unsuccessful. Several attempts to reach Bishop Anba Yoannes, authorized to speak about the case on behalf of the Coptic Orthodox Church’s Pope Shenouda III, were also unsuccessful. Egypt’s SSI, a political police force run by the Interior minister, routinely declines to comment on cases.

This week’s application will be sent to a court within the Ministry of the Interior. But under the emergency law, police officials have the power to ignore court orders. When local police execute a court order to release prisoners held under Egypt’s emergency law, security police commonly re-arrest them minutes later.

The law, enacted after the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat, allows authorities to hold people without charge. Eid estimated that there are approximately 14,000 people imprisoned under this law. In 2005, while running for re-election, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak promised to replace the contested law. But in May of 2008, the Egyptian government extended the law for two more years.

Mamdouh Nakhla, an attorney and civil rights activist in Egypt, said oppression of Coptic Christians is common and that many police officers in Egypt are the “agents of persecution.” At best, he said, they are complicit in acts of persecution. At worst, he added, police collude with others hostile to Christianity.

“They give green lights to Islamists, and protect them, and give them the feeling that they are immune from prosecution,” he said.

Iran/UK: Oxford’s tribute to student Neda Soltan denounced by Iran

Canada: Yusef Salam Al Mezel Sentenced to 1 Year for “Honor Crime” Threats Against Daughter Eman Al Mezel — Father Believed Daughter “Dishonored her Muslim Beliefs”

— Ottawa Citizen Reports “Union boss jailed in ‘‘honour’ crime”
— “The head of Ottawa’s taxi union has been sentenced to 12 months in jail for threatening his daughter with an honour crime if she did not obey his wishes.”
— “Ontario Superior Court Justice Lynn Ratushny said the sentence was the minimum penalty that Yusef Al Mezel could serve to address the ‘strong need’ for denunciation and general deterrence after he implied that the actions of his 23-year-old daughter would be met with violence because she had shamed and dishonoured her family.”
— ” ‘They invoke a seriously dangerous belief system that can and has led to violence against women,’ said Ratushny.”
— ” ‘Mr. Al Mezel has threatened his daughter with serious violence and has caused her to fear for her safety in the name of honour. He has committed the crime of harassment against her in the name of honour,’ she said.”
— “The incident occurred after an argument over Eman Al Mezel’s volunteer work. Eman Al Mezel said she moved out of the home after her father arranged for her to marry a 24-year-old Syrian man.”
— Yusef Salam Al Mazel “also wrote of ‘the Sharaf of the family,’ which Eman Al Mezel later explained to police was the belief that she had shamed and dishonoured her family because she had run away from home and shed her hijab and Muslim beliefs.”

— Canadian National Post report: “Taxi union boss jailed for threat of honour crime”

— Ottawa Sun Reports: “Taxi boss jailed for threats against daughter”
— “The city’s taxi union boss was handed a year in jail Tuesday for what a judge deemed an ‘honour crime.’
— “Yusef Salam Al Mezel, 44, had pleaded guilty to criminally harassing his 23-year-old daughter, Eman, over three weeks in July 2007.”
— ” ‘Mr. Al Mezel has threatened his daughter with serious violence and has caused her to fear for her safety in the name of honour,’ Judge Lynn Ratushny wrote. ‘He has committed the crime of harassment against her in the name of honour.’ ”
— “Al Mezel admitted to pushing his daughter, threatening to break her legs and kill her and smashing her computer. When she fled marriage to a Syrian man for a $9,000 dowry, he stalked her to a shelter and a friend’s home.”
— “He sent her e-mails threatening her uncles and cousins would go ‘crazy’ over the family’s honour and to come home before someone got hurt.”
— “Police spirited the young woman — and the family sheltering her — out of Ottawa.”

— August 14, 2009: Canada: Prosecution wants father jailed for “honor crime” threats against daughter
— Ottawa Citizen: ” ‘When she wouldn’t bend to his will … he raised the spectre of violence in the name of honour to scare her into complying with his wishes,’ said Cavanagh, who urged Ontario Superior Court Justice Lynn Ratushny to sentence the 44-year-old president of the Canadian Autoworkers Local 1688 to 18 to 24 months behind bars.”

“White Nationalist” Web Site Condemns R.E.A.L. Protests of VDARE

The “white nationalist” web site “Occidental Dissent,” which has been promoted by NYC’s self-described “racialist” Lawrence Auster, has condemned R.E.A.L.’s protests of VDARE speakers at the October 31, 2009 H L Mencken Club conference in the Baltimore suburb of Lithicum, Maryland.

We are not surprised that “white nationalists” disapprove of our protests against the “white nationalist hate group” VDARE and VDARE’s repeated promotion of “white nationalist” and racist screeds.

We have also received emails and messages from VDARE supporters known to sell Nazi products, who have also been critical of our protests in challenging VDARE’s racist promotion of “white nationalism.”

We urge those who criticize us to end their hate and contempt for our universal human rights, accept our universal human rights of equality and liberty, and rejoin the brotherhood of humanity. Choose love, not hate.

Love Wins.

Uganda: “Muslim Extremists Attack Worship Service in Uganda”

— COMPASS News reports: “Muslim Extremists Attack Worship Service in Uganda”
— “Church member taking photos beaten, building damaged.”
— “About 40 Muslim extremists with machetes and clubs tried to break into a Sunday worship service outside Uganda’s capital city of Kampala on Nov. 1, leaving a member of the congregation with several injuries and damaging the church building.”
— “Eyewitnesses said the extremist mob tried to storm into World Possessor’s Church International in Namasuba at 11 a.m. as the church worshipped.”

Christians examine damage to their church outside of Kampala, Uganda. (COMPASS Direct News)

Pakistan: Asia News Report on Pakistan Blasphemy Law

Pakistan: Asia News Report on Pakistan Blasphemy Law

— R.E.A.L. reports on blasphemy law

— See Also: Peshawar High Court to hear petition against Non-Shariah sections of Nizam -e-Adl
— “The Peshawar High Court Divisional Bench would be reviewing the petition of local government association against the non-Shariah section 7 of Nizam-e-Adl”

DC: Experts on China’s One Child Policy to Testify in Congressional Hearing

See also reports at Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

China Aid (www.ChinaAid.org) reports:

Experts on China’s One Child Policy to Testify in Congressional Hearing

November 8, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C.–As President Obama prepares to visit China this week, concerned organizations will raise their voices against China’s One Child per Couple Policy this Tuesday, November 10, 2009:

What: An Evaluation of 30-Years of the One-Child Policy in China

Host: Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

When: 1:00 PM-4:00 PM–Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Where: Room 2318, Rayburn HOB

Why:

“The Chinese Communist Party states that it has “prevented 400 million births” through its One Child Policy–greater than the entire population of the United States. The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing this Tuesday will present new evidence that many of these births have been “prevented” through forced abortion, involuntary sterilization, and infanticide.

Because of the traditional preference for boys, sex selective abortion is practiced. Indeed, in some areas of China, 130 boys are born for every 100 girls. Because of this “gendercide, ” there are now an estimated 37 million Chinese men who will never marry, because there aren’t enough women. This gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind human trafficking and sexual slavery in China and the surrounding countries.

On April 22, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that coercive family planning in China is “absolutely unacceptable.” Whether pro-life or pro-choice, no one supports forced abortion–because it is negates the power of choice. Rather, the One Child Policy causes more violence toward women and girls than any other official policy on earth.”

–Reggie Littlejohn, Womens Rights Without Frontiers.

Join Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, ChinaAid, and the following concerned expert panelists for this pivotal hearing hosted by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. See the Official Hearing Announcement issued November 6, 2009.

* Toy Reid, Congressional-Executive Commission on China
* Reggie Littlejohn, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
* Annie Jing Zhang, Women’s Rights in China
* Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute
* Rebiya Kadeer, Uyghur-American Association
* Harry Wu, Laogai Research Foundation
* Jiang Tianyong, Beijing Global Law Firm

If you have any questions, please contact Elizabeth Hoffman at (202) 225-3599.

MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: PRESS CONFERENCE AT 12:15 PM

Meet the speakers and take advantage of photo opportunities at the Press Conference, to be held at 12:15 PM, in Room 2318, Rayburn House office building. Both events are open to the public.

R.E.A.L. Outreach to Public at CNN Washington DC on Extremist “Honor Killings”

On November 9, 2009, a week after the death of 20 year old Arizona woman Noor Almaleki, as a result of a “honor killing” by her father, Responsible for Equality And Liberty’s (R.E.A.L.) Jeffrey and Karen Imm held a public awareness outreach on the issue of extremist ideological violence as the basis for honor killings in front of CNN’s Washington DC Headquarters.

R.E.A.L.'s Public Awareness Outreach at CNN Washington DC Offices (820 First St. N.E., Washington, DC 20002)

We passed out fliers about the “honor killing” of Noor Almaleki stating that “ideological violence against women is terrorism,” and we spoke about the issue to the lunch time crowd in the plaza area around CNN’s DC offices. It was evident that many were completely unaware of her story. We urged the public to demand that CNN reports the entire story about the “honor killing” of Noor Almaleki – not the censored version that has thus far been reported by CNN.

In the case of the “honor killing” of Noor Almaleki, the family repeatedly told members of the Arizona press that the reason her father killed her was because of the Noor’s unwillingness to conform to her father’s extremist views, what they called “traditional Muslim values.”

While this was reported by the Arizona Republic and CBS-5, CNN has repeatedly ignored these reports, instead stating this was only due to the father and daughter’s differences over “Iraqi values.” (Note: the Alamalekis have been in America since the mid 1990s.)

We showed example on posters of the differences between the Arizona press and CNN reporting. We urged CNN to tell the rest of the story – so that the public can be informed and address this ideological threat to women’s freedoms before another American woman is killed for failing to submit to extremist views.

We urged our fellow Americans to remember that our shared freedoms for equality and liberty are the “truths that we hold self-evident,” and that no ideology of supremacism has the right to deny their universal human rights to our fellow Americans and our fellow human beings. We pointed out how Noor Almaleki’s friends were afraid to talk about why her father murdered her for fear that the same thing would happen to them. We made it clear that ideological violence to intimidate, to oppress, to deny freedoms — is nothing less than terrorism.

We urged the public to reject supremacist ideologies that seek to deny our human rights, and seek to terrorize women into submission. We also pointed out that while some wish to view such religious extremist violence against women as “isolated incidents,” they are in fact, all connected by this anti-freedom ideology.

We stated that just as we recognized racial violence and oppression in the 1960s (and even today) were not merely “isolated incidents,” but were all part of a larger ideological threat of racial supremacism — so today we must also report on and recognize the larger ideological threats to humanity today when it comes to extremist threats against freedom.

We said that we came to CNN’s Washington DC office to be a voice for those like Noor Almaleki who no longer have a voice to speak, and also to be a voice for people who are afraid or are being prevented from speaking.

We asked people to remember that these victims of “honor killings” are not just statistics, but are human beings.

Pointing to our poster with Noor Almaleki’s face, we urged the public to remember that all of these victims of ideological violence were special and unique individuals who were loved. Moreover, we stated that our human rights are not simply about vague ideas, but our human rights are the foundation of the lives of Noor Almaleki and so many others. We pointed out that our human rights have a face, an identity, and lives that are precious. We urged the public and the media not to forget the face of human rights, as these faces of human rights are also our faces as well, and those of our families, our neighbors, and our friends. We urged the public never to forget the faces of human rights, and our responsibility to each other to defend equality and liberty.

Karen Imm spoke about other American victims of extremist “honor killings,” who are other women who could not speak for themselves today. Karen and Jeffrey spoke about extremist “honor killings” of Amina and Sarah Said in Dallas, of Sandeela Kanwal in Georgia, in of Methal Dayem in Cleveland, in Tina Isa in Indianapolis, and of suspected “honor killing” of Aasiya Zubair Hassan in Buffalo.

Amina and Sarah Said - Victims of "Honor Killings" in Texas

Sandeela Kanwa - Victim of "Honor Killing" in Georgia

Methal Dayem - Victim of "Honor Killing" in Cleveland, Ohio

Tina Isa - Victim of "Honor Killing" in Indianapolis

Aasiya Zubair Hassan - Suspected Victim of "Honor Killing" in Buffalo, NY

All of these American victims of extremist “honor killings” or threats of such ideological violence are the result of our nation’s and our media’s unwillingness to address the religious extremist ideological basis behind such violence, instead of viewing such terrorism against women as merely “isolated incidents.”

Jeffrey Imm also spoke of those who report that they have been threatened with harm, such as Rifqa Bary, in Columbus.

Rifqa Bary, 17 - reports say she is threatened with death by her family in Ohio for converting from Islam to Christianity

He asked the public if our media and our nation continues to ignore such terrorist threats and violence against women, who will be next?

Jeffrey Imm asked “How many more have to die before we decide to be responsible for our fundamental human rights and freedoms, and before we decide to be responsible for equality and liberty of women in America and around the world?”

Other Reports:

Why Religious Extremist Honor Killings Represent Ideological Violence Against Women

Facebook Page: “R.I.P Noor Faleh Almaleki”

Arizona: Terrorism Against Women — Noor Almaleki Just Wanted To Be Normal

Arizona — Noor Almaleki “Honor Killing”: Hassan Almaleki Arraignment Delayed, On Suicide Watch

Arizona — Noor Almaleki Honor Killing: Father To Be Arraigned, Face New Charges

Arizona: Woman in Suspected “Honor Killing” Dies — 20 Year Old Noor Almaleki

Arizona — Noor Almaleki Case: Arizona Jails Father in ‘Honor Killing’ Try

Arizona: Noor Almaleki Case — Father in “Honor Killing” Attempt Captured in UK — Extradited Back to US

Arizona — Noor Almaleki case: Family Says Noor Almaleki “Failed to Live by Traditional Muslim Values” — Woman in Critical Condition in Alleged “Honor Killing” Attempt

Arizona: Noor Almaleki’s Lifestyle may have put woman in hospital

Arizona: Father runs down daughter in Peoria parking lot — Noor Faleh Almaleki attacked for being “too westernized”

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Rifqa Bary Support Web Site

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

R.E.A.L. Blog Reports on Extremist Oppression and Violence Against Women

R.E.A.L. — Save Women Now

R.E.A.L. Petition on Extremist Violence and Oppression of Women

World Gender Gap Worst in Islamic Nations — Survey Shows Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Egypt, Turkey at Bottom of List

U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 and Gender Imbalance in Human Trafficking

R.E.A.L. Blog Reports on Extremism

Why Honor Killings Represent Ideological Violence Against Women

In Arizona, a week ago today, 20 year old woman Noor Almaleki died.

Some have reported that her murder by her father was another instance of unfortunate domestic violence. But the fact is that her murder was another instance of an ideological violence against women that we must challenge as a threat to our universal human rights here and around the world.

: 20 Year Old Noor Almaleki – Died on November 2, 2009 – A Victim of An Ideological Violence Against Women

Such acts of violence against women based on an ideology are more than “isolated incidents.” Such ideological violence is a human rights challenge that defies our universal human rights. Many seek to dismiss an ideological femicide to oppress women by explaining away such violence based on ignorance, cultural backwardness, or “tribal traditions.” Moreover, others point to the fact that “honor killings” are also performed by other identity groups around the world, which is absolutely true.

But in the case of the murder of Noor Almaleki on November 2, the family repeatedly told members of the Arizona press that the reason why her father murdered her had to do with his religious extremist views on what they called “traditional Muslim values.” This was the reason explained for her father’s willingness to murder her.

While the Arizona Republic and CBS-5 specifically and repeatedly quote both Noor Almaleki’s family and brother as explaining her death based on her failure “to live by traditional Muslim values,” CNN has repeatedly ignored these reports and reports her death due to “Iraqi values.” It ignores such reports by Arizona media, even when the Almalekis moved to the United States 15 years ago.

We ask CNN to review this story and report all of the facts so that the public can be informed, and so that others can challenge the Almaleki family’s allegations that “traditional Muslim values” prohibit freedom for women, including Noor Almaleki.

Extremist-rationalized “honor killings” are different than other domestic violence and violence against women, and until the basis for such ideological violence against women is recognized and discussed, we cannot prevent such violence from continuing and spreading. We must call for the mainstream media to start connecting the dots and doing the research on the ideological basis behind such violence and report this to the American people.

There is a distinct and global misogynist extremist challenge to women that we repeatedly see from those who rationalize such misogyny with an extremist ideology towards human rights. We cannot continue to ignore the ideological basis behind such extremist violence. Over and over, the perpetrators and those involved with such violence make reference specifically to extremist views towards human rights.

Noor Almaleki is not the first such ideological “honor killing” in the United States. There have been others in Dallas, in Georgia, in Cleveland, in Indianapolis, and one suspected in Buffalo. There are others who report that they have been threatened with harm, such as Rifqa Bary, in Columbus. Such ideological violence against girls and women in the United States is the tip of the iceberg of thousands of such women murdered with such ideological rationalization around the world as we have reported.

Such ideological “honor killings” are just one more link in a larger extremist rationalized ideological chain that seeks to oppress women around the world, not only to deny them equality, but to intimidate and subjugate them to being less than human – not entitled to human rights at all, but only granted privileges to serve those who would oppress them. We see this not only in the ideological “honor killings,” but also in the recent Global Gender Gap index which illustrates the hundreds of millions of women in predominantly Islamic countries that live under oppression today – many of the same countries that are the worst offenders of human trafficking. At our blog, we have endless reports of one abuse after another and another based on an ideological oppression of women rationalized by extremism.

Such ideological “honor killings” are not crimes of passion or crimes of tribal tradition. They are acts of ideological violence intended to remind women of their position of servitude and submission to those extremists who believe they are women’s “masters.” As we call for the improvement for human rights for all women around the world, as Americans we must also demand that the truth be told about those who seek to promote ideological hate and oppression against women in our country today. We must continue to demand that our media report on this issue to inform our citizens and to put pressure on our government to take action – to demand that such ideological violence against women ends.

When we see other ideological violence intended to provoke fear and intimidate others, we have a name for it: “terrorism.” We won’t see such ideological violence and oppression against women addressed by counterterrorism organizations – that focus on who, what, where, and when – but have decided to leave the issue of why regarding ideological violence occurs… to someone else.

That someone else is us. That is our challenge in being Responsible for Equality And Liberty – to speak for those who can’t speak any more and to speak for the oppressed who live in fear to speak out for their universal human rights — including those in America today. Noor Almaleki’s friends feared speaking to reporters for fear of what would happen to them. That is the terrorism against women – too common around the world – that continues to find its way to America. This is the same terrorism against women that our news media refuses to effectively report on. The is the same terrorism against women that our government refuses to act on. We must demand that our media recognize such terrorism against women for what it is and to recognize and defy those extremist ideologies that seek our silence.