Author: R.E.A.L.

US Epoch Times Reports: ‘Gao Zhisheng, My Husband — Where Are You?’

US Epoch Times Reports: ‘Gao Zhisheng, My Husband — Where Are You?’
— Epoch Times: “Geng He wrote an open letter to her husband on the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival”
— “Gao is known for representing a range of groups being persecuted by the Chinese regime, particularly Falun Gong. Arrested in February, Gao’s current whereabouts are unknown. Geng He and their two children escaped to the U.S. earlier this year.”

Pakistan: Extremists Justify Bombing U.N. World Food Program

Media reports on extremists’ rationalization of bombing of U.N. World Food Program in Pakistan as being “in the interests of Muslims”

— AKI: “Taliban claim responsibility for deadly UN blast”
— AKI reports Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq quoted as stating: “We proudly claim responsibility for the suicide attack at the U.N. office in Islamabad. We will send more bombers for such attacks,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. “The U.N. and other foreign (aid groups) are not working in the interest of Muslims. We are watching their activities. They are infidels.”

— AP reports: “Taliban militants claimed responsibility Tuesday for the deadly suicide bombing at the U.N. food agency’s heavily fortified compound in Islamabad, saying international relief work in Pakistan was not in ‘the interest of Muslims'” — “Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq confirmed his group was behind the bombing and lashed out at foreign aid workers.”

Guinea: “In a Guinea Seized by Violence, Women Are Prey”

— In a Guinea Seized by Violence, Women Are Prey
— NYT reports: “Cellphone snapshots, ugly and hard to refute, are circulating here and feeding rage: they show that women were the particular targets of the Guinean soldiers who suppressed a political demonstration at a stadium here last week, with victims and witnesses describing rapes, beatings and acts of intentional humiliation”
— “The exact number of women who were abused is not known. Because of the shame associated with sexual violence in this West African country, victims are reluctant to speak, and local doctors refuse to do so. Victims who told of the attacks would not provide their names because they were afraid of retribution.”
— NYT describes Guinea as a “Muslim” country

— IslamOnline reports story as “Horrific Mass Rapes in Muslim Guinea”

Saudi Arabia: Extremist “Police” to “Set Up Human Rights Unit” — Woman Rights Activist Calls It “Biggest Joke in History”

— Saudi vice police’s move to create human rights division described as biggest joke in history
— ANI reports:
— “Jerusalem/Riyadh, Oct 5 : A plan by Saudi Arabia’s vice police to set up a human-rights division within its ranks to improve its image has been described as the biggest joke in history by human rights
activists.”
— “‘This is the best joke in history. The commission and human rights? How can two opposites sit together! Get real. The commission and its activities go completely against human rights and freedom,’ wrote A-Salihi.”
— “The Jerusalem Post quoted Wajiha Al-Huweidar, a Saudi human-rights activist, as saying the move was nothing short of hypocritical.”
— “‘Since when is interfering in people’s private lives part of the human-rights agenda?’ she asked The Media Line rhetorically. ‘It reflects what they do. They harass people all year long and during holidays they give away candy to people,’ Al-Huweidar said.”
— “‘The religious police know very well that most Saudis want to see them disappear from streets and public places, because they only represent aggressiveness and oppression,’ Al-Huweidar said.”
— “‘I think the Saudi government has realized that its reputation is damaged worldwide and its image is ruined among Saudis, so now they are trying to beautify this repressive institution by using a new slogan… The religious police have to understand their time is over and they have to go,’ he added.”
— “Other human-rights activists welcomed the idea. ‘We think this is a good thing and an appropriate step,’ Muflih Al-Qahtani, president of the Saudi National Society for Human Rights, told The Media Line. ‘We hope this unit will play an active role in spreading the culture of human rights and work on protecting people from any violations they are exposed to,’ Al-Qahtani said. ‘It should be noted that the recent changes in the way the members of the commission have dealt with issues, and their efforts to become closer to the different social levels, indicates a desire to protect rights,’ he added.”
— “The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the kingdom’s religious police, has come under fire over the past few years for their strict and sometimes brutal clamp-downs on what is perceived as un-Islamic behavior, fueling international criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human-rights record.”
— “The organization enforces religious rules such as a ban on men and women mixing, Islamic dress code, prayer attendance and the prohibition on the possession and consumption of alcohol.”
— “The features of the restructured commission would include restructuring the legal administration and creating new units, among them one that will deal with human rights.”
— “This new unit will begin operating shortly under the direct supervision of the commission”s director and it will deal with human rights ‘in accord with just Islamic principles and international rights treaties.'”
— “The decision to set up the human-rights unit coincides with several cases for which Saudi religious authorities are coming under scrutiny from human-rights organizations.”
— “Saudi Arabia is governed by a strict interpretation of Islamic law known as Wahhabism. Earlier this year Saudi King Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz initiated sweeping reforms which included firing the head of the religious police. It is thought that the reforms were an effort to moderate the country’s leadership and present to the West a more toned-down image of the Saudi kingdom.”

Stratfor reports:
— “Saudi Arabia: ‘Religious Police’ To Set Up Human-Rights Unit”
— “Saudi Arabia’s so-called ‘religious police,’ the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, plans to go through a restructuring and will set up a human-rights division, Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported Oct. 5. A spokesman for the commission said the new division will deal with human rights ‘in accord with just Islamic principles and international rights treaties.'”