Category: Women’s Rights Matter
Saudi Arabia: “Save the child bride”
(Saudi Arabia) “Save the child bride”
— “I would have thrown away the Declaration of Human Rights in the wastepaper basket, torn off my clothes and gone into the street like Tarzan — it seems the world has turned into a jungle in which a father is willing to offer his child to a man in his 80s. It is totally disheartening that society is looking at this tragedy as a personal affair and questioning how they can object when the father has given his consent?”
Pakistan: Murder of Couple and Adopted Child — Motive Appears Their Freely Choosing Marriage — Family Suspected
Pakistan Daily Times reports: “Couple’s bodies identified”
— “A 40-year-old man killed a day earlier along with his wife has been identified as a retired army personnel on Saturday. The police is said to have adopted their six-month-old child.”
— The investigators believe that their family is behind the assassination as they got married according to their own free will after escaping from their hometown two years ago.”
— “A day has passed since their assassination but their families have not yet contacted the police and the investigators, through their efforts, have identified the couple and are still trying to contact their families. The man was identified as Mohammad Idrees, son of Mohammad Saleem while his wife as Tasleem, 34.”
— “The gunshot bodies of the couple were found from the nullah located at factory area, Abidabad in the limits of Mochko police station on Friday and then the bodies were shifted to the Edhi morgue, Sohrab Goth after legal formalities were completed in the Civil Hospital, Karachi (CHK). The case of the dual murder has also been registered at the Mochko police station.”
— “Both got married according to their own will out of love.”
Florida: Fathima Rifqa Bary Case – Judge keeps girl in Florida, orders mediation
— MyFOXOrlandao: “Judge seals police report for runaway”
— “The judge signed the order Thursday sealing the report for at least ten days until lawyers for 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, her parents and child welfare officials can read it. The hearing was to determine whether the teen should return to Ohio or stay in Florida.”
— “The teen ran away to Florida in July, saying she feared being killed for changing religions.”
— “The judge said two weeks ago that he would postpone deciding whether Bary should return to Ohio until after the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was completed.”
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.”
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
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
“Bangladesh: Muslims threaten Catholic women of Dewtola village”
“Bangladesh: Muslims threaten Catholic women of Dewtola village”
— Asia News reports: “Catholic women of the village of Dewtola can no longer go to mass because of continual threats from local Muslims. For the past several weeks tensions have been mounting around the parish of St. Francis Xavier in Golla, Nawabgonj district.”
U.S.: Reconsideration of Asylum Petition Granted in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Case
(U.S.) Reconsideration of Asylum Petition Granted in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Case
— fears that younger daughter will be mutilated in Indonesia
— Feminist News reports:
— “The decision (see PDF) reversed the Bureau of Immigration Appeal’s (BIA) decision that found the FGM performed on the family’s eldest daughter did not constitute past persecution and that the mutilation did not result in serious harm. The appeals court ruling stated, ‘the BIA’s attempt to parse the distinction between differing forms of female genital mutilation is not only a threat to the rights of women in a civilized society, but also runs counter to [established] precedent.'”
— San Francisco Chronicle: Genital mutilation grounds for asylum bid
— “The court returned the case to the immigration board to decide whether the younger daughter faced a likelihood of genital mutilation in Indonesia. If so, the board must decide whether the entire family is eligible for asylum or whether the parents and their daughters might instead be sent to Venezuela, the mother’s native country. The younger daughter was born there.”
— “Robert Ryan, an attorney in San Francisco who represents the family, said the court had corrected a series of legal errors by the immigration judges, including their downplaying of the older daughter’s trauma. ‘There’s no such thing as mild female genital mutilation,’ he said.”
Saudi Child Bride Turned Back Over to 80-Year-Old Husband
Saudi Child Bride Turned Back Over to 80-Year-Old Husband
— “A Saudi Arabian father forced his 10-year-old daughter to return to her 80-year-old husband Sunday, after she was found hiding at the home of her aunt for 10 days, Arab News reported.”
— “The young girl’s husband, who denies he is 80 despite family claims, accused the aunt of violating the terms of his marriage, allowed by Sharia Law.”
— “”My marriage is not against Sharia. It included the elements of acceptance and response by the father of the bride,” he told a local newspaper.”