(Pakistan) 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
—- “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”
Ethiopia: Jailed Evangelists in Ethiopia Win Appeal but Remain in Prison
Ethiopia: Jailed Evangelists in Ethiopia Win Appeal but Remain in Prison
— Compass Direct News reports: ” Two Christians in Ethiopia who had been sentenced to six months of prison on false charges of offering money to people to convert have successfully appealed their sentence, only to be kept in prison on a new charge.”
Aung San Suu Kyi meets ambassador for sanctions talks
Aung San Suu Kyi meets ambassador for sanctions talks
— London Times: “Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained Burmese democracy leader, held a rare meeting with Britain’s ambassador to Rangoon today amid growing hints that she might compromise on her support for sanctions against the country’s military junta.”
Florida: Public Bus Vandalized With Racial Slur
Florida: Public Bus Vandalized With Racial Slur
— First Coast News reports on St. Johns County:
— “Bright yellow paint covered the entire side of one of the Sunshine Bus program’s vehicles: ‘KKK. No ******* aloud” (sic).'”
Oregon: Portland neo-Nazi indicted in mailing of noose to Ohio NAACP officer
(Oregon) Portland neo-Nazi indicted in mailing of noose to Ohio NAACP officer
— The Oregonian reports:
— “A Portland-based organizer for a national neo-Nazi group was brought before a federal judge in shackles Thursday, accused of mailing a hangman’s noose to the president of an Ohio chapter of the NAACP.”
— “Daniel Lee Jones, the 33-year-old regional director of the American National Socialist Workers Party, was in court to make his first appearance on two criminal civil rights charges.”
Connecticut: Racist e-mail forwarded by school board member should be condemned in strongest possible terms
Somalia: Islamists Order Women in Bardere Town to Take Veils Quickly
Somalia: Islamists Order Women in Bardere Town to Take Veils Quickly
— Shabelle Media Network reports:
— “The Islamic administration officials in Bardere town in Gedo region have Thursday ordered the women there in south Somalia to take a veil or else will be taken legal step by the Islamist fighters in the town.”
— “The Islamist administration had ordered all the women in the town to take coverings once again since their announcement which was 15 days ago saying that they will take a right step the women who refuse to take the order of the administration adding that they will also be sentenced with the Sharia law.”
— “Mo’allin Mohumed Osma’il, head of the advice and education for the Islamic administration in Bardere town told Shabelle radio that Thursday was the last day of their ultimatum order with in the 15 days which stated all the women in the town to have veils through the town.
— “The official lastly said that the Islamist forces will conduct operations against the women who have not the coverings through in the town adding that they were completely ordered to arrest the women in the jails of Bardere town in Gedo region in southern Somalia.
Norway: Children facing forced marriages
Turkey: Mysterious deaths could be honor killings, says report
UK: 15 Year Old Girl Tulay Goren Murdered in “Honor Killing,” Mother Testifies in Court
— Daily Mail: “Missing girl was victim of honour killing, claims mother”
— Daily Mail reports:
— “A mother broke a ten-year silence to claim her teenage daughter was murdered in an ‘honour killing’, a court heard yesterday.”
— “Tulay Goren, 15, was allegedly killed by her father and buried in his garden after he learnt she was in a sexual relationship with a man twice her age.”
— “Mehmet Goren, 49, with the help of at least one of his brothers, then allegedly dug up her remains in Woodford Green, East London, and disposed of them a week later. Her body has never been found.”
— “Tulay’s mother Hanim lived with the dark family secret and at first misled police because she was scared for her safety, said Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, prosecuting.”
— “Tulay’s father and his brothers Ali, 55, and Cuma Goren, 42, both of Walthamstow, East London, yesterday appeared at the Old Bailey accused of the schoolgirl’s murder on January 7, 1999, and the attempted murder of her boyfriend Halil Unal, now 41. All three deny both charges.”
— “Tulay was living with Mr Unal and had even tried to marry him, but was too young.”
— “But after losing her virginity Tulay was seen as a ‘valueless commodity’, the court heard.”
— “Her father and uncles, who came to Britain as political refugees from Turkey in the early 1990s, are alleged to have decided in a ‘family council’ to kill the pair.”
— “Mr Unal was a Turkish Sunni Muslim but the Gorens were from the Alevi branch of the faith and an Alevi-Sunni relationship ‘would not have been tolerated’, jurors heard.”
— Additional Reports
— Reuters: Father accused of daughter’s “honour killing”
— Guardian: Mother to give evidence in ‘honour killing’ trial
— London Times: Knives and bin-bags vanished, garden was dug over, says ‘honour killing’ wife