Reader’s links for Oct. 12 – 2015

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

44 Replies to “Reader’s links for Oct. 12 – 2015”

  1. Putin Says Russia’s Campaign in Syria More Effective Than U.S.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-11/putin-says-russia-s-campaign-in-syria-more-effective-than-u-s-

    Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his air and cruise-missile strikes on terror targets in Syria as two Saudi Arabian officials softened their government’s position on the fate of Bashar al-Assad.

    Putin discussed his Syria campaign on Sunday with Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Mohammed Bin Salman, who signaled a willingness to let al-Assad remain in power longer, while the foreign ministers of both nations also met to consider the situation in Syria.

    Putin’s bombing campaign to support his ally Assad took the U.S. and NATO by surprise and overshadowed a flurry of diplomacy over how to tackle the conflict. As Russia builds up its military presence in Assad’s stronghold on the eastern Mediterranean Sea, U.S. President Barack Obama dismissed any notion that his leadership on the world stage was being challenged.

    Now Russia is leading the diplomatic charge, with Putin in bilateral meetings with Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed, who were in Sochi in southern Russia, site of a Formula 1 auto race. Putin again called for a political resolution emanating from Assad’s government.

  2. Did U.S. weapons supplied to Syrian rebels draw Russia into the conflict?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/did-us-weapons-supplied-to-syrian-rebels-draw-russia-into-the-conflict/2015/10/11/268ce566-6dfc-11e5-91eb-27ad15c2b723_story.html

    BEIRUT — American antitank missiles supplied to Syrian rebels are playing an unexpectedly prominent role in shaping the Syrian battlefield, giving the conflict the semblance of a proxy war between the United States and Russia, despite President Obama’s express desire to avoid one.

    The U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW missiles were delivered under a two-year-old covert program coordinated between the United States and its allies to help vetted Free Syrian Army groups in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad. Now that Russia has entered the war in support of Assad, they are taking on a greater significance than was originally intended.

    So successful have they been in driving rebel gains in northwestern Syria that rebels call the missile the “Assad Tamer,” a play on the word Assad, which means lion. And in recent days they have been used with great success to slow the Russian-backed offensive aimed at recapturing ground from the rebels.

  3. Merkel defends refugee policy as expression of ‘humanity’

    http://news.yahoo.com/merkel-defends-refugee-policy-expression-humanity-095932812.html

    Berlin (AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday defended her open-door policy to refugees in the face of falling poll ratings, saying it was “part of the basic humanity of our country”.

    It was not her job to “spread worry” but “to work on finding solutions to the problems”, Merkel told mass-market daily Bild in a lengthy interview

    She voiced understanding for citizens’ fears given the record influx, expected to reach 800,000 to one million this year.

  4. Islamic State is prime suspect in Turkey bombing, as protests erupt

    http://www.oann.com/islamic-state-is-prime-suspect-in-turkey-bombing-pm-davutoglu/

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s government said on Monday Islamic State was the prime suspect in suicide bombings that killed at least 97 people in Ankara, but opponents vented anger at President Tayyip Erdogan at funerals, universities and courthouses.

    Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday’s bombing, the worst of its kind on Turkish soil, was intended to influence the outcome of November polls Erdogan hopes will restore the AK party he founded to an overall parliamentary majority. There is no question of postponing the vote, officials have said.

    “It was definitely a suicide bombing,” Davutoglu said in an interview broadcast live on Turkey’s NTV. “DNA tests are being conducted. It was determined how the suicide bombers got there. We’re close to a name, which points to one group.”

    Opponents of Erdogan, who has led the country over 13 years, blame him for the attack on a rally organized by pro-Kurdish activists and civic groups, accusing the state at best of intelligence failings and at worst of complicity by stirring up nationalist, anti-Kurdish sentiment.

    The government, facing a growing Kurdish conflict at home and the spillover of war in Syria, vehemently denies such accusations.

  5. UNHCR chief questions EU refugee strategy with Turkey

    http://www.oann.com/unhcr-chief-questions-eu-refugee-strategy-with-turkey/

    ATHENS (Reuters) – The U.N. refugee agency chief questioned on Monday the European Union’s strategy of building more camps in Turkey to stem the flow of refugees into Europe, saying it would be more effective if host countries allowed refugees to work.

    The EU has pledged at least 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) for Syrian refugees mostly in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon and says it is willing to give Ankara funds so that Syrians can apply for asylum in Europe directly from camps on Turkish soil.

    More than 2 million Syrians are in Turkey, which has some of the best equipped refugee camps ever built with facilities including schooling, healthcare and social services.

    Yet only about 300,000 are sheltered in camps and many new arrivals are reluctant to move into them, fearing they will be trapped and unable to work or forge a new life for years.

    “The overwhelming majority of Syrians are not living in camps, they are with the society,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told a news conference in Athens, when asked to comment on the EU’s approach.

  6. Syrian army, Russian jets drive back rebels in fiercest clashes for days: monitor

    http://www.oann.com/syrian-army-russian-jets-advance-against-rebels-in-fiercest-clashes-for-days-monitor/

    BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian army and allied forces supported by Russian warplanes made further advances as they pressed an offensive against insurgents on Monday, in the fiercest clashes for nearly a week, a monitor said.

    Russian jets carried out at least 30 air strikes on the town of Kafr Nabuda in Hama province in western Syria, and hundreds of shells hit the area as the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters seized part of it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

    Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have in the past few days recaptured territory close to the government’s coastal heartland in the west thanks to Russia’s intervention, reversing rebel advances made earlier this year.

    Moscow says its air campaign targets Islamic State, but most of the strikes have hit rival insurgent groups fighting against Assad, some of which are supported by the United States.

    Pro-government forces including the Lebanese group Hezbollah on Monday captured the southern part of Kafr Nabuda, the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman said.

  7. Taliban threaten second Afghan provincial capital as insurgency spreads

    http://www.oann.com/taliban-threaten-second-afghan-provincial-capital-as-insurgency-spreads/

    KABUL (Reuters) – Fighting intensified around the Afghan city of Ghazni on Monday, as Taliban militants threatened to seize a second provincial capital after briefly occupying Kunduz in the north last month.

    The clashes around Ghazni, some 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Kabul, underlined the worsening security situation across Afghanistan, where national soldiers and police are struggling to cope now the bulk of foreign forces have withdrawn.

    Monday’s violence followed days of sporadic fighting near Ghazni, and prompted most shops, schools and universities there to close.

    Many residents attempted to flee to the capital Kabul or nearby districts, adding to a growing number of internally displaced people within Afghanistan.

    Government officials said they still had the upper hand.

  8. Greece prepares reform bill ahead of first bailout review

    http://www.oann.com/greece-prepares-reform-bill-ahead-of-first-bailout-review/

    ATHENS (Reuters) – The Greek parliament will vote this week on an omnibus bill cutting pensions, raising the retirement age and increasing punishments for tax evasion ahead of the country’s first bailout review later this month.

    Athens hopes to conclude the review and recapitalize its banks quickly, to secure fresh aid and talks on debt relief. But it must first enact a long list of reforms detailed in the 86-billion-euro bailout plan.

    The bill on a first set of reforms will go to parliamentary committees on Tuesday with a plenary vote due by Saturday, officials said. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ parliamentary group will discuss the bill behind closed doors on Monday.

    Inspectors from the European Commission, European Central Bank, euro zone rescue fund and International Monetary Fund are expected in Athens this month to assess progress on the aid deal agreed in August, Greece’s third international bailout

  9. Russia Says Islamic State Implicated in Foiled Terror Plot (abcnews, Oct 12, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russia-islamic-state-implicated-foiled-terror-plot-34418279

    “Less than two weeks after Russia carried out its first airstrikes on Syria, Russian officials announced that they have foiled a terrorist plot, detaining men trained in Syria by the Islamic State group.

    Russia’s counterterrorism agency on Sunday raided a Moscow apartment and arrested several Russians who allegedly were preparing to carry out an attack in the capital. The FSB intelligence agency said in a statement on Monday that an improvised explosive device with five kilos (11 pounds) of unidentified explosives was found in that apartment.

    The FSB said several men were detained, including two who said they had been trained by Islamic State militants and were plotting a terrorist attack on Moscow’s public transport.

    Authorities did not say how many people were detained but said “between six and 11 people” frequented the apartment. The men had arrived in Moscow “well before” Russia began carrying out airstrikes in Syria, the FSB said.

    More than 100 residents of the apartment building in western Moscow were evacuated during Sunday’s raid and supplies of natural gas were cut off for the duration.

    Russia’s airstrikes in Syria have been met by warnings that they encourage Islamic extremists to turn their sights on Russia and make it easier for them to recruit Russian Muslims.

    Russia says 2,400 of its citizens have joined the Islamic State group.”

  10. Algerian TV Shut After Airing Interview With Ex-Insurgent (abcnews, Oct 12, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/algerian-tv-shut-airing-interview-insurgent-34419103

    “Police have closed a private Algerian television station after it aired an interview in which a former insurgent leader trying to set up a political party harshly cautioned President Abdelaziz Bouteflika not to stand in his way.

    Police showed up on Monday at the El Watan station and forced staff to leave.

    The Communications Ministry said the station wasn’t formally approved and had aired “subversive content attacking the symbols of state.”

    Madani Mezrag, founder of the armed wing of the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front, said on Oct. 4 he wants to create his own political party and if Bouteflika refuses “he’ll hear from me.”

    A 1997 cease-fire deal with Algerian authorities forbids Mezrag from taking up politics.

    An estimated 200,000 people died in Algeria’s violent “black decade.””

  11. Saudis tell Russia its actions in Syria will have ‘dangerous consequences’ (reuters, Oct 12, 2015)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/12/us-mideast-crisis-syria-saudi-idUSKCN0S61AE20151012

    “Moscow’s military intervention in Syria will have “dangerous consequences”, escalating sectarian war there and inspiring militants from around the world to join in, senior Saudi Arabian officials told Russia’s leaders on Sunday, a Saudi source said.

    The message, twinned with a pledge of support for moderate foes of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia’s ally, signals Saudi suspicions about Moscow’s motives in entering a 4-1/2 year war in which some 250,000 people have been killed and some 11 million, or half the population, driven from their homes.

    “The Russian intervention in Syria will engage them in a sectarian war,” the source said on Monday, adding that the kingdom “warns of the dangerous consequences of the Russian intervention”.

    “The Saudis will continue strengthening and supporting the moderate opposition in Syria,” he added…”

  12. Islamic State can draw on veteran jihadists, ex-Iraq army officers for leadership (reuters, Oct 12, 2015)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/12/us-mideast-crisis-baghdadi-idUSKCN0S61II20151012

    “Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, one of the world’s most wanted men, is counting on veteran jihadis and former Iraqi army officers who form the core of the militant movement to take over if he is killed.

    New questions arose over Islamic State’s leadership structure and who might succeed Baghdadi after Iraq’s military said on Sunday air strikes had hit a convoy carrying him, though Iraqi security officials later denied this.

    Baghdadi, who rarely appears in public and delivers few audio speeches, makes the vast majority of decisions, including which of the group’s enemies should be killed.

    His approval is needed even for decisions taken by the five-member Shura Council, which runs Islamic State and will elect a new a new leader if Baghdadi is killed, and he rules over a decentralized network of emirs in the field who run the everyday activities of the caliphate he has declared.

    Baghdadi does, however, lean on a small circle of senior Islamic State aides such as Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, the group’s official spokesman, as he pursues a mission which his fighters describe as “part of God’s path to create a strong Islamic State that will rule the world.”

    Born in 1977 in Idlib, Syria, Adnani has delivered Islamic State’s main messages, including its declaration of a caliphate, which was distributed in five languages.

    The most important operatives include Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, a former general and military intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein who can provide Islamic State fighters with training and direction.

    Baghdadi is also said by followers to rely heavily on Abu Omar al-Shishani, a senior commander in Syria. Born in 1986 in Georgia, which was then still part of the Soviet Union, he has a reputation as a great military mind and has long been at Baghdadi’s side…”

  13. ISIS Feeds Starving Mother Her 3-Y-O Child; Yazidis Blame Obama’s Inaction for Ongoing Atrocities
    Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-feeds-mother-3-y-o-child-yazidis-blame-obama-147309/#1QmYzl15u5CTgPxh.99

    Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-feeds-mother-3-y-o-child-yazidis-blame-obama-147309/#pjGjKHGTqQtWy94L.99

    ISIS Feeds Starving Mother Her 3-Y-O Child; Yazidis Blame Obama’s Inaction for Ongoing Atrocities
    Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-feeds-mother-3-y-o-child-yazidis-blame-obama-147309/#1QmYzl15u5CTgPxh.99

    A Yazidi community member has shared a gruesome story where one mother captured by the Islamic State terror group was told she ate the meat of her own toddler. The Yazidis have been speaking out about the atrocities they continue suffer at the hands of IS, and have criticized President Obama for not doing enough to help them.

    Vian Dakhil spoke with Politico on Wednesday and explained that as many as 2,200 Yazidi women and girls have been kidnapped by IS and are being used a sex slaves. Another 420,000 Yazidis are living in refugee camps, which includes thousands of orphans who have no home.

  14. CNN – SYRIA – U.S. delivers 50 tons of ammunition to Syria rebel groups

    U.S. military cargo planes gave 50 tons of ammunition to rebel groups in northern Syria, using an air drop of 112 pallets as the first step in the Obama Administration’s urgent effort to find new ways to support those groups.
    Details of the air mission over Syria were confirmed by a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly because the details have not yet been formally announced. C-17s, accompanied by fighter escort aircraft, dropped small arms ammunition and other items like hand grenades in Hasakah province in northern Syria to a coalition of rebels groups vetted by the US, known as the Syrian Arab Coalition.
    All pallets successfully were recovered by friendly forces, a U.S. official said.

    http://www.wdsu.com/politics/urgent-us-delivers-50-tons-of-ammunition-to-syria-rebel-groups/35789216

    http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/12/politics/syria-rebel-groups-ammunition-50-tons/index.html

    • New Syrian rebel alliance formed, says weapons on the way

      A Kurdish militia in northern Syria has joined forces with Arab rebels, and their new alliance has been promised fresh weapon supplies by the United States for an assault on Islamic State forces in Raqqa, a spokesman said on Monday.

      The alliance calling itself the Democratic Forces of Syria includes the Kurdish YPG militia and Syrian Arab groups, some of which fought alongside it in a campaign that drove Islamic State from wide areas of northern Syria earlier this year.

      The Arab groups in the new alliance are operating under the name “The Syrian Arab Coalition” – a grouping which U.S. officials have said would receive support under a new U.S. strategy aimed at fighting Islamic State in Syria.

      A spokesman for some of the Arab rebels said they were told by Washington that new weapons were being sent to help them launch a joint offensive on the city of Raqqa.

      “We met the Americans and this has been approved and we have been told these new arms … are on their way,” said Abu Muazz, a spokesman for the Raqqa Revolutionaries Front, a grouping of mainly Arab tribal insurgents who are mostly drawn from the Raqqa area.

      He said the group constituted a 3,200-strong, well trained fighting force which could begin using the weapons within days of their arrival. It has an additional 600 fighters who are currently wounded, he said.

      A major offensive against the ultra-hardline Islamic State fighters could capture Raqqa in less than two months provided the “right weapons and quantities” arrived, Abu Muazz, himself from the jihadist-held city, said without elaborating.

      A U.S. military official has told Reuters that the Syrian Arab Coalition would push down towards Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital, while staying east of the Euphrates river.

      Keeping the YPG-backed force east of the river could ease Turkish concerns about any further expansion of Kurdish influence in northern Syria. Turkey is worried about the Kurds’ growing power in Syria fuelling separatism among its own Kurds.

      The United States last week announced a shake-up of its support to Syrian rebels fighting IS, effectively ending its programme to train fighters outside Syria and focusing instead on providing weapons to groups whose commanders have been U.S.-vetted.

      The YPG has to date proved the most effective partner on the ground for U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State. By deepening ties with groups from Syria’s Arab majority, it could deflect concern among some Arabs that it exists solely to fight for the interests of Kurds.

      The YPG drove deep into Raqqa province earlier this year, but stopped short of advancing on Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa city, saying it wanted Syrian Arab rebels to lead such an assault.

      The new alliance includes the YPG, various Arab groups including Jaysh al-Thuwwar (Army of Rebels) and the Arab tribal Jaysh al-Sanadeed, and an Assyrian Christian group, according to a statement announcing its establishment.

      “The sensitive stage our country Syria is going through and rapid developments on the military and political front … require that there be a united national military force for all Syrians, joining Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs and other groups,” said the statement, which was sent to Reuters by a YPG spokesman.

      “Given that these forces in general are democratic and secular forces that believe to a great degree in diversity, we hope that they will receive support” from the U.S.-led coalition, said Nasir Haj Mansour, an official in the defence ministry of the Kurdish administration in YPG-held territory.

      “The current goal in practical terms is to confront Daesh, given that it is the first enemy, but the goal is also to build a democratic Syria in the future,” he said by telephone, using an acronym for Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

      http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/153800/World/Region/New-Syrian-rebel-alliance-formed,-says-weapons-on-.aspx

      • I hope a lot of these went to the Kurds. If they are going there that would explain the massive amount, after all who knows when they can get Obama to authorize another supply run.

  15. ISIS Cuts Off Ears of Citizens of Mosul for Cursing Islamic State

    http://www.clarionproject.org/news/isis-cuts-ears-citizens-mosul-cursing-islamic-state#

    The Islamic State continues to perpetrate some of the world’s worst current horrors. Kurdish media reports that the brutal Islamist organization cut the ears off of 42 citizens of Mosul, Iraq after they insulted the Islamic State.

    Media spokesperson of the Kurdish Democratic Party Saeed Mamouzeeni said, “The act of cutting off the ears of these civilians was done after the sharia court of the organization accused them of cursing the name of the Islamic State.”

    • 20 migrants take Berlin’s refugee registration centre to court

      Twenty asylum-seekers on Monday filed suit against Berlin’s main refugee registration centre for failing to register them promptly so they could get essential benefits including a roof over their heads, a court official said.

      Local authorities have been struggling to cope with a record influx of refugees, and asylum seekers in Berlin have often had to wait days if not weeks to be registered at the centre, known as Lageso.

      On Monday, a group of them decided to take their case to the social court, complaining that despite waiting for a week, they were still not registered.

      As a result, they were unable to receive any social benefits, including a bed in refugee centre — an urgent need as the winter cold sets in.

      A court spokesman told AFP the plaintiffs were seeking to “put pressure on the authorities” by bringing the case.

      The court would issue a ruling in a few days, he said.

      Over the past fortnight, several similar cases have been brought by individual asylum seekers, he added.

      Germany is expecting to receive between 800,000 and a million asylum seekers this year, and local authorities have repeatedly warned they were not able to keep up with the massive influx.

      Although Chancellor Angela Merkel insists the country “can do it”, her open-door policy has angered some and even sparked an open rebellion among her conservative allies.

      http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/153798/World/International/-migrants-take-Berlins-refugee-registration-centre.aspx

  16. MINNEAPLOLIS – Metro Transit MUSLIM bus driver charged with soliciting teen

    Teen filed complaint saying driver pressured her for sex, refused to let her off the bus.

    A Metro Transit bus driver has been charged with soliciting a teenager after briefly refusing to let her off the bus and demanding that she perform a sex act on him, according to a complaint filed this week in Hennepin County District Court.

    Mahmud Dabshir Aden, 32, of Minneapolis, was arrested Wednesday afternoon by Metro Transit police officers, the day after the 16-year-old victim filed a complaint about the incident, court records show.

    Aden was charged with soliciting for prostitution, a felony that carries a sentence of as much as 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $50,000. He is being held pending his next court appearance Monday afternoon.

    “Obviously this is not what we expect of our operators, nor is it something we’re accustomed to,” said Metro Transit spokesman Howie Padilla, adding that “at this time [Aden is] not driving for us.”

    The victim described to police an “escalating series of inappropriate behavior” by Aden, during which he had repeatedly asked her out.

    The complaint says that on the night of Oct. 5, the girl boarded a southbound route No. 7 bus, which was being driven by Aden, near the 46th Street light-rail station in south Minneapolis.

    The complaint says that Aden refused to let her off at her stop, continuing his route “until his layover at 34th Avenue South and Hwy. 62,” even after she “pulled the string on the bus.” The complaint says that he turned off the lights on the bus and exposed himself, after telling her that if she performed a sexual act on him he would “give her $100 and a cellphone.” After she rebuffed him again, police said, Aden drove the girl back to her bus stop.

    The ordeal lasted about half an hour, according to police.

    Padilla said that he was unsure whether Aden has had previous problems during his time with the transportation agency. “When we became aware of this, obviously we took immediate action to address the issue,” he said.

    It was not clear Friday afternoon whether Aden has an attorney.

    http://www.startribune.com/metro-transit-bus-driver-charged-with-soliciting-teen/331839391/

  17. IRAN – Atena Farghadani subjected to virgnity test by Iranian authorities

    A recent revelation by satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani that she was forced to undergo a “virginity and pregnancy test,” prior to her trial for a charge of “illegitimate sexual relations” for shaking hands with her lawyer

    ———————————————————————–

    Imprisoned cartoonist subjected to forced virginity test in Iran

    A recent revelation by satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani that she was forced to undergo a “virginity and pregnancy test,” prior to her trial for a charge of “illegitimate sexual relations” for shaking hands with her lawyer, has added another stain on Iran’s shameful record of violence against women, Amnesty International said today.

    In a note written by Atena Farghadani leaked from prison, which has been seen by Amnesty International, she says the judicial authorities took her to a medical center outside the prison on August 12, 2015 and forced her to submit to the tests, purportedly with the purpose of investigating the charge against her.

    “It is shocking that on top of imposing a ludicrous charge on Atena Farghadani for the ‘crime’ of shaking hands with her lawyer, the Iranian authorities have forced her to undergo a ‘virginity and pregnancy test’,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

    “In doing so, the Iranian judicial authorities have truly reached an outrageous low, seeking to exploit the stigma attached to sexual and gender-based violence in order to intimidate, punish or harass her.”

    Coerced “virginity testing” is internationally recognized as a form of violence and discrimination against women and girls. It also violates the absolute prohibition of torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law, including article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran has ratified.

    “The Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Atena Farghdani, who is a prisoner of conscience. Whilst in custody, she must be protected from any further ill-treatment or reprisals, including pressure to retract her complaint. An independent and impartial investigation has to be urgently conducted into the alleged torture and ill-treatment suffered by Atena Farghadani and those responsible brought to justice,” said Boumedouha.

    Atena Farghadani and all women prisoners who come forward to report gender-based violence should be commended for their bravery and granted full reparations, including guarantees that it will not happen again.

    Instead of exploiting the taboos around sexual violence to scare women from engaging in political activism, the Iranian authorities must urgently take steps to put an end to violence and discrimination against women and guarantee women’s access to legal procedures that will bring justice in cases of gender-based violence.

    Since she was charged with “illicit sexual relations falling short of adultery” for shaking hands with her lawyer in June 2015, Atena Farghadani has complained that prison officials and guards have made lewd gestures, sexual slurs and other insults to her. She went on a three-day “dry” hunger strike in September 2015 in protest at this ill-treatment; however the harassment has continued.

    Atena Farghadani is a prisoner of conscience. She has committed no internationally recognizable crime, and has been punished simply for exercising her rights to freedoms of expression, association and assembly.

    Held in prison since January 2015, Atena Farghadani was sentenced in June 2015 to 12 years and nine month in prison for her peaceful activism, including meeting with families of political prisoners, and for drawing a satirical cartoon depicting legislators as monkeys, cows, and other animals. The cartoon was in protest at a bill that seeks to criminalize voluntary sterilization and restrict access to contraception and family planning services.

    In December 2014, when she was out on bail she released a video message on YouTube protesting at how female prison guards at Evin prison had beaten her, verbally abused her and forced her to strip naked for a body search. Instead of investigating these allegations the Iranian authorities rearrested her in January 2015, possibly in reprisal for the video.

    Forced virginity testing committed in detention is a serious violation of international law. It violates women and girls human rights to physical integrity, dignity, privacy and right to be free from torture and cruel and inhuman and degrading treatment. Such tests are discriminatory in purpose and in effect and there is absolutely no legitimate justification for such violence and abuse.

    The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has urged health authorities worldwide to end the practice of “virginity testing” in all cases and prohibit health workers from perpetuating this discriminatory and degrading practice.

    http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/imprisoned-cartoonist-subjected-to-forced-virginity-test-in-iran

  18. EU calls on Russia to end bombing campaign in Syria

    Foreign ministers, who have been meeting in Luxembourg, are warning that strikes designed to support President Bashar al-Assad could deepen the civil war, which has left around a quarter of a million people dead.

    Russian incursions into Turkish airspace and air strikes not directed at ISIL militants, but at “RELATIVELY MODERATE” opposition groups, have alienated the West, while leaving EU and UN diplomacy in disarray


  19. U.S. MUSLIM: Kills Mom, Cuts Her Heart Out & Masturbates On Her Dead Body

    This is absolutely disturbing and disgusting. Chances are that you won’t even hear about it from the mainstream media.

    A California man accused of murdering his mother told police that he sliced open her chest, removed her heart and then masturbated as “a release,” extremely disturbing court documents claim.

    An unapologetic Omar Mark Pettigen, 31, said that the horrific act felt “good” upon his arrest just north of Oakland five days after the slaying, according to charging documents obtained by The Daily News.

    His capture came after his father asking police to perform a welfare check at his ex-wife’s Fremont home on Sept. 29 after not hearing from her or their son from his home in New Mexico.

    When officers arrived at the home, Nailah Pettigen, 64, “appeared to have been disemboweled” in her blood-soaked bedroom, police said.

    The former American High School math teacher was found sliced from her neck down to her cervix and had her underwear around her ankles. She had also been shot at least seven times, an autopsy later found.

    Her son, who was collared in Kensington on Sunday, said he committed the vile act because she was killing herself with the prescription painkiller oxycodone, which she had become addicted to after hip and knee problems as well as surgery.

    During an argument in her bedroom, he claims she pointed a gun at him. That’s when he grabbed a hammer off the bedroom wall and knocked the gun out of her hand.

    He said he then left the room, only to return with a tomahawk which he used to bash her head. He then retrieved a revolver from a closet and shot her in the back about four times.

    Using a knife, he then sliced open her chest, removed her heart with his hands and then put it back in her body. He then masturbated because “he needed to be with himself and needed a release after the event,” according to the documents.

    After carrying out the sickening slaying, Pettigen said he had a few beers with friends in the San Francisco Bay area and booked an airline ticket for Chicago. (KRON)

    http://clashdaily.com/2015/10/u-s-muslim-kills-mom-cuts-her-heart-out-masturbates-on-her-dead-body/

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    DAILY MAIL -Son who killed mother with a tomahawk before cutting out her heart says he felt ‘good’ after horrific murder

    Nailah Pettigen, 64, found dead at the apartment she shared with her son
    Omar [ Malik ] Pettigen was arrested a few days later and charged with her murder
    He told detectives he attacked her with a hammer and a tomahawk ax
    Pettigen had then shot her in the back four times and cut out her heart
    Police say he’s shown no remorse and said he felt ‘good’ after killing

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3263505/Son-killed-mother-tomahawk-cutting-heart-says-felt-good-brutal-murder.html

    • What was a 64 year old woman doing having her son live with her?

      This may be a path trod:

      His soul had been ripped out, replaced with a new identity, and creamed over. Mommy’s Boy.

      So obviously, he felt goooood when he destroyed his Creator and did to her what was done to him.

      However, this form of do-it-yourself actual bodily harm, (instead of Primal Scream Therapy wrapped suffocating in a carpet), wasn’t any cure at all but literally a short-lived self-serving revenge, mirroring what she had done to him.

      Men have souls, women have hearts. They can’t turn boys into men but into femen.

      Throwing acid in her face may appear then equivalent to his lifetime of being made to submit; of men and women made equally unsuccessful unproductive and envious; but this resulting righteousness of poverty only makes collectivism evermore attractive.

      Repentance and an apology for a lifetime hating her… would have made him realize the truth that his bondage to her, was of his own making, that he had to be willing to die to break it than live another day cowed; to then be set free, resurrected and conscious, responsible and accountable for his own actions. Henceforth he will never taste death again.

      Instead, he fulfilled a 1,400-year initiation rite and joined the true ranks of Islam with their scriptual phobia of all womenkind. An Honor Killing that Mohammad would have been proud of if his mom had been alive – and not instead, that as her servant he was betrothed to her, and that bottomless anger filled the world after she was buried.

      Death becomes the release for an assume Paradise.