Category Archives: War on basic human values

Eight men appear in UK court on series of rapes.

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For an interesting analysis of this event please see The Opinionator

Eight men charged with sexual offences. The Star UK

Published Date: 09 December 2009

By Sarah Crabtree

EIGHT men are due in court this morning, charged in connection with a police investigation into alleged serious sexual offences in Rotherham. The men were all arrested in March this year and had been on police bail until yesterday.

Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, all eight were charged yesterday with a total of 18 sexual offences against four girls aged 13 to 17 years, and remanded in custody.

The men due before Rotherham magistrates this morning are:

Shazad Akbar, aged 22, of Shirecliffe Lane, Shirecliffe, Sheffield, charged with raping a woman aged over 16;

Adil Hussain, 20, of Nelson Street, Rotherham town centre, charged with raping a girl aged 13 to 15;

Saeed Hussain, 28, of Hatherley Road, Eastwood, Rotherham, charged with inciting a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity;

Shaizaad Hussain, 21, of Clough Road, Masborough, Rotherham, charged with two offences of raping a girl aged 13 to 15;

Mohsin Khan, 21, of Haworth Crescent, Moorgate, Rotherham, charged with four offences of raping a girl aged 13 to 15, and one offence of rape of a woman aged over 16;

Zafran Ramzan, 21, of Broom Grove, Broom, Rotherham, charged with three offences of rape of a woman aged over 16, and one offence of raping a girl aged 13 to 15;

Razwan Razaq, 29, of Oxford Street, Clifton, Rotherham, charged with two offences of rape of a girl aged 13 to 15;

Umar Razaq, 23, of Oxford Street, Clifton, Rotherham, charged with raping a woman aged over 16 and engaging in sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15. A ninth man arrested was subsequently released without charge.

Feminism: what jihadists fear most.

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From The National Post

What jihadists oppose most

Sure, radical Islamists are upset by infidels and the existence of a Jewish state. But their biggest gripe of all? Feminism

George Jonas, National Post Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009

In an interview made available on the Internet last month ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2wvqDfitLY), Dr. Hamid Tawfik, a Cairo-born physician who describes himself as a former jihadist, is asked why he came close to becoming a terrorist. He replies that it was the influence of “a certain [fundamentalist] form of religious teaching” he encountered while at university. “It was not poverty,” he explains. “I came from a wealthy family. It wasn’t lack of education. I was in medical school, my father was an orthopedic surgeon, my mother was a French teacher, so it wasn’t any of this …It was basically a religious form of teaching that instructs us to use violence with non-Muslims or with Muslims who do not conform to our value system.”

Later in the interview, in answer to the question of who is the “enemy” –is it the West, any non-Muslim, the Jews –Dr. Tawfik is unequivocal:

“The West, but in particular, women’s rights. Women’s rights was the first enemy for us.”

He adds that it’s strange feminism should have been the biggest gripe of jihadists, but it was. He is emphatic that this is why, wherever a “radical [Islamist] group” acquires power, the first thing it does is suppress women.

“First thing, before anything else, they tell women not to go out, to wear the hijab …”

If Dr. Tawfik is accurate, as I suspect he is, what lessons can we draw from it?

None, I’m afraid, that we could translate into immediate, practical policies. Since we don’t endow universities just to cut jihadists off at the pass, we won’t stop educating people, or stop trying to make them prosper, just because education and prosperity don’t prevent them from becoming jihadists. By the same token, we won’t exclude women from equal partnership in modern society just to assuage the feelings of Taliban types. Continue Reading →

Honour murders: surge of 60% across Britain

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Police tackle more ‘honour’ cases

Police are tackling more suspicious incidents motivated by so-called ”honour” than ever before, according to new figures released today.

Published: 12:11PM GMT 07 Dec 2009

The Metropolitan Police recorded 256 incidents, of which 132 were criminal offences, in the year 2008-9.

This was a surge of 60% from the 161 incidents recorded in the previous financial year, of which 93 were criminal offences.

The latest figures revealed the upward trend is continuing with 211 incidents reported in the six months until October, of which 129 were offences.

Police define honour violence, including murder, rape and kidnap, as crimes motivated by a desire to protect the honour of a family or community.

Women are the most common victims of honour violence which is linked to some interpretations of cultural and religious beliefs.

But ”non-crimes”, where no offence has been committed, were also recorded, particularly where police believe the incident could be part of a wider picture.

These could include incidents in which an attempt has been made to force someone into marriage.

Detectives continue to probe the murder of mother-of-two Geeta Aulakh, 28, who was hacked to death with a sword in Greenford, north west London, last month.

In July a young Danish man of Asian origin suffered horrendous injuries when acid was poured down his throat in Leytonstone, east London.

Police believe he was targeted by a group of men because of a personal relationship with a Muslim woman.

One of the most high-profile cases is that of Banaz Mahmod, of Mitcham, south London, who was murdered by family members and buried in a Birmingham garden.

Independent investigators criticised officers for failing to take her seriously after she contacted them four times to say she was in fear for her life.

Earlier this year, police were issued with new guidance telling them to assume honour crimes have been committed in more circumstances.

Senior officers anticipated that the move would drive up figures as in many cases only limited information is available or a potential victim refuses to help police.

In London, each of the 32 boroughs has a dedicated unit staffed by officers trained to investigate all kinds of hate and domestic violence crimes.

There is also a central team reviewing all cases daily and flagging up incidents where people may be immediately at risk.

Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell, of the Metropolitan Police, said the new figures could be revealing the true extent of the problem.

He said more work is being done to collect up-to-date information about people at risk and emerging patterns.

Mr Campbell said: ”The description of this type of crime is misplaced. There is no honour in these crimes.”

Up to 12 people are murdered every year in the name of ”honour” and police fear a further 500 people are forced into an arranged marriage or attacked.

The Forced Marriage (civil protection) Act 2007 strengthened the law on forced marriage and other forms of honour-based violence.

A Home Office spokesman said: ”Forced marriage and honour-based violence are appalling crimes and the government is working with partners across the voluntary sector to support victims.”

Iran warns Switzerland of consequences over minaret ban

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From AFP

Iran urges Bern not to enforce minaret ban

(AFP) – 14 hours ago

TEHRAN — Iran warned Switzerland on Saturday of “consequences” over a referendum banning the building of new mosque minarets and urged Bern not to enforce the ban, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The vote went “against the prestige of a country which claims to be an advocate of democracy and human rights,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey in a telephone call, quoted by IRNA.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki

Mottaki said last week’s referendum would “damage Switzerland’s image as a pioneer of respecting human rights among Muslims’ public opinion.”

“Values such as tolerance, dialogue and respecting others’ religions should never be put to referendum,” he argued, warning Switzerland of the “consequences” of anti-Islamic acts, IRNA reported.

The foreign minister hoped the Bern government would soon “take necessary steps and find a constitutional way to prevent imposition of the ban.”

IRNA said Switzerland’s ambassador in Tehran was summoned on Saturday before the foreign ministry, which protested against the minaret ban which was backed by more than 57 percent of voters who cast their ballot on November 29.

Calmy-Rey said the referendum was carried out against the will of the Swiss government, which would “use all its means to support Muslims rights,” the IRNA report added.

The referendum on a constitutional ban on minarets was proposed by a rightwing Swiss party and had not been expected to succeed.

Besides the government, the ban was opposed by the bulk of Switzerland’s political parties as well as the economic establishment.

It drew widespread criticism from the United Nations, Muslim states, fellow European countries and the Vatican.

Fighting hate speech charge in Austria

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by Baron Bodissey

Regular Gates of Vienna readers are familiar with Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who recently gave a series of exemplary Counterjihad presentations at the OSCE Human Dimension roundtable in Vienna a few weeks ago.

Those who speak out prominently against Islamization sooner or later face the wrath of the dhimmi establishment. Anyone who sticks his head up over the parapet risks having it shot off.

And so it is for Elisabeth. She dared to speak the truth about Islam. Now, like Geert Wilders and hundreds of other Europeans, she has run afoul of her country’s hate speech laws, and faces prosecution for what she said.

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was interviewed today by S.M. Steinitz for profil (Austria’s equivalent to Time or Der Spiegel). Many thanks to Jihad Watch for publicizing Elisabeth’s case:

“I Am Against Dialogue”

A criminal complaint is being filed against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff for “hate speech” under Austrian law, essentially the same thing that Susanne Winter was convicted of early this year.

Elisabeth gave a presentation about Islam at an FPÖ-organized seminar, and said some of the usual things that anti-jihad advocates say when they talk about Islam. A left-wing magazine, which had planted someone in the audience, caused charges to be brought against her at the same time as they publicized it in their magazine.

Elisabeth held the controversial Islam Seminar at the FPÖ-political academy. Charges of defamation of a religious group have been filed against the daughter of a diplomat. This is her only interview in which she explains her views.

Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff, are you afraid of Muslims?

No, I am afraid of political Islam, which is massively gaining influence in Europe. That is what I am against.

What is your goal?

I want to preserve Europe and its democratic and secular values.

What bothers you about the Islamic way of life?

Islamic doctrine discriminates against women and non-Muslims. Islamic law, or shariah, cannot be reconciled with democratic principles and universal human rights.

Do you see the need for that?

There are powerful groups who are working towards the Islamization of Europe. That is a fact. What can we gain from closing our eyes and ignoring this? Even Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi says: “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without swords, without guns, without conquest. We don’t need terrorists, we don’t need homicide bombers. The 50+ million Muslims [in Europe] will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.” A head of state confirms what our politicians deny. What else has to happen until we finally get it?

There are people who see the growth of Islam in Europe as an opportunity for a completely re-engineered pluralistic society.

The vision of a pluralistic society does not withstand a reality check. Show me one example where this has been a success. Wherever Muslims have been given the opportunity for self-organization they have established parallel societies. See Berlin-Kreuzberg, see Lyon. See also Great Britain, where parts of shariah have been implemented.

Do you really think that Austrian culture is endangered?

Continue Reading →

Kenya: 350 girls set to face the knife in December ceremony

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‘Stars, prevailing weather patterns, and other key elements had signaled that the initiations should go on in the next two weeks’.

The Daily Nation

From The Ottawa Citizen

Female predicament

The Ottawa CitizenDecember 3, 2009

The status of women in Afghanistan gets a lot of attention these days. You can go into coffeeshops in Ottawa and hear people arguing about how many girls’ schools have been built, or how common it is for women in Kabul to go without burqas.

But Afghanistan may no longer be the front line in the war against women — or, at least, it’s not the only front line. In the last few weeks, harrowing stories from many countries demonstrate that extreme misogyny is taking root around the world. The Taliban are not the only offenders.

Indeed, while Islamic clerics and jihadis are leading the charge, many girls are just as much at risk from their own parents — even their own mothers.

That’s certainly the case in Kenya, where — according the Daily Nation newspaper — 350 teenage and pre-teen girls are scheduled to undergo mass genital mutilation in early December. Although this brutal procedure — often euphemized as “female circumcision” — is now illegal in Kenya, it is still common, and there is still a cultural belief that “decent” girls must get “the cut.”

In Canada, Liberal MP Keith Martin is trying to bring attention to this story and put pressure on the Kenyan government in time to save at least some of the girls from a culturally legitimized form of assault, both physical and psychological, that is directly linked to harmful ideas about gender and sexuality.

In Sudan, women have been flogged and imprisoned for wearing pants. One woman who was arrested for the crime back in July, a courageous journalist named Lubna Ahmed Hassan, has fled the country and written a book called Forty Lashes for a Pair of Trousers.

In Somalia, the pattern that brought the Taliban to power in Afghanistan is repeating itself, while the world watches. The collection of fundamentalist thugs called al-Shabaab (“the youth,” just as the Taliban are “the students”) now controls much of Somalia, and imposes a strict form of sharia law. Women, of course, get the worst of it. In November, a divorced woman was accused of a relationship with an unmarried man — enough to meet al-Shabaab’s definition of adultery. She was buried up to her waist and stoned to death in front of a crowd. The man accused of being her boyfriend was given 100 lashes. The world has learned about a few such cases in Somalia over the past year.

Even in secular democracies where the rule of law applies, girls and women are not safe from perverse notions about sexuality and family honour. Domestic violence in the name of imported religious or cultural values is happening now in Canada and other western countries. Honour killings are still rare in Canada, but the fact that they happen here at all is reason for concern, and reason to find ways to protect girls growing up in violent homes.

It’s easier to help women in Canada, or even in Kenya, than it is to help women in anarchic states such as Somalia. But no matter where a misogynist crime happens, it’s incumbent on Canadians to at least notice, and to condemn.

It’s common for critics of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan to accuse this country of hypocrisy, because we did so little about the abuse of women there before 2001. If Afghanistan has taught us anything, it’s that the status of women in any country is an indicator of its ideological trajectory and its potential to affect international security.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Burqa Barbie: you’ve gone the wrong way baby.

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I have to admit, at first thought I felt this story of no great shakes and decided not to report on it. Barbie’s makeover seemed a bit pithy compared to the stack of Islamist horror stories that circulated through the media at the time (and continue to do so).  But  it is in fact important to weigh in on Barbie’s new wardrobe malfunction and those who would advertise her latest armoire addition as progressive, sensitive, inclusive and culturally relative. The only comment worthy of any real note, is the refusal by many including Mattel, to acknowledge the mockery of freedom that Barbie is now bestowed. Here is the initial story as reported by the Daily Mail U.K. Phyllis Chesler urges us to boycott Burqa Barbie and below, Barbara Kay of Canada’s National Post delivers an honest assessment of Islamist misogyny in full swing.

Burka Barbie

Why is the world’s favourite fashion doll wearing a symbol of oppression?

Barbara Kay, National Post Published: Wednesday, December 02, 2009

One of the world's most famous children's toys Barbie has been given a fundemental make over -- wearing a Burka. Handout/CATERSNEWS/IBERPRESS

One of the world’s most famous children’s toys Barbie has been given a fundemental make over — wearing a Burka.

In the process of conveying a general idea or a cue to an emotional response, we often seek instinctive recourse in a linguistic device called antonomasia. We’ll substitute an antonomastic placeholder like “Solomon” for a wise person or “Hitler” for an evil one, “Pearl Harbor” for an ineluctable casus belli, and so forth.

The words “Barbie doll” used to elicit the image of a ditzy blonde bimbo. No longer. Since Nov. 20, the 50th anniversary of this iconic doll and beloved plaything of little girls everywhere, 500 Barbies –including various Barbies wearing chadors and full burkas — have been on show at the Salone del Cinquecento in Florence, Italy.

The exhibition is sponsored by toy company Mattel, Barbie’s owner. Dolls wearing “traditional Islamic dress” — the burkas and chadors — were chosen to be auctioned off by Sotheby’s as a fundraiser for the Italian branch of Save the Children.

A Barbie collector attending the exhibition from England opined: “Bring it on, Burka Barbie … I think this is really important for girls. Wherever they are from, they should have the opportunity to play with a Barbie that they feel represents them.”

I have seen some pretty tawdry advertising campaigns in my time, but I must say this one takes the cake for insensitivity. What’s next in dolls that are “important for girls” to play with? “Illiterate Barbie”? “Forced-Marriage Barbie”?

One has to wonder what was going through the heads of these people. Mattel is a gigantic company with, one would presume, the cream of the advertising world’s crop at its beck and call. Save the Children has for many decades been in the business of rescuing children from poverty, despair and injustice. And yet neither the world’s biggest advertising brains nor the world’s most child-sensitive hearts saw the impropriety of “clothing” the world’s most instantly recognizable toy in the world’s most instantly recognizable symbol of oppression.

The dolls make a mockery of disempowered women who have been stripped of all human dignity, women with no means of challenging their forced depersonalization. There can be no parallel between these travesties of multiculturalism and other “diversity” Barbies — brown Barbies, native-dress Barbies, pilot Barbies — avatars that reflect the natural appearance and truly traditional garb and career choices of free women.

For starters, burkas are not “traditional Islamic dress,” because they are not “dress” at all. Burkas are not a sartorial multicultural counterpoint to Dallas Cheerleader Barbie. Thrown over clothes, they are, in the words of an Afghanistan woman to a visiting Canadian journalist, “walking coffins.”

The teeth of burka clad women fall out because their faces never get any Vitamin-D-rich sunlight. Is this a suitable object of play?

Neither are burkas “traditional.” They were invented quite recently by fanatically misogynistic fundamentalists who make a habit of beating or killing or disfiguring any woman insufficiently self-extinguished by this suffocating tent. These women and girls are wearing chadors and niqabs and in many circumstances hijabs for reasons that have nothing to do with their own wishes or choices. Some even die for a failure to meet the draconian standards of the “modesty” police, as 15 Saudi girls did when forced back into a burning school because their hair was uncovered in flight. Having fun yet?

Many moms won’t let their little girls play with any dolls. Many won’t let their little boys play with guns. Their stance represents an extreme, but not illogical, extension of Western cultural ideals. In the eyes of the majority who do consider both dolls and guns natural objects of play, however, there should be no moral distinction between Burka Barbie and a putative G.I. Joe figure in a suicide vest for essentially they both represent a medieval Islamist worldview that flies in the face of the West’s most cherished values: equality of men and women and respect for human life, including one’s own.

Antonomastically speaking, there’s a loss in this story. As a symbol of obliterated femalehood, Barbie has shed her cultural innocence.

bk**@*******on.ca

Islamic law jails men for beating and blinding crocodile, sanctions mutilation of women

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From The Ottawa Citizen

I thought about posting this under the heading ‘Stupid Muslim Tricks’ but realized it’s quite a serious matter. An Islamic court in Bangladesh has sentenced two men for beating and blinding a prehistoric lizard, housed in a pond in front of the Khan Jahan Ali shrine. Cruelty to a crocodile under Islam will net you more jail time than deliberate brutal and barbaric cruelty to a woman. Who knew?

The following article found at bottom from TROP, documents and illustrates the severe cruelty meted out to young girls and women by men who, by their faith believe in exact and precise sharia punishment. It is highly unlikely that one has been incarcerated for their crime(s).

Bangladesh. Two jailed for beating sacred crocodile

Canwest News ServiceNovember 27, 2009

A court in southern Bangladesh sentenced two men to two years in jail after they beat and blinded a sacred crocodile at a Muslim shrine, police said Thursday. A magistrate handed down the punishment after the two — caretakers of the 15th century Khan Jahan Ali shrine in coastal Bagerhat district — were found guilty of “brutal treatment” of the animal, inspector Khairul Anam said. A pond in front of the shrine is home to crocodiles revered by thousands of devotees who visit the site. The caretakers collect money by showing the crocodiles to pilgrims.

Meanwhile…….


Islam isn’t Pretty

Courtesy TROP

(Graphic content)

One year after Mumbai: Global lessons

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From The Investigative Project on Terrorism

Global Lessons from the Mumbai Terror Attacks

IPT News
November 25, 2009

One year after terrorists struck at the heart of India’s financial hub, Mumbai is still reeling from the shock of the attacks that left 183 people dead, including nine terrorists, and hundreds more injured. At nightfall on November 26, armed terrorists came ashore in Mumbai, having left the Pakistani port city of Karachi by boat. They attacked several high profile targets throughout the city, including two luxury hotels – the Taj Mahal Palace and the Oberoi-Trident – along with the main railway terminal, a Jewish cultural center, a café frequented by westerners, a movie theater and two hospitals.

Six Americans were among the 26 foreigners reported killed.

This was not a first for the city of Mumbai. In March 1993, several car bombs were set off at important landmarks across the city, including the stock exchange, killing around 250 people. In July 2006, another series of blasts ripped through Mumbai’s commuter train network killing more than 200 people. Continue Reading →

Women sexually mutilated in Philippine massacre

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From TROP

Philippine Official Says Victims Were Sexually Mutilated

By CARLOS H. CONDE

Published: November 27, 2009

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Most or all of the 22 women among the 57 people massacred Monday in the southern Philippines were sexually mutilated, the authorities said Friday, adding grim new details to the catalog of horrors that has already emerged.

“Even the private parts of the women were shot at,” the justice secretary, Agnes Devanadera, said on national television. “It was horrible. It was not done to just one. It was done practically to all the women.”

While work continued to identify all the dead, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said it appeared that 30 journalists and support staff had been killed. About a dozen of the victims were the relatives, lawyers and supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, a local politician whose determination to challenge the entrenched Ampatuan clan in an upcoming gubernatorial election touched off the violence.

Investigators said that the rest of the victims, perhaps as many as 15, happened to be stopped at a checkpoint along the highway in Ampatuan, a town in Maguindanao Province, when the convoy of Mangudadatu supporters and journalists was stopped by police officers and militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans. They were killed in an effort to eliminate witnesses, investigators said.

Ms. Devanadera said that several of the men accused of participating in the slaughter have surrendered and offered to testify. Though the killings violated a traditional custom against local militias harming women, the men seemed to be troubled more by the deaths of the journalists and bystanders.

“They are bothered by their conscience because they thought that only the Mangudadatus would be shot,” Ms. Devanadera said.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor who is suspected to have ordered the killings, turned himself in Thursday protesting his innocence. He is expected to face murder charges next week. Ms. Devanadera told The Philippine Daily Inquirer that Mr. Ampatuan’s brother, Zaldy, and his father, Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan patriarch, were also under investigation.

Mr. Mangudadatu’s wife, Genalyn, his two sisters and his two lawyers were among the women who were mutilated and murdered. He said on Thursday that his wife had been shot “in her private parts.”

Ms. Devanadera said the zippers of the women’s pants had been undone, and that some of the women had had their pants pulled down. She said the authorities were still trying to determine whether the women had been raped, but “it is certain that something bad was done to them.”

At least one witness, according to Ms. Devanadera, told investigators that Andal Ampatuan Jr. was on the scene giving commands, but that it was not clear whether he fired a gun.

On Friday, Mr. Mangudadatu, leading a 50-vehicle convoy guarded by soldiers and heavily armed police officers, finally filed his certificate of candidacy to run for governor of Maguindanao — precisely what the others were on their way to do when they were murdered. “I had to do it. I owe it to my dear wife, to my family, to my supporters and to all those journalists who died while doing their job,” Mr. Mangudadatu said in a telephone interview on Friday.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been under intense pressure to pursue the killers. The Ampatuan family is her closest political ally in the southern Philippines, and played a critical role in her 2004 election victory. Her government has assisted the Ampatuans and other area clans in building potent militias to combat the secessionist and Islamist insurgencies that have plagued the region.

On Friday, she ordered Interior Secretary Reynaldo Puno to take direct control of the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao, a collection of provinces on and near Mindanao Island, and to suspend local, police and military officials if necessary to proceed with the investigation.

A military spokesman said on Friday that two ground commanders of the armed forces in Maguindanao had been relieved of their commands. The military on Thursday took control of the provincial capital, Shariff Aguak, and other towns, a day after disarming dozens of militiamen employed by the Ampatuans.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the largest media group in the country, urged the government on Friday to form a special court to try the suspects. “This is to help ensure that no whitewash will happen and to identify the roots and those responsible for this unimaginable crime,” said Nestor Burgos Jr., the group’s chairman.

Hugs and kisses; Chavez and Ahmadinejad locked in love. Yeah baby.

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From The Jerusalem Post

Nov 26, 2009 6:01

Ahmadinejad to Chavez: ‘We’re going to be together until the end’


Gay Moody and Chavey

” We feel at home here among our brothers…..we’re going to be together until the end” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez during a visit to Latin America on Wednesday.

Both leaders roundly denounced US “imperialism,” and Chavez also called Israel “a murderous arm of the Yankee empire.”

Chavez said he had just returned from an unannounced visit to Cuba, where he met with his mentor Fidel Castro as well as President Raul Castro. “They asked me to give you a hug for them,” he told Ahmadinejad.

Also during Ahmadinejad’s visit, the two leaders agreed on the inception of a direct flight route between Teheran and Caracas, according to a report by AFP.

Man stabs sister to death for wearing make-up, western clothes

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Islam’s answer to brotherly love.

From TROP

Ahmad-Sobair O. in court in February. Photo: DPA

Man gets life after court rejects appeal for sister’s ‘honour killing’

Published: 26 Nov 09 14:02 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091126-23537.html

A German-Afghan man who stabbed his teenage sister to death in a grisly “honour killing” was sentenced to life imprisonment after a court in Karlsruhe rejected his appeal on Thursday.

In a crime that outraged Germany, the man, identified only as Ahmad-Sobair O. knifed his 16-year-old sister Morsal 23 times as he believed she brought dishonour to their family by wearing Western-style clothes and make-up.

The Federal Court of Justice said it was “convinced that the accused committed the crime because his sister, in his opinion, had ‘stained the family’s honour’.”

The court rejected the appeal that the man was psychologically deranged and upheld the initial judgement by a lower court in Hamburg, in the north of the country.

The killer, aged 24 at the time, had said during his trial that he was “sorry from the bottom of his heart” for his actions. “That was my sister and I loved her,” he told the court, breaking down in tears.

Germany has been shocked by around 50 so-called “honour killings” since 1996, mainly in the country’s large Turkish diaspora.