Category Archives: Mission to Afghanistan

Taliban threaten 2 attacks per week in Pakistan

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President Obama looks to pardon non-violent Taliban.
Pakistan surrenders the Swat Valley and it’s inhabitants to the Taliban.
One has to ask if America or Pakistan will ever realise they are in a war.
All these concessions  are seen as victories by the Taliban, and rightly so.
They are now stronger, more bold and are riding a wave of momentem.

The Associated Press google news

0629-taliban-back

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bombing at a crowded Shiite mosque south of Pakistan’s capital killed 22 people Sunday, the latest evidence of how security in the U.S.-allied nation is crumbling well beyond the Afghan border region where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters thrive.

The violence came as a senior Pakistani Taliban commander said his group was behind a deadly suicide bombing Saturday night in Islamabad and promised two more attacks per week in the country if the U.S. does not stop missile strikes on Pakistani territory.

Sunday’s suicide bomber set off his explosives at the entrance to a mosque in Chakwal city in Punjab province, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Islamabad, said Nadeem Hasan Asif, a top security official in the province. The blast killed 22 and wounded dozens, he said. Continue Reading →

Pakistan outcry over flogging of girl by Taliban

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[kaltura-widget wid=”npug3s3vp4″ width=”410″ height=”364″ addpermission=”0″ editpermission=”3″ /]In the hopes that people will get to witness Sharia law with their own eyes I have uploaded this video on my you tube account. Eight hours after posting I recieved an email from you tube informing me the video was pulled and the account ‘taffyincanada’ has been suspended. The mass flagging campaign by ‘Muslims against the facts’ is very active on youtube.

 

From the Telegraph.co.uk

Diplomats and human rights campaigners have condemned a peace deal between the Pakistan government and Taliban militants after harrowing video footage revealed a teenage woman begging for mercy during a public flogging.

The footage appears to show a 17-year-old girl being flogged by Islamic militants in Pakistan’s northwestern region of Swat.

The whipping took place after the peace deal was struck with militants in February following a protracted and unsuccessful military operation.

But a Taliban spokesman said that the punishment beating took place before the peace deal was signed when militants carried out executions and public beatings.

A local Taliban commander in the militant stronghold of Matta, outside of the regional capital, Mingora, ordered a girl called Chand to be flogged after she was accused of adultery.

“Please! Enough! Enough!” the girl is heard crying in Pashto, the language of the tribes who dominate northwestern Pakistan.

The two-minute video, shot using a mobile phone, shows a burka-clad woman face down on the ground. Two men, one of whom is her brother, hold her arms and feet while a third whips her 34 times.

“Please stop it,” she implores. “Either kill me or stop it now.” Continue Reading →

Ottawa judge given RCMP protection Break-in reveals marriage of judge’s son, Khadr’s sister

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From The Ottawa Citizen:

By Andrew Duffy and Don Butler, The Ottawa CitizenApril 2, 2009 7:16 PM

Zaynab Khadr apparently.

Zaynab Khadr giving the term 'bag lady' a whole new meaning

OTTAWA-Why did thieves pump three bullets into the back door and window of an Ottawa tax court judge’s house?

That’s the question at the heart of the police investigation into a break-in last month at the west Ottawa residence of Judge Patrick J. Boyle, whose family remains under RCMP protection.

The gunshots suggest the March 20 break-and-enter was not random or routine. The RCMP’s decision to keep two cruisers parked near the judge’s house Thursday indicates police also have an unusual level of concern.

There’s speculation that the shots could have been a warning related to one of the judge’s cases, or perhaps to the recent marriage of the Boyles’ son, Joshua, to Zaynab Khadr, a prominent member of Canada’s notorious “al-Qaeda family.”

Continue Reading →

Law for Afghan Shi’ites cheap politics, say critics

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From CTV.ca

 crying_girlA new law passed by the Afghan parliament that reportedly legalizes marital rape, among other measures, is just an attempt by President Hamid Karzai to win the favour of extremists, say critics.

 

Journalist and women’s-rights activist Sally Armstrong, who has reported extensively on the state of women in Afghanistan, says the law is simply an attempt by Karzai to win the critical swing votes of conservative Shia men ahead of presidential elections.

“It’s a cheap piece of electioneering on the backs of the women and girls of the country, just so he can hang on to power,” Armstrong told Canada AM. “This is a man who has spoken about the rights of women… but he sold them out to get the extremist men vote.”

Armstrong points out that even though only a small percentage of Shia men would welcome the law, all women would be affected.

“They’re selling this as just for Shia women, but that’s nonsense. The content of Shia law is, it will affect every woman in the country,” she said. Continue Reading →

Stratfor red alert: Redefining the Global System (Open Access)

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Red Alert: Redefining the Global System (Open Access)

April 1, 2009 | 1858 GMT

From Europe to Turkey, world leaders are coming together this week for a slew of global summits. There is much for these world leaders to discuss: the global financial infrastructure is now up for debate, the jihadist war continues to rage in South Asia, the Russians are locked into intractable negotiations with the Americans over the boundaries of the former Soviet sphere of influence, and the Turks are returning to their great power past.

These summits are not just about photo-ops and handshakes. Taken together, this array of diplomatic meetings constitute the greatest density of decision points in the modern world since the summits that brought about the end of the Cold War. This is a time when the true colors of nation-states come out, as each fights for their political, economic and security interests behind a thin veneer of global cooperation.

With geopolitical boundaries being redrawn across the world, STRATFOR has a responsibility to penetrate the media glitz and read through the lines of diluted joint statements and press conferences to explain to our readers the core issues at stake for each player involved. Through our extensive coverage in this week’s Global Summit series, our intent has been to do just that.

Midway through the bilateral summits, we have yet to see any major surprises deviating from our assessments. In the lead-up to the G-20 summit in London, the Americans and the Germans will be at the core of the debate over how to restructure the global financial system. The Americans, the British and the Japanese believe stimulus is the way to go to put the global economy back on track, while Germany, the economic heavyweight of Europe, prefers instead to export its way out of the recession. This is not a debate that will be resolved by the end of this summit (if at all), leaving G-20 members and the struggling economies watching from the outside with the impression that they have little choice but to fend for themselves in this severe economic environment.

The Americans do not just disagree with the Europeans on economics — in spite of Europe’s enthusiasm for U.S. President Barack Obama, the EU members at the summit made clear their unwillingness to make any meaningful contributions to the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan beyond a few aid packages. With the Western coalition in Afghanistan looking more and more like a one-man show, the Americans are branching out of their post-World War II system of alliance in search of new strategic partners. The United States has found one such partner in Turkey, where Obama will be wrapping up his visit on April 6-7. This will demonstrate to allies and adversaries alike that Washington embraces a greater Turkish role in global affairs that stretch from the Islamic World to the Russian periphery.

The summits thus far have given the Russians plenty to chew on. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev came to the G-20 ready to negotiate with Obama on a slew of issues that revolve around a core Russian imperative of consolidating power in the former Soviet periphery. A look at the joint statement and press conferences from the Obama-Medvedev meetings might leave one with the impression that the Americans and the Russians are ready to cooperate, but in reality, all they could really boast about was a commitment to restart talks on nuclear disarmament, leaving a host of outstanding critical issues in limbo. It is quite apparent that the United States has its hands full, but Obama still let the Russians know that he does not intend sit back and allow Moscow to have its way with Eurasia. The Russians now have a better idea of Obama’s boundaries in these negotiations, but their priorities have not changed; Moscow still has ways of grabbing Washington’s attention.

stratfor

It has been a roller coaster ride thus far, with still more to come. Before Obama makes his way to Turkey, he still has to touch base with his NATO allies in Prague. With the Russians ready to play hardball and the balance of the Eurasian landmass still in flux, these meetings will be anything but bland. Meanwhile, STRATFOR’s team of expert analysts will be working to provide their members with the analytical context to find significant meaning from these summits. A redefinition of global systems is taking place that will carry well into the future, and STRATFOR is here to provide the historical and analytical record.

Afghanistan’s government looks more like the Taliban every day

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Hamid Karzai signs law ‘legalising rape in

marriage’

President Hamid Karzai has signed a law the UN says legalises rape in marriage and prevents women from leaving the house without permission.

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By Ben Farmer in Kabul
Last Updated: 7:57AM BST 31 Mar 2009
Hamid Karzai: Hamid Karzai signs law ‘legalising rape in marriage’
Mr Karzai has been accused of electioneering at the expense of women’s rights by signing the law to appeal to crucial Shia swing voters in this year’s presidential poll Photo: AFP/GETTY

The law, which has not been publicly released, is believed to state women can only seek work, education or doctor’s appointments with their husband’s permission.

Only fathers and grandfathers are granted custody of children under the law, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Opponents of the legislation governing the personal lives of Afghanistan’s Shia minority have said it is “worse than during the Taliban”.

Continue Reading →

Education increasing in Afghanistan

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If there is one reason for Canadians to value our presence in Afghanistan it would be this one. Gloria Galloway writes for the Globe and Mail of the steady increase in school enrolment despite continued threats of death, dismemberment and mutilation of children by the Taliban. At the Mirwais Mina high school where students and their teachers were sprayed in the face with battery acid last November, enrolment has increased. Initially students stayed away immediately following the attacks but now nearly all have returned. Attendance has increased from 800 pupils to 1300 in one year.

It would seem that the combined efforts of  parents, school officials, Canadian and NATO troops are providing the Taliban with an lesson of their own; education is important and threats of danger and even death will not stop children from attending school.

Hajim Anwar, director of education in Kandahar province is frustrated by those who claim little progress has been made in the Afghan education system. ” There is good education and the education is increasing, not decreasing” he said. Parents are resolved in their desire to bring better lives to their children through schooling. Yet most of the spike in attendance is due to the increasing number of boys going to school with many girls still being denied the opportunity as gender discrimination remains the prominent factor in the lives of Afghanis. Hopefully, this gender disparity will decrease as more schools with a rounded and balanced cirriculum open and Taliban inspired madrasses are challenged as the only marker of learning.

Sky News does another piece on Swat and imposition of sharia law

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One thing, the interview with the elderly gentleman at the end should be taken with a grain of salt. No one dares speak against the Taliban. Anyone interviewed with half a brain or who likes living will say they think its a good thing.

This video found on Frozen North:

NGO’s ordered out of Swat. Taliban finds them ‘vulgar’

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Karachi, Mar.23 (ANI): The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has virtually imposed a ban on all the non-governmental organizations (NGO) working in the Swat Valley, as it has asked them to leave the region immediately.
The TTP has said the way of working of the NGOs was against Islam and it is not acceptable to it.
NGO is another name for vulgarity and obscenity. They hire women who work with men in the field and in offices. This is totally un-Islamic and unacceptable, TTP spokesman, Muslim Khan said.
Khan strongly opposed the presence of foreigners in the region.
They come and tell us how to make lavatories in mosques and houses. Im sure we can do it ourselves. There is no need for foreigners to tell us this, The Daily Times quoted Khan, as saying.
When asked that why the Taliban has been opposing the polio vaccination, Khan said: It (vaccination) causes infertility.
He added that the major reason why the Taliban was against the vaccination is that the vaccines were manufactured in foreign countries, and the vaccination program was run by NGOs. (ANI)

Organizers plan court challenge, physical escort of Galloway into Canada

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george-galloway1TORONTO — Organizers of the four-city speaking tour of British anti-war MP George Galloway are going to challenge the decision to bar him from Canada in court.
The organizers also say if that fails, they’ve already prepared plan B.

Organizers are to announce Monday they will file an emergency injunction in Ontario federal court on Tuesday seeking to overturn Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s entry ban on the outspoken politician.

Should that fail, a delegation of Canadian MPs, lawyers and activists is assembling to escort Galloway from the U.S., where he is on tour, across the Canadian border.

“Our hope is the decision will be overturned by the courts when it actually looks at the merits of the decision of the government,” said organizer Laith Marouf, national branches co-ordinator of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights.

“But also … we’re not going to stop at that. We will mount our physical delegation.

“On Monday the 30th in the morning, Mr. Galloway will attempt to cross the border. It has not been decided yet which land crossing – most probably in Quebec,” he said.

“He will be met by throngs of supporters on the other side.”

The government has said the decision to keep the Scottish MP from giving his speaking engagements was based on security grounds. It has riled up the opposition and freedom of speech proponents, who call it censorship.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has also drawn fire for declining to intervene. His office notes Galloway has expressed sympathy for the Taliban cause in Afghanistan and provided financial support to the Palestinian group Hamas, listed in Canada as a terrorist organization.

Two prominent Jewish organizations, B’nai Brith Canada and the Canadian Jewish Congress, have applauded the government’s decision.

Several of the tour organizers held an emergency meeting Sunday at Ryerson University in Toronto to discuss the court challenge plans.

A legal team, led by prominent immigration and refugee lawyer Barbara Jackman, has assembled support of more than 50 organizations.

Groups include the Council of Canadians, Canadian Civil Liberties Union, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, anti-war coalitions in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, several large labour unions and many community organizations, Laith said.

“We’re feeling very positive, we’re having unbelievable amounts of support pouring in through calls, emails. The sales of tickets (to the planned speeches) have skyrocketed – most of the venues are almost sold out,” he said.

Galloway was banned from Britain’s Labour party in 2003 and is now sitting as a left-wing Respect MP.

He had planned to speak Monday at a conference hosted by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War – entitled Resisting War from Gaza to Kandahar – and in neighbouring Mississauga the next day.

He’s now scheduled for engagements on March 30 in Toronto, March 31 in Mississauga, April 1 in Montreal and April 2 in Ottawa.

More than 12 venues across the country are also booked to broadcast his first lecture to a public audience.

Now is the critical time to allow Galloway to speak in Canada, Laith said.

“Galloway is coming to speak about the failed war in Afghanistan, where more and more Canadian soldiers are dying for no reason. And this is on top of the thousands of Afghani civilians who are dying as we are speaking,” he said.

Due to the emergency nature of the court challenge, Laith said they expect to learn whether the government’s decision to ban Galloway will be overturned by the weekend

From the Canadian Press March 22-09

Muslim Woman Calls on Non-Muslims To Save Her From Muslims

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By Jihadwatch

Taliban threatens to behead founder of jihadist website

JihadUnspunThreatened.jpg
To be bitten by the dog she fed?

Over the years we’ve linked to Jihad Unspun several times to illustrate jihadist perspectives. The site’s founder, Beverly Giesbrecht, is a Canadian convert to Islam who now goes by the name Khadija Abdul Qahaar — but her open allegiance to the global jihad didn’t stop jihadists in Pakistan from kidnapping her. I’ve also heard many times that Jihad Unspun was a CIA front, but don’t have any confirmation of this, and that doesn’t seem to be why the Taliban kidnapped her.

Now she calls upon her country — whose traditions, laws, and society she has despised and rejected — to save her.

“Taliban threaten to behead Canadian hostage: Ransom must be paid by end of March, captive says in video,” by Rehmat Mehsud and Tu Thanh Ha in the Globe and Mail, March 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

BANNU, PAKISTAN and TORONTO — A Canadian held hostage after she travelled to the lawless tribal belt of northern Pakistan says the Taliban will behead her by the end of the month if a ransom isn’t paid.In a new video provided to The Globe and Mail, Beverly Giesbrecht expresses fear for her life if her captors aren’t paid.

“I have been advised and asked to make this video. We have very short time now and I am going to be killed, as you can see,” she says, gesturing at the dagger on the wall behind her, pointed at her head.

She alluded to Piotr Stanczak, a kidnapped Polish engineer who was executed by militants last month, the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

In the video, Canadian Beverley Giesbrecht gestures to the dagger pointed toward her head as a sign she is going to be killed.

“I am going to be beheaded just like the Polish engineer, probably by the end of the month. The deadline is by the end of March, and that’s basically, I don’t know, 18 days or 16 days,” she says, closing her eyes.

“I’m not quite sure how long that is but the time is very short and my life is going to end,” she adds in a choked voice.

In the short video, Ms. Giesbrecht, 52, wearing a head scarf and sitting on a wooden chair, says that she is being held by the Taliban “near the Afghan border, either Pakistan or Afghanistan.”

The video opens with a voice reciting from the Koran. Abu Jindal, a moniker adopted by some jihadis, appears in Arabic and Urdu, superimposed over Ms. Giesbrecht’s face.

Ms. Giesbrecht, who is also known as Khadija Abdul Qahaar, has been a captive for four months.

The West Vancouver resident converted to Islam after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and runs a website, Jihad Unspun, that says it provides information “devoid of the constraints of mainstream media.” Her visa application to Pakistan said she was a freelance journalist working on a documentary for the Al-Jazeera television network.

She was captured by gunmen last November, reportedly by the Taliban commander Gul Bahadur, who leads fighters in the volatile North Waziristan region.

“I need some kind, someone to help me, the Pakistani government and my own country and somebody must move now, because my life is going to be over. I want to go home. So, these people are serious. Please help me,” a wavering Ms. Giesbrecht says in her latest video….

Sharia courts begin work in Swat Valley with restrictions on women

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by Qaiser Felix
Women cannot go out unaccompanied or speak in public but must cover their heads. Girls’ schools could be closed for good. Local Catholics and Protestants fear for their future; some are starting to leave the region. Taliban militia leader threatens new judges; anyone not applying Sharia correctly will be removed from office immediately.

Peshawar (AsiaNews) – Sharia courts have begun to administer justice in the Swat Valley. With Sharia in place in Malakand area, women are no longer allowed to go out unaccompanied or speak in public. They must also cover their heads. Girls’ schools, essentially run by missionaries, could close for good, especially after recent bomb attacks. Although no one was injured in the blasts, about a thousands girls are now unable to go to class, about 95 per cent of whom are Muslim.The future of the region’s Catholics and Protestants, who number around a thousand, is grim. Many of them are labourers and street sweepers, but some work in hospitals and a few teach in missionaries-run schools. All of them fear discrimination and many have begun packing up to move to areas where Sharia is not enforced. .

Since the start of the year the Taliban have carried out hundreds of attacks against schools, video and CD stores and barber shops and all other activities they claim to be un-Islamic.

With the implementation of Nizam-e-Adl Regulations 2009, civilian courts no longer have jurisdiction in this area and have been replaced by Qazi (Islamic) courts and Qazis (Islamic judges).

More specifically seven courts are now in place in the Swat Valley after Tehreek-i-Nafaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) Taliban militias and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari reached an agreement to that effect. The Lower and Upper Dir districts, Buner, Malakand Agency, Shangla, Kohistan and Chitral districts are now under Sharia law.

North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Communication Minister Iftikhar Hussain said that the aforementioned courts will be the models other districts will follow when they will implement Sharia. This way the latter can come into effect without presidential approval.

In announcing the start of the new courts TSNM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad said that Islamic courts will come under a new supreme court, the Darul Qaza. Two of its three qazis have already been selected; the third one will be designated in the near future.

Sufi Muhammad also said that if qazis do not correctly implement Sharia they will be replaced.

This has led the High Court in Peshawar to express concerns with respect to the TSNM chief’s threats, calling on NWFP authorities to ensure the safety of the judges.

Another singer silenced in Pakistan. NPR

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Pashtun Singer Gulzar Alam in Peshawar, Pakistan, in February 2003.


B.K. Bangash

Popular Pashtun singer Gulzar Alam practices behind closed doors at his home in Peshawar, Pakistan, in February 2003. AP

Click here to hear the audio NPR report and interview with this Pakistani artist

All Things Considered, March 12, 2009 · In Pakistan, Muslim religious extremists have long sought to ban secular music — and in some parts of the country, militants are enforcing their views with violence.

In areas controlled by the Taliban, CD stores have been destroyed or forced to shut down. Musicians have fled or been silenced, and fear is spreading even in areas where the Taliban is not in full control. One popular singer from the city of Peshawar no longer dares perform.

For Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group in Pakistan’s rugged northwest, the voice of Gulzar Alam could bring tears. Drawing on their favorite poets, he sang of love, pride and nationalist aspirations. He packed local halls and was the musician of choice for weddings. He was handsome, well dressed, with a bit of the matinee idol about him.

Now, he sits on the floor of a slum, wrapped in a traditional shawl. His shaggy hair and scraggly beard are shot with gray.

He laughs ruefully at what he has become: an old man before his time who cannot afford to shave.

Alam’s problems started seven years ago when a coalition of religious parties won elections in Pakistan’s northwest. The authorities harassed him, and a crowd attacked his house with rocks. He and his family fled south to Baluchistan.

Last year, after the religious coalition in the northwest was defeated, the new secular Pashtun government urged him to return — promising he would now be safe. It was a promise the government could not fulfill.

“Four months ago, performers were attacked as they returned from a function. Four musicians were injured, one was killed. No one is safe from the Taliban here. People have retreated into self-imposed censorship,” Alam says.

Once again, Alam began receiving threatening phone calls. He was shot at on the street.

He returned to Baluchistan, but found that the Taliban is now threatening musicians there, too. He tried to find gigs in the port city of Karachi, but there, he faced a different problem: ethnic violence against Pashtuns.

Back in Peshawar, he is afraid to perform. He has no source of income. After his elder brother turned him away, fearing the singer would put him in danger, Alam, his wife and five children sought refuge with other relatives. Now, three large families are crammed into three dank, dark rooms with no running water.

“It’s like falling from the sky to earth,” says Rukhsana Muqaddas, Alam’s wife. “Before this we had a very modern, wonderful life. We used to send our kids to good schools. Now, we can’t afford to educate them at all.”

Alam’s favorite song, a Pashtun ballad about loss of identity, has taken on a new meaning. Once the voice of the Pashtun downtrodden, Alam is now a member, his dreams of a peaceful Pashtun renaissance hijacked by the Taliban.

In downtown Peshawar, some music stores are still open. Arshat Khan has come from an outlying area, where all of the stores have been closed, to buy CDs of his favorite singers; Alam is among them. Although his old recordings are still on sale, there is no system of royalties. So while it may warm Alam’s heart to know he is loved, this doesn’t fill his children’s stomachs.

Khan says cultural life has come to a standstill.

“Life is colorless. … It’s like living in [a] world that is black and white. You have just to eat and excrete and live under perpetual fear,” Khan says.

And like Gulzar Alam, he expects the situation to get worse.

Links for March 10. Women and Islam.

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I post this small series of links, the ones that made it into the media and the ones that made it from the media to me. Links that more or less are all from the last 24 hours. I post these links to illustrate a point. You think you know what that point is. That Islam is evil. No, I figure anyone who doesn’t know that yet probably never will. The point is, that so many do not seem to understand difference between the exception and the rule.

When barbarity is committed against women. Against homosexuals or against Jews and infidels. When seemingly arbitrary acts of cruelty and personal vengeance are committed and later justified by sharia, this is the rule. The exception is when it does not unless proper submission is shown to male and Islamic and often Arab supremacy and often not even then. All to often Islam is the motive. But even more often, Islam is the excuse.

Two minor girls were gang-raped on January 17, 2007 after they were dragged out of a madrasa in Kareli area of the city.


PAKISTAN: ONE WOMAN DEAD IN ATTACK ON CHRISTIANS

Would-be rapist instigates attack in response to charges leveled against him.

Muslim Woman Self Immolates Rather Than Continue Desperate Life

53 year old Afghan widow, Jan Bibi, chose to pour gasoline over her body and light herself on fire rather than continue her desperate life. As an aging muslim woman – with no husband – she was on the bottom rung of Afghan life and considered a pariah of society.  She had little chance of finding work due to her gender and even less chance of finding a new husband due to her age. So a painful, skin blistering-flesh charring death by fire seemed the only solution to her desolate situation.

Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling

(CNN) — A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, “Fahd” and “Hadian.”
Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan.

Kabul, 9 March (AKI) – Afghanistan’s Supreme Court has upheld a 20-year jail term for blasphemy handed to Afghan journalist Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, who claimed men and women were equal.

Kambakhsh’s brother said the family had just learned of the closed-door ruling delivered a month ago in the absence of Yaqub Kambakhsh, his lawyer or family members, the Information Safety and Freedom media watchdog reported on Monday.

A Day in the Life of a Saudi Woman. Front Page Magazine:

In 2006, Australian Mufti Taj al-Din al-Hilali raised a furor by calling unveiled women “uncovered meat” to suggest that eighteen such women, raped by Muslim youths in a Sydney neighborhood in 2000, actually invited the horrendous act upon themselves. Most Australians and Westerners have viewed it as utterance of a deranged ignorant cleric, not representing the Islamic creed and community. However, an investigation of the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia—the heartland and birth-place of Islam—reveals a strong Islamic rationale behind the Mufti’s assertion. Continue Reading →