Islamsk familj fängslad i Frankrike efter att de könsstympat sina fyra döttrar

Islamic holy man and his wife are jailed for mutilating the genitals of their four daughters

• Victims sob in court as parents are led away
• Minister brands female circumcision a ”grave crime”

By Craig Mackenzie

PUBLISHED: 12:53 GMT, 3 June 2012 | UPDATED: 13:03 GMT, 3 June 2012

An Islamic holy man and his wife have been jailed for the genital mutilation of their four daughters.

The case has shocked France and was branded by a female government minister as a ”grave crime” and an ”intolerable affront to women’s dignity.”

All four of the victims, now aged between 11 and 20, were in court to hear the sentence and wept and cried out as their parents were led away from the dock.

A young victims: The four victims of the genital mutilation wept in court as their parents were sent down

The unnamed father was sentenced to two years and his wife got 18 months for allowing a ”doctor” to remove parts of their vaginas.

They were charged  with ‘complicity in voluntary violence having led to mutilation by an older person  of a minor under the age of 15 years’ , a crime punishable  by a maximum of 20 years jail.

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The father was said to be a ‘ marabout’ – an Arabic word for an Islamic ascetic holy man alleged to be endowed with magical powers.

The couple originally came from the west African state of Guinea where according to a 2007 study, 96 per cent of young girls have their genitals mutilated in the name of religion.

Crackdown: French minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has vowed to fight the illegal practice

Black African marabouts, or sorcerers as they are termed by other branches of Islam who condemn their practices, use talismans to exert their powers .

They are said to be able to cure illnesses and restore whole communities to wellbeing simply by waving feathers and intoning magical words.

”Magical power’: A medicine man invokes the power of Marabout and sprays a girl to help her achieve her dreams

At the trial in Nevers, central France, the two youngest victims had declared themselves plaintiffs under French law but the elder girls withdrew their complaint and sided with their parents.

Nathalie Bouvier-Longeville, a lawyer representing the two youngest sisters told the court: ‘ By what right were the parents able to appropriate parts of their daughters’ bodies?

‘They are loving parents and not monsters. It seems inconceivable that loving parents could have done this’.

The two eldest girls defended their parents action, saying that they did not understand why they were appearing in court.

Sobbing in the witness box , the mother told the court that she now regretted what had happened .

‘Now I would be less passive, ” she said. ”Circumcision is not good.”

The former holy man, said to have been severely handicapped by a stroke, told the judge ,’ What is the most important thing for me is the  wellbeing of my family. I am sorry for what happened.”

Moroccan- born Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, 35, Minister of Women’s Rights in the new government of François Hollande, has now pledged a crackdown on the illegal practice.

She vowed to track down what she called ‘ executioners’ who have performed  covert surgery on an estimated 50,000 young girls in France.

‘Circumcision is a mutilating and dangerous practice with serious effects on health, fertility and physical and psychological wellbeing of the very young girls who are its victims’, the Minister  wrote on her website

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2154014/Islamic-holy-man-wife-jailed-mutilating-genitals-daughters.html#ixzz1woCdwU1e

Talibanerna har på en månad förgiftat 400 skolflickor i Afghanistan

97 Takhar students poisoned

With the latest case, the number of poisoned school girls over the past one month had reached 400

By Nadar Azizi & Zarghona Salehi

PAN, May 27, 2012: Once again radicals opposing girls’ education on Sunday poisoned more than three dozen schoolgirls in northern Takhar province, the third incident of its kind over the past two months, officials said. (Photo: PAN)

At least 97 students of the Bashirabad girls’ high school in the northern province of Takhar were poisoned on Saturday, officials said.

Seven schoolgirls are in critical condition while the rest were discharged from hospital after treatment, Public Health Director Habibullah Rostaqi told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Education Director Abdul Wahab Zafari said most of the 8th grade and 10th grade students were victims to Saturday’s poisoning.

With the latest case, the number of poisoned school girls over the past one month had reached 400, he said.

Read more: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/06/02/97-takhar-students-poisoned.html#ixzz1woBbCDef

Attacker mot judar har flerdubblats i Frankrike efter avrättningarna i Toulouse i mars 2012

Översättning:

En kvävande atmosfär

”Dessa händelser blir allt vanligare så man börjar tyvärr att bagatellisera, beklagar överrabbinen i synagogan Wertenschlag Richard Lyon. Klimatet blir kvävande. ”En känsla som delas av ordförande i konsistoriet, Joel Mergui” Det går inte en vecka utan att det förekommer förolämpningar, överfall, antisemitiska inskriptioner i Frankrike. Jag vägrar att tro att judarna har att välja mellan sin identitet och säkerhet. ”

Den judiska församlingen fördömer, med stöd från statistik, en ökning av antisemitiska attacker. ”I en månad efter fallet Merah, räknade vi 140 sådana handlingar, förklarar Ariel Goldman. Detta är en tredjedel av det våld som vi hade identifierat under året 2011. ”

Un climat irrespirable

«Ce sont des incidents de plus en plus fréquents que l’on commence, hélas, à banaliser, regrette le grand rabbin Richard Wertenschlag de la synagogue de Lyon. Le climat devient irrespirable.» Un sentiment partagé par le président du Consistoire, Joël Mergui: «Il ne se passe pas une semaine sans qu’on ne relève des insultes, des agressions, des inscriptions de nature antisémite en France. Je refuse de pouvoir imaginer que des Juifs aient à faire un choix entre leur identité et leur sécurité.»

La communauté juive dénonce, chiffres à l’appui, une recrudescence des agressions à caractère antisémite. «Dans le seul mois qui a suivi l’affaire Merah, nous avons dénombré 140 actes de ce type, détaille Ariel Goldman. Cela représente un tiers des violences que nous avions recensées sur toute l’année 2011.»

Islamisterna försöker införa anti- abort och -steriliseringslagar i Turkiet

Thousands protest at Turkey anti-abortion law plan

ISTANBUL: Thousands of people took to the streets of Istanbul on Sunday to protest against plans by Turkey’s prime minister to bring in a new law on abortion, a practice he has called “murder”.

Women of all ages held aloft banners with slogans including “My body, my choice” and “I am a woman not a mother, don’t touch my body” as they marched to the city’s Kadikoy Square. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan sparked outrage from women’s groups and opposition lawmakers last weekend when he delivered two fiery speeches in which he attacked abortion and caesarean births as secret plots designed to stall Turkey’s economic growth. Abortion, he said, was “murder”.

He said on Tuesday his governing AK Party was preparing a draft bill on abortion and intended to enact it into law. He gave no details. About 3,000-4,000 protesters, mostly women, took part in the rally on Sunday. They blew whistles and chanted “AKP, keep your hands off my body” and “Tayyip it is none of your business”. “It is our right to choose when to give birth or to have children at all. We will not bow to AKP fundamentalism,” said Bahar Guler, 36, holding the hand of her five-year-old daughter. “It is a big decision to be made by the mother only, it’s very ridiculous for the government to have a say in this,” said Nilay Askar, a 28-year-old dentist.

Abortion has been legal in the country since 1983, until the 10th week after conception. Erdogan wants Turkey, a mostly Muslim nation of around 75 million people, to be among the world’s top 10 economies by 2023. A religious and social conservative, he has for years advocated families having at least three children. On a visit to Kazakhstan recently, deciding three was not enough, he told the country’s prime minister Kazakh families should be having five.

Erdogan said last week caesarean births limited population growth because women who opted for the procedure could not have more than two children. Turkey’s health minister has announced plans to penalise hospitals that carry out elective caesarean sections, calling them unnatural. Turkey does have a high rate of caesarean births – more than 40 percent of live births in 2009, according to 2011 figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Only Brazil and China have a higher rate among OECD countries. reuters

Det muslimska brödraskapet håller på att förpassa Egypten till den mörka medeltiden

Egypt’s Shafiq: Islamist rival heralds ”dark ages”

 

By REUTERS

06/03/2012 20:53

Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mursi would threaten the rights of women, Christians and others if elected, presidential candidate says.

Photo: REUTERS

CAIRO – Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq stepped up his attacks against his Muslim Brotherhood rival in a run-off vote, saying on Sunday the Islamist would drag Egypt into the ”dark ages” and threaten the rights of women, Christians and others.

The comments from the last Prime Minister of former president Hosni Mubarack, his first public address for more than a week, reflected how divisive the race has become since the former air force commander made it through last month’s first round into a head-to-head against Mohamed Mursi.

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For the bloc of Egyptians who voted for centrist candidates in last month’s first round, the outcome could hardly have been worse. Many of them worry as much about putting a conservative Islamist in charge as they do about handing power back to a man who, like Mubarak, has a military background. Mubarak was jailed for life on Saturday.

The run-off will be on June 16 and 17. The lead-up to the poll has been marred by violence, in which several of Shafiq’s campaign offices have been attacked, and many protesters have hit the streets to demonstrate against both candidates.

”I represent a civil state, the Brotherhood represents a sectarian Brotherhood state. I represent moving forward, they represent going backwards,” Shafiq said.

Sunday’s statement appeared mainly to play on the fears of liberals, Christians (who make up a tenth of Egypt’s 82 million people) and women. ”Women of Egypt, I will not permit that the powers of extremism take you back to the dark ages,” he said.

Shafiq, 70, who delivered his statement in a five-star hotel on Cairo’s outskirts where there was a strong police presence, said the Brotherhood were ”liars” and wanted to ”penetrate” all institutions to create a state in line with their views.

He accused the Brotherhood of making a power grab despite promising not to run for the presidency, after the organization also won more seats in a parliamentary vote than it originally said it would seek.

He suggested Mursi would answer to a religious leader not the people and would create sectarian divisions.

Shafiq had criticized the Brotherhood on May 26 at a news conference, after initial results showed he was in the run-off. But Sunday’s broadside was his fiercest in the campaign so far. It was also timed to coincide with the start of overseas voting.

Mursi, 60, in his news conference on Saturday, had presented himself as the ”revolutionary” candidate in the race and said his rival would rebuild Mubarak’s old regime.

Mursi has said he would quit the Brotherhood and its party if elected and insists Christians would enjoy the same rights as everyone under his presidency, while women would be free to wear what they want, with no obligation to put on a Muslim veil.

Mursi has sought to reach out to more centrist candidates who lost in the first round, namely ex-Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh and leftist Hamdeen Sabahy. But he has yet to win explicit backing from either of them.

But those two losing candidates have been vociferous opponents of the ”feloul”, a derisive Arabic term referring to ”remnants” of Mubarak’s old order, such as Shafiq. They have vowed to protect the gains achieved since the uprising that toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011.

Sabahy and Abol Fotouh, who came third and fourth in the first round, secured a total of about 40 percent of votes cast, compared with less than a quarter won by each of Mursi and Shafiq. That means the centre-ground voters could be vital for victory in the run-off.

Turnout was 46 percent of around 50 million eligible voters.

Shafiq has not sought meetings with the other two candidates, a move that would certainly struggle given their opposition to ”feloul”, but his news conference on Saturday, in which he took no questions, was clearly aimed at picking off voters in the centre and those with misgivings about the Brotherhood.

”Choose a president of Egypt who will make a country for everyone, and not for one sect,” he said, adding he was reaching out to every political power ”even if it disagrees” with him.

Though he does not apologize for his links to Mubarak, who he has described as a role model, Shafiq insisted he would not rebuild the old order. He said there could be no return to jailing people for their views and said he would stamp out corruption, among the issues that drove the anti-Mubarak revolt.

One of his strongest cards is that, as a former military man, he is seen by many Egyptians as having the army’s backing to help restore order after almost 16 months of turmoil.

”We will work immediately to restore security,” he said.

He repeated another of his regular themes, that he has experience of office, and also promised poor farmers he would ensure fair prices for their produce, cancel debts they have with a state bank and give them health insurance.

To business, he pledged to draw in foreign investors, scared away by the turbulence since Mubarak’s ouster.

Skådespel för folket

Iran kan slå till mot Israelisk reaktor

Iran official hints Dimona reactor may be targeted – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Khamenei’s military adviser says Iran will act ‘smartly’ if attacked by Israel or US ‘proportional to any damage that they inflict on us’

Dudi Cohen

Published: 06.02.12, 17:50 / Israel News

Iran will respond to any Israeli or US attack against its nuclear sites with a “proportionate” reaction, the military adviser to the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday.

General Yahya Rahim Safavi, quoted by Fars news agency, said however that such an attack was unlikely.

Safavi further told Fars that despite warnings from Washington and Israel that “all options are on the table” if negotiations between Iran and major powers on Tehran’s controversial nuclear program fail, conditions do not favor an assault.

“They may be able start one but they cannot end it and it remains in Iran’s hands,” the general said.

Khamenei’s aide added that “the domestic political, economic and social conditions in America and the Zionist regime are not such as to have a new war in the region.”

Dimona reactor – to be targeted? (Photo: AFP)

He said that US President Barack Obama “wants to get re-elected” and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s cabinet is “fragile.”

Displaying expert knowledge in Israeli politics, Safavi noted that Netanyahu is in a coalition with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and that a military operation may break up the coalition.

‘One million Jews will flee Israel’

Safavi further noted that “The Zionists are living in such international conditions that if they intend to launch an attack against Iran, one million Jews will flee Israel in the first one or two weeks. Jews are very vulnerable there.”

However, in case of an attack, “we will act against their military operation smartly, proportional to any damage that they inflict on us … meaning we will hurt them as much as they hurt us.” This may suggest that Iran would attempt to target the Dimona reactor.

Safavi again stressed that the entire State of Israel is within Iran’s rocket range and that Hezbollah may join an Iranian counter-attack “with thousands of rockets against the Zionist regime.”