Erased in Israel, flogged in Pakistan, ground into the dirt in Afghanistan.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Chaudhry Calls For Probe of Girl’s Flogging
Apr 4th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Chief Justice Chaudhry called the action a cruel violation of fundamental rights; Gilani calls it shameful.… Read the rest
Ultra-Orthodox Papers Edit Women Out
Apr 4th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Two ultra-Orthodox newspapers altered photo of Israel’s cabinet; one replaced the two women with men.… Read the rest
Women should be neither seen nor heard
Apr 3rd, 2009 4:51 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd then there are the reactionary Orthodox newspapers in Israel which can’t stand to show any of those harlot women in positions of power, so they just erase them and replace them with men.
Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver were grouped with the rest of the 30-member cabinet for their inaugural photo. But Yated Neeman newspaper digitally changed the picture by replacing them with two men. The Shaa Tova newspaper blacked the women out.
Couldn’t they just have put little digital bags over their heads? Wouldn’t that do the job?… Read the rest
Welcome to Swat
Apr 3rd, 2009 4:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo here’s how it went down in Swat.
… Read the restThe burka-clad [girl] is heard crying throughout the two-minute flogging and at one point swears on her father that she will not do it again. Relatives of the man involved in the incident told the BBC he had gone to the house of the girl in the village of Kala Kalay to do repairs as an electrician, but militants accused him of having a relationship with her. They dragged him from the house and flogged him before punishing the girl, his relatives said. The Taleban made the girl’s brother hold her down during the flogging, they said. After the incident, the Taleban forced the couple to marry and instructed the man
Voices Against Shariah Apologists
Apr 3rd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Resist the Taliban, Shariah Courts and violence against women in Pakistan.… Read the rest
Iowa Supreme Court Unconvinced by ‘Experts’
Apr 3rd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
CFI legal department filed amicus brief defending lower court’s exclusion of ‘expert’ opinions by conservative religionists.… Read the rest
Iowa Court Voids Gay Marriage Ban
Apr 3rd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled a 1998 law limiting marriage to a woman and a man unconstitutional. … Read the rest
Guardian Stands Up for ‘Mainstream Islamists’
Apr 3rd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘British Islamists find themselves under constant scrutiny in Britain from Islamophobes.’… Read the rest
The Finest Tradition of Anglican Humbug
Apr 3rd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Compromise depends on people’s willingness not to push their own convictions too far.… Read the rest
No Actually Let’s Not Do God
Apr 3rd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There is something crass and nasty as well as vulgar in Blair’s quantitative triumphalism.… Read the rest
Islamists’ ‘devotion to social justice’
Apr 3rd, 2009 11:23 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Guardian pulls our chain again.
In recent weeks an unnecessary schism has been created between government and British Islamists…Taken together these incidents reinforce concerns that British Islamists are uniquely held out for political attack, and illustrate the power of key anti-Islamist lobbying groups.
Why is it assumed to be wrong for a particular political group to be ‘uniquely held out for political attack’? It is perfectly possible for a particular political group to be uniquely wrong and bad and harmful, so why would it be inherently wrong to single out such a group for special attention and opprobrium? In other words, why shouldn’t British Islamists be ‘uniquely held out for political attack’?
Well because they are such nice … Read the rest
Preferences
Apr 2nd, 2009 6:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonHere’s a news flash: Arabs are preferred over other nations.
The fact that Allah Most High has chosen the Arabs over other nations is affirmed in rigorously authenticated hadiths of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace; related by Bukhari and Muslim in their “Sahih” in the beginning of the chapter of merits, 5897, on the authority of Wathilah ibn al-Asqa` who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘Verily Allah has chosen Kinanah from the son of Isma`il, and He has chosen Quraysh from among Kinanah and He has chosen Hashim from among Quraysh and He has chosen me from the Bani Hashim.'”
So that’s that, … Read the rest
A crowd of men stands by, watching silently
Apr 2nd, 2009 1:41 pm | By Ophelia BensonSometimes the red mist of rage just overpowers the ability to say anything judicious or coherent – and one is reduced to impotent vindictive quivering.
Muslim Khan is beginning to do that to me. He’s the Taliban ‘spokesman’ in Swat, and he’s been doing a lot of talking lately. Every fucking word out of his mouth is disgusting bullying crap. (See what I mean? I can’t characterize it any more eloquently than that.)
… Read the restThe two-minute video, shot using a mobile phone, shows a burka-clad woman face down on the ground. Two men hold her arms and feet while a third, a black-turbaned fighter with a flowing beard, whips her repeatedly. “Please stop it,” she begs, alternately whimpering or screaming in
40 Lashes for Using Cloth With ‘Allah’ On It
Apr 2nd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Summary Court in Jeddah sentenced an Asian man to 40 lashes for using a cloth with Allah’s name on it to clean his kiosk.… Read the rest
UN Rights Commissioner Slams Afghan Law
Apr 2nd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Navi Pillay calls the new Afghan law a huge step in the wrong direction. … Read the rest
Critics Say Afghan Law ‘Legalizes Rape’
Apr 2nd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Shiite lawmaker involved in drafting it says the law gives more rights to women than UK or US does.… Read the rest
Anger at Law Imposing Submission on Women
Apr 2nd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Michael Ignatieff said he was outraged on behalf of Afghan women who deserve better from their country.… Read the rest
Taliban Boasts of Flogging Women
Apr 2nd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Spokesman Muslim Khan says Islamic law permits male thugs to thrash women for blah blah.… Read the rest
The Taliban v the Rights of Women and Girls
Apr 2nd, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Human rights are not a sideshow. They are the whole game.… Read the rest
