PUBLIC POST
++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&sub...
Religious police blamed in ‘honour’ killing of sisters
Web posted at: 7/11/2009 6:43:0
Source ::: AFP
Riyadh: Saudi women’s group yesterday blamed the country’s religious police in the “honour” killing of two sisters shot dead by their own brother after they were arrested for mixing with unrelated men.
The Society for Defending Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia said the religious police had placed the sisters’ lives in danger when they arrested them and then placed them in a Riyadh women’s shelter.
The two women, identified as Reem, 21, and Nouf, 19, were murdered after they left the shelter on July 5. The brother shot them in the presence of their father who, according to newspaper reports, quickly forgave the son for defending the family’s honour.
But the society blamed the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or the religious police, for sparking the brother’s anger over his family’s honour by arresting the girls in the first place.
“The hands of the religious police, as well as the brother’s hands, are stained with the blood of these innocent young women,” the group said in a statement.
“These women have not committed any crime to be killed in a such brutal way.”
Under Saudi Arabia’s Shariah legal code, unrelated men and women are not allowed to mix together, and the religious police actively enforce the rules by patrolling areas frequented by young people.
“Arresting women for mingling with (unrelated males) should be stopped because it puts many Saudi women in danger and sometimes (costs) them their lives,” the statement said.
“This act has nothing to do with the religion of Islam or Saudi tradition.”
The women’s group called on the Saudi authorities to charge the brother with murder and also bring to justice members of the religious police involved in the two girls’ case.
women’s rights
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW), accused the Saudi government of not honouring a pledge to end a male guardianship system which curbs the freedom of women.
“Saudi officials continue to require women to obtain permission from male guardians to conduct their most basic affairs, like travelling or receiving medical care, despite government assertions that no such requirements exist,” HRW said in a statement.
The New York-based watchdog said in June that Saudi representatives at a UN Human Rights Council review in Geneva had committed to take steps to end the male guardianship rule, give women full legal identity, and ban gender discrimination.
“The Saudi government is saying one thing to the Human Rights Council in Geneva but doing another thing inside the kingdom,” said HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson.
“It needs to stop requiring adult women to seek permission from men, not just pretend to stop it.”
HRW said Saudi daily Al Watan reported last week that doctors have confirmed that health ministry regulations still require a woman to obtain permission from her male guardian to undergo elective surgery.
It also said border guards at the causeway linking Saudi Arabia to Bahrain refused in June to allow renowned women’s rights activist Wajeha Al Huwaider to leave because she did not have her guardian’s permission.
In February, Saudi officials submitted their rights record to the scrutiny of the UN Human Rights Council for the first time, defending some of the religious concepts behind Saudi law but arguing that conditions were improving.
related links of interest:
Saudi woman activist demands right to travel
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/10/women.saudi/
Afghanistan legalizes rape, starvation of women:
http://www.examiner.com/x-5919-Norfolk-Crime-Examiner~y2009m7d11-Afghani...
Too Faced
David & Scotti
Vila
There is something innately wrong with the Saudi version (Wahhbist) of Islam
1***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
This is really sad. And thank you for specifying that this is the Wahhabist branch of Islam in your comment, Sam! My hubby (and 99% of the Muslims I know) don't believe or practice this type of crazy stuff.
I was reading the articles provided in the links at the end of your post and this really struck a chord with me (this is from the last article, about Afghanistan)
"*Reporter’s note: It is a travesty beyond imagination that we have sent our young men to fight and die in a country which has established a government that condones rape and a medieval type of oppression against their women. It is also a travesty that American women’s rights groups such as NOW (National Organization for Women) spend their resources lobbying for the continuation of late-term abortions, rather than bringing attention to the plight of their counterparts throughout the Muslim world.
In my opinion, we should pull-out our troops and all forms of support to Muslim countries which condone such brutality upon women. The entire Western world lined-up against the government of South Africa and imposed harsh economic sanctions against that nation, until they ended the practice of Apartheid.
Are not the lives of mothers and daughters at least as important? "
2extremely disturbing. I just don't get it.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have".
3Thomas Jefferson
Martini its the PC crap of not telling others what they can do or can't do with the way they interpret their religion even if it is so warped. Maybe its due to their oil?
What gets me is they are also pushing this version here in schools and by funding "chairs" at university or spending to create ME studies from their point of view. They are allowed to build schools here and induct children with books spewing hate.
4***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Yes, unfortunately, they are using their oil money to fun the expansion of this line of thinking. That is one of the reasons I view ridding ourselves of dependence on foreign oil a national security issue. While we are so crippled by our dependence on them for oil, we will be unable to take a real stand for what is right.
As far as the developing world goes, many of the governments can't educate their own children, so welcome these Saudi-funded madrassas and mosques eagerly because it takes the pressure off of them to fund education. Little do they realize what these schools are really teaching...another problem is the lack of literacy in the developing world. Many illiterate people depend on what the Imam is telling them the Koran says, rather than being able to read it themselves. There are so many people who think the Koran says things that it doesn't....it is sad all the way around.
5Funny thing, we don't buy most of our oil from the ME. In reading your second paragraph the concept of what Christianity had in the middle ages when the uneducated and latin masses kept people enslaved. Then enlightenment. That's what they need. A major enlightenment phase.
6***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
"the concept of what Christianity had in the middle ages when the uneducated and latin masses kept people enslaved. Then enlightenment. That's what they need. A major enlightenment phase."
That's exactly it!
I know that about 40% of our oil is domestic....do you know the division for the remaining 60%? I know Mexico has to be up there as a supplier....
7last time I looked it was a mix of Mexico and North Sea with no more then 10% from the ME.
8So ow you and I will have to push enlightenment. Big chore for two women in this society. Maybe we should start a non-profit reading group?
***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Ok, Sam, let's go! I am up for the challenge!
Non-profit reading
group, here we come!
I am just starting No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan. Will let you know how it is.
9i guess this is something that "o" would fund. We need to do paperwork UGH!
10***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
i am disappointed abt the "honor killing"... and agree to Martini - these are fanatics - the ones i know are VERY peaceful and respect LIFE itself!
11Unbelievable. “This act has nothing to do with the religion of Islam or Saudi tradition.” So it was family honor that spurred the murder of these two women?
12is this another proof of descriminating women? or can women also kill their own brother for staining family honor? if so it doesn't matter. the point here is - IT HAS TO STOP.
13Post A Comment
To post comments, please log in or register.