Tooba Yahya, mother in Shafia family murder case, has permanent Canadian resident status revoked
Woman is serving life in prison for 1st-degree murder of 3 daughters and her husband's 1st wife in what may have been conceived as honour killings
CBC News
Tooba Yahya is serving her life sentence at Quebec's Joliette prison. (Canadian Press)
The permanent resident status of Tooba Yahya, the Montreal woman serving a life sentence for killing her three daughters and her husband's first wife in 2009, has been revoked.
Yahya, husband Mohammad Shafia and their son Hamed were convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of the women in 2012. The bodies of their daughters Zainab,19, Sahar,17, and Geeti, 13, and that of Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, were found in a car submerged in the Kingston Locks.
The Shafia family and Rona Amir, Mohammad Shafia's first wife in the polygamous marriage, left Afghanistan and came to Canada in 2007.
At a hearing in Montreal Thursday, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada determined that Yahya will not be permitted to remain in Canada as a permanent resident when she is released from prison. She will not be eligible for parole for at least another 16 years.
The three Shafia daughters and their father's first wife were murdered in 2009 by their parents and eldest brother. (CBC)
She is serving her sentence at Quebec's Joliette Institution for Women and appeared at the hearing by video link. Yayah's lawyer Stéphane Handfield said his client's life could be in danger if she is returned to Afghanistan and her only recourse will be a humanitarian appeal.
Considering Justin Trudeau repealed a law introduced by Stephen Harper that would allow immigrant terrorists to lose their Canadian citizenship, it would seem consistent that he would ensure that Tooba remains a Canadian regardless of how many family members she murdered or why. Far-left liberalism somehow makes Canada a better place in Trudeau's eyes.
It's not yet clear whether similar immigration proceedings will be launched in the cases of Hamed and Mohammad Shafia, who are serving their sentences in Ontario.
The three members of the Shafia family appealed their verdict in 2015, arguing that expert testimony on the practice of so-called honour killing presented by the Crown at their trial prejudiced the jury and that Hamed was actually a minor at the time the crime took place.
Documents the family used in 2007 when immigrating to Canada showed Hamed would have been 18 at the time of the killings.
The age argument was rejected by the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Hamed Shafia had asked the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to appeal, arguing new evidence showing he was a youth at the time of the deaths should not have been dismissed. The top court announced in April it would not hear the appeal.
Two PyeongChang Olympians banned for life
over sexual assaults
© Dylan Martinez / Reuters
Two South Korean male mogul skiers, who competed at last month’s PyeongChang Olympics, have received life bans for the sexual assault of female teammates during the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in Akita, Japan.
Choi Jae-woo, 24, and Kim Ji-hyun, 23, have been accused of “physically and sexually abusing female athletes” and will be prohibited from registering as skiers at the Korea Ski Association (KSA), a spokesman said.
Their exclusion from the association will also mean that they are banned from taking part in any international and home competitions.
"We decided to ban Choi and Kim permanently," the KSA spokesman said, adding that the incident occurred during a drinking session in a hotel, when the skiers invited their female counterparts to join them in their room. After their proposal was rejected, the two man allegedly sexually assaulted the girls, who made their complaint public upon their arrival home.
Choi, who is ranked sixth in the moguls FIS World Cup standings, is one of the most recognizable skiers in South Korea. He reached the men’s moguls final at the home games in PyeongChang, but was eliminated from medal contention after failing to finish his second run.
Kim, who also represented South Korea in PyeongChang, failed to get through the qualifying races.
In one of his interviews at that time, Choi said he was planning to take part in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which will now be impossible due to his ban.
Dubai Police to use new methods to question
children in abuse cases
Children will be questioned in hotels, play areas and public parks
Image Credit: Dubai police
Gulf News
Ali Al Shouk, Staff Reporter
Dubai: New techniques to question child victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse have been introduced by Dubai Police.
Based on the directives of Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, children in domestic violence, sexual harassment, abuse and violence cases need not go to the police station for giving statements. The child will be taken to a hotel, a play area or a public park for questioning.
Based on the principle that children may not fully understand what is happening with them, Dubai Police have ordered added protection for children under the age of 16 in domestic violence, sexual harassment, abuse and violence cases.
Many children are afraid to go to a police station.
Sometimes, families refuse to bring the child to the police station.
We will also use electronic devices to let the child speak without fear.”
- Brig Ahmad Bin Galita | Director of Al Rafa police station
Brigadier Ahmad Bin Galita, director of Al Rafa police station, said the initiative is part of the Emirati Children’s Day which was celebrated across the country on Thursday.
“It is a creative idea to question children involved in such cases outside police station. Parents now will bring their child to different places like hotels, play areas or public parks,” Brigadier Bin Galita said.
The new spots will be provided with electronic devices and themes to make the child talk freely without fear.
“We will take the child to different places to break the ice as many children are afraid when they go to a police station. Sometimes, families themselves refuse to bring the child to the police station. We will use electronic devices to let the child speak without fear.”
Specialised officers will be part of the initiative after training them in new techniques and styles to deal with child victims in criminal cases.
In the past, police used to provide a special room to question children inside police stations.
“The child’s behaviour should be understood in relationship with the environment and the officers who are questioning the child. Through play, the officer will try to help the child feel a bond with the former.”
When there is a case of child sexual abuse, children may be the sole witnesses and children’s experience and knowledge are limited. Children may show signs of shame, fear, anxiety and embarrassment, Brig Bin Galita added.
“In order to understand the feelings of a young child, there should be special environmental influences during questioning.”
He said a child who is subjected to sexual abuse or violence is first taken to a hospital and the doctor may question the child and then prepare a report.
The younger the child, the lesser he or she will remember.
“If the child is interviewed carefully, a child witness can be competent to provide testimony.”
Dubai Police said the initiative also complements UAE Vision 2021 and Centennial 2071.
Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, said earlier that children are the true wealth of a society, and the UAE and its wise leadership give them all necessary care and attention.
The day was launched by Shaikha Fatima and will be marked annually on March 15.
The approval of Emirati Children’s Day coincides with the date on which the Wudeema law was issued [March 15, 2016], she said. Emirati Children’s Day was approved during a recent Ministerial Development Council meeting chaired by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
Sacked Cardiff mosque worker made fake
child abuse claims
WALES NEWS SERVICE
Javed Javed posted several lies about worshippers from his former mosque
A sacked Cardiff mosque treasurer set up a website to falsely accuse fellow worshippers of being paedophiles.
Javed Javed, 65, had to leave his post at the Madina Mosque after a row with members, Cardiff Crown Court heard. He then used its web page to make the derogatory claims about four men before setting up his own website.
Javed, of Cardiff, admitted breaching a restraining order banning him from making the posts and was given an eight-month suspended sentence.
He was given the restraining order in January 2017 but carried on regardless and accused the mosque of harbouring sex offenders.
Prosecutor Peter Donnison told the court: "He said members were paedophiles and involved in child sex offences."
"He also posted grossly offensive images, including pictures of pigs and alcohol alongside members of the community. The victims found the images disturbing and said they were disgusted."
'Dignity and restraint'
On Thursday, Javed admitted six counts of acting in breach of a restraining order.
One of his victims told the court: "I am concerned about going out in public because I'm aware people may have seen the website and believed his lies."
Neil Treharne, defending, said: "He apologises for the upset he has caused. He will not be posting such things again." He told the judge Javed was "broke" having recently been made homeless and was "extremely ill" after suffering kidney failure and a stroke.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins QC said: "Each of these gentlemen acted with dignity and restraint despite the fact they must have been hurt by the things you posted."
As well as his sentence, which was suspended for 18 months, Javed was ordered to pay a £140 surcharge.
Married teacher, 38, on trial for sexual activity with an underage girl ‘baffled' by emojis
By Stewart Paterson For Mailonline
Gareth Parry, 38, told the Newcastle Crown Court that he had no idea of the meaning behind smiley and winky faces included in some messages. The teacher, accused of abusing a young girl, claimed he was baffled by emojis she sent him.
Appearing at Newcastle Crown Court Parry, who the court heard has a PHD degree, was accused of 'playing hard to get'. The former teacher also claims he failed to notice love hearts and kisses in other messages.
Prosecutor Christine Egerton spent two hours cross examining Parry over the messages, which he admitted were 'inappropriate'.
Parry, a former music teacher at Egglescliffe School, admitted talking to the underage girl about underwear, being in bed and Valentine's Day.
But he denied six charges of sexual activity with a child.
However, Miss Egerton told jurors Parry been 'caught out' by the exchange. 'You were playing hard to get,' she told the defendant. 'You were enjoying what was happening and were prompting [the exchange]. You were loving it, weren't you?'
Parry denied that he was, telling jurors he didn't have relations with the girl. He added: 'I didn't fancy her.'
On Tuesday, Newcastle Crown Court heard Caroline Mead, the Cleveland Police officer leading the investigation, didn't check out one of Parry's alibis - citing an 'oversight' as the reason.
But on the seventh day of the trial, the Crown pushed Parry on the messages, which Miss Egerton claimed gave him a 'thrill'.
He admitted there were points during the messages - in which he continued to message her after she called him 'sexy' and 'babe' and he accepted he should have probably have stopped.
Miss Egerton questioned why he didn't, adding: 'The truth is you wanted that to continue, didn't you.'
Parry, of Stonebridge Crescent, Ingleby Barwick, replied that he did not.
The trial continues.
Man jailed for rape, sexual assault of young girl
A 44 year-old man has been sentenced to 16 years imprisonment after being found guilty of raping, sexually assaulting and taking indecent images of a young girl.
Karl Raine, formerly of Culey Close, King’s Lynn, was found guilty of one count of rape, two sexual assaults and three counts of making and taking indecent images following a four week trial at Norwich Crown Court.
Raine was originally convicted of the offences in September 2016 and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. However, following an appeal his conviction was quashed after a procedural irregularity. Raine was ordered to face a retrial for the offence which began on 19th February 2018.
Raine pleaded not guilty, however a jury found him guilty of all seven counts.
After receiving intelligence from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), part of the National Crime Agency (NCA), a warrant was carried out on 24th April 2014 at his address by members of Norfolk Constabulary's Safeguarding Children Online Team (SCOLT).
This warrant instigated a detailed investigation where Raine was further arrested on 28th June 2014 on suspicion of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and again on 21st July 2014 on suspicion of rape of a female under 13.
A second referral to the SCOLT prompted another search of Raine's property on 12th January 2016. When police arrived Raine threatened officers with what was later identified as an imitation firearm. He denied the offence but was later found guilty of causing fear or provocation of violence with an imitation firearm.
Investigating Officer, Detective Sergeant Ngaire Alexander, said: "Today’s sentencing marks the end of what has been a long and difficult investigation. The impact of this case on the victim and the victim’s family has been life changing, and the courage that they have all shown throughout is commendable.
"Raine has shown himself to be a manipulative and calculating individual and I am pleased the jury has, for a second time, come to the unanimous decision that he is guilty of sexual crimes against children"
"Norfolk Constabulary remains dedicated to safeguarding children and identifying those that offend against them. I urge anyone who has been victim of sexual abuse, past or present to come forward in the faith that we will do all we can to bring those responsible to justice”
Norfolk Constabulary set up the Safeguarding Children Online Team (SCOLT) in 2014 in a bid to investigate on-line grooming and possession and distribution of illegal images.
The team aim to identify victims who are being or have been abused and work with agencies to put safeguarding measures in place. For more information on the SCOLT visit Norfolk Constabulary's website at: http://www.norfolk.police.uk/.
ATC hands 2nd life sentence to man in Kasur, Pakistan
child abuse case
Rana Bilal
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Thursday sentenced a man to life imprisonment after finding him guilty in the Kasur child abuse scandal.
ATC judge Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas announced the verdict against Haseem Amir in one of the 29 cases police had registered since the child abuse ring was uncovered in 2015.
Other suspects, including Aleem Asif, Naseem Shahzad and Maqsood Sindhi, were acquitted by the court over lack of evidence.
Amir was punished in FIR number 248/15 registered by Ganda Singhwala police. He has already been sentenced to life in prison in at least two other cases after the prosecution accused Amir and others of sexually assaulting young boys and filming the act to blackmail their families.
In Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur, videos were made of at least 280 children being sexually abused by a gang who later blackmailed their parents by threatening to leak the videos and received money from them.
The police, who had conspicuously failed to act despite pleas from some parents, eventually made dozens of arrests after clashes between relatives and authorities brought the issue into the media spotlight.
In March 2016, the Senate also passed a bill that criminalised sexual assault against minors, child pornography and trafficking for the first time — previously only the acts of rape and sodomy were punishable by law.
Police had registered a total of 34 cases regarding the Kasur child abuse scandal. However, a joint investigation team had dismissed five cases as fake.
Last month, the ATC had awarded life sentence to three people, including Amir, that were nominated in one of the cases regarding the scandal. The three convicts were also slapped with a fine of Rs500,000 each.
Kasur has been in the limelight for recurring cases of child abuse in the area. Earlier in February, an ATC had awarded death sentence to the rapist and murderer of six-year-old Zainab in a high profile case that had sparked anger across the country with #JusticeForZainab becoming a rallying cry for an end to violence against children.
17 years to convict Australian man for child
sexual abuse: but not one night in jail
Dhanya Rajendran, Geetika Mantri
He is a man who committed horrific crimes against children in two Indian states. Paul Henry Dean, an Australian national, who has sexually abused children over decades in Visakhapatnam as well as Puri, Odisha, was held guilty by a Railway Court in Visakhapatnam on February 21.
The first travesty of justice happened when the case against him in Andhra Pradesh, which was registered in 2001 dragged on for 17 long years.
The police took a long time to identify the victims. It took so long that finally only four out of 12 victims were ready to come and depose before the magistrate.
Clearly, justice was delayed. But was there any justice at all?
TNM has learnt of a bigger travesty. This man, who has been convicted of child sexual abuse, that too of a disabled boy, was given bail on the same day that he was convicted. “He was convicted on February 21, he got bail the same day from the Railway court,” Inspector from the II town (MR Peta) police station confirmed to TNM.
Take time to digest that: Paul Dean who was found guilty under relevant sections of the Passport Act, Foreigners Act, section 377 (unnatural sex) and 292 (2) (A) (exposing obscenity) of IPC, was awarded just three years imprisonment – and did not spend a single night in jail.
Special needs victim suicides
In the 1980s, one of Paul Dean's youngest victims in Titilagarh, Orissa was a hearing and speech impaired boy called Anil Kumar. The teenager used crude sign language to raise the alarm that he too was being abused. But no action was taken, and Anil Kumar hanged himself in July 1985. After the boy's suicide, Paul Dean was forced to move on to Andhra Pradesh.
Here, too, he continued to sexually abuse young boys left in his charge. (A timeline can be found towards the end of the story).
Vidya Reddy of Tulir, a Chennai-based NGO working against child sexual abuse, has been following the case for several years now. She says, Paul Dean getting bail is a travesty of justice.
“Besides sexually abusing children, he has taken many avatars. He has performed surgeries he had no authority to do, perhaps blinding people and hacking their limbs in the process!” she exclaims.
She adds that Paul has not only fled Australia under an Interpol notice, his case has also been discussed in the Australian Parliament: The government had wondered what it could do to prevent its citizens from going abroad and “behaving in such an abominable way.”
Paul Dean in the centre
"When do you deny bail?” Vidya questions, “You deny bail when there's a risk the person may take flight. This man has been known to have jumped – literally and figuratively – at the opportunity in the past. He literally jumped off a train once to avoid arrest. He has abused the most vulnerable of children. And they have granted THIS man bail?”
Swagata Raha, a legal researcher at the Centre for Child and the Law in Bengaluru, says that this case is representative of the failure of the criminal justice system. “The trial was long, drawn out to almost two decades. It is a letdown to survivors who are currently fighting also – is this the kind of verdict they should look forward to?" she asks.
Several people also say that the only reason this case even got to the stage of conviction was because of the interest taken by Special Public Prosecutor Botcha Prameela. Without her constant follow up, Paul Dean wouldn’t even have a ‘guilty’ tag against his name.
What should India do?
Between 2007 and 2009 Australia sent multiple requests to India to investigate whether Paul Dean is the same man who had a passport in the name of Alan Herbert Rose back in 1976. The Australian Police told the Australian Parliament that India had not replied to even one request. A Child Rights organisation called ChildWise in 2009 requested the Australian government to extradite Paul Dean as they believed the ‘only way to bring him to justice is to prosecute him for these crimes in Australia'.
Even if Australia wants to try him for any cases pending there, the Indian authorities first need to dispose off with the cases here. The case in Puri has been pending for almost a decade. Will Odisha government ensure speedy trial, or will we simply be allowing Paul Dean to stay on in our country and do what he wishes?
It was mainly based on the testimony of a visually impaired survivor that Paul was convicted in the Vishkapatnam case. The punishment under section 377 of the IPC is 10 years. Paul not only got away with three, but seems to be out and about now, not sparing a thought for acts which have destroyed childhoods, including that of the one person who persisted through this 17-year-long trial.
Who is Paul Dean?
1. He disappeared from Australia, along with $100,000 from the travel company he was chairing, in 1976. He resurfaced in south India, used fake passports and other such documents to move from place to place and manipulate people.
2. From 1980s to 2000s, he masqueraded as a Catholic missionary, a professor, a doctor and more, took on many titles such as “thatha” (grandfather) and used these appearances to win people over. He worked in a number of charitable organisations like New Hope and the Mary Ellen Gerber Foundation Trust.
3. He started performing surgeries – cataract and even limb amputations – even though he had no qualifications to be a doctor or a surgeon.
4. After one of his victims in Puri committed suicide, he was forced to move to Andhra Pradesh.
5. Showing his benevolent mask to the world, he has used his power to abuse the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children in Visakhapatnam. These children included orphans, those from poor families, kids who had visual, hearing or speech disabilities, those afflicted with leprosy and more.
6. He went back to Odisha. On November 5, 2008, Mary Ellen of the Mary Ellen Gerber Foundation, complained to the Puri police that Paul Dean had been abusing boys at the MEG village. This case is still pending.
It's time for India's Mickey Mouse justice system to join the 21st century.
No comments:
Post a Comment