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Iran prosecutes woman for 'disrespecting' headscarf
The announcement follows video which showed a woman throwing her headscarf
to the ground
Israel National News, Arutz Sheva
Feb 19, 2023, 4:21 AM (GMT+2)
Iran's judiciary is prosecuting a woman for "disrespecting" the Islamic headscarf after she threw hers to the ground during a public meeting, AFP reported Saturday, citing an Iranian news agency.
"Legal proceedings have been launched against a woman who disrespected her headscarf during the election for the Tehran branch of the Iran Construction Engineering Organization," the Tasnim news agency said.
The announcement came after a short video published by Tehran municipality newspaper Hamshahri showed a woman throwing her headscarf to the ground as participants left the meeting.
"It was falsely claimed that this individual was disqualified (from the branch election) for not wearing the headscarf," Tasnim added, without elaborating.
The incident comes amid ongoing protests in Iran, which erupted in September following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for failing to wear a head covering.
Since the Amini protests erupted last year, more and more women have been venturing out without covering their hair, particularly in Iran's big cities.
On January 10, the judiciary said it wanted to resume implementing enforcing legislation stipulating severe penalties for violations of the dress code, including exile, noted AFP.
This came a month after Iran indicated it would be reviewing the decades-old law that requires women to cover their heads.
Iran has launched a wide-scale crackdown on the protesters, arresting tens of thousands of people. Hundreds have been killed as authorities violently suppressed demonstrations.
In early February, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered an amnesty or reduction in prison sentences for “tens of thousands” of people detained amid the nationwide protests.
Swiss throw him out: Afghan child molester coming to us now?
Afghan Meisam Y. sexually abused a boy (6) and a girl (8). In Germany he was convicted and later deported. But a few months later he was back in Europe. The Germans brought it to Switzerland – but the Swiss don't want it. Now he's thought to be gone...
editorial staff, Exxpress
Feb 18, 2023 09:03
Austria
After the Taliban took power, no more criminals were deported there either from Germany or from Switzerland. And so our German neighbors had no choice but to send him back to Switzerland after the convicted child molester had re-entered Switzerland by train. But the Swiss could not hold him down. He didn't commit a crime there.
Germany and Switzerland no longer want him
Where he is now is unknown, explains the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) at the request of the Swiss medium “Blick”. The authority did not provide any further details on the specific case. For reasons of data and privacy protection, as they say. Just this much: The Afghan received instructions that made it clear that he had to leave Switzerland.
Migrant child sex abusers and rapists should be treated the same as potential terrorists. They are at least as dangerous and deadly. Letting them walk away is putting women and young children in great danger. Authorities seem to think that that is a better idea than deporting them to their home country. How stupid and irresponsible can you be?
Since he is no longer allowed to go to Germany, it seems obvious that the construction worker is now on his way to Austria. After all, the route between the two countries is very popular among Afghans, as eXXpress reported.
Child rape - a remedy for stress, in Islam
The overall circumstances of his serious crimes also leave you speechless: the Afghan construction worker came to Germany with the wave of refugees in 2015 and made his living as a construction worker. In 2018 he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The father had abused two innocent neighbor children (6, 8). "It was all so stressful because of the German course and my wife's third pregnancy," he justified himself in court.
15 y/o Christian Girl Kidnapped by 60-Year-Old Muslim in Pakistan
Police slow to respond to alleged forcible conversion, marriage.
February 13, 2023
Morning Star News
Sitara Arif, 15, kidnapped on Dec. 15, 2022 from Faisalabad, Pakistan. (Morning Star News)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – Arif Gill said he lost hope of finding his 15-year-old daughter – abducted by a 60-year-old Muslim who forcibly married her and converted her to Islam – until police in Pakistan finally registered a case after nearly two months.
Sitara Arif, also known as Saira, was kidnapped on Dec. 15 by Rana Tayyab in the Yousafabad area of Faisalabad, Gill said. Tayyab is the husband of Naila Ambreen, a Muslim government school principal for whom Saira worked as domestic help.
“I went to the police station to report my daughter’s kidnapping, but they refused to accept my complaint and forced me out of the building,” said Gill, a physically handicapped Catholic.
He said he made repeated attempts to register a case against Tayyab, with police ignoring his pleas.
“Madam Naila is a government employee, and both she and her husband have considerable influence on the police, which is why they outright rejected my application,” Gill told Morning Star News. “After repeated humiliation and intimidation to stop pursuing the matter, I surrendered to my fate thinking that I won’t be able to see my daughter again. It’s been nearly two months since my wife and I haven’t seen our daughter or heard anything regarding her safety and well-being. Only God knows our pain and suffering since the day she was taken from us.”
What about Saira's pain and suffering?
Gill said poverty forced the family to send their daughter to work in a Muslim household.
“I’m unable to earn a livelihood, so my wife and daughter work as domestic helps to provide for the family,” he said. “We have always been very protective about our daughter, and it never occurred to us that she would be targeted by a man five times her age.”
Sitara is the oldest of Gill’s children.
Gill’s lawyer and chairman of the Minorities Alliance Pakistan, attorney Akmal Bhatti, said he learned of Gill’s ordeal on Feb. 3 and immediately arranged for the family to meet with Faisalabad’s regional police chief. Protesting police indifference, they demanded immediate registration of a First Information Report (FIR).
An FIR was registered against Tayyab on Feb. 4 at the Madina Town Police Station on the orders of the regional police chief, and officers have begun raids for his arrest and the recovery of Sitara, Bhatti said. The case was registered under Section 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code relating to kidnapping, abducting or forcible marriage.
Bhatti said that when the police raided Tayyab’s house in Yousafabad, his wife Naila Ambreen handed the officials the Islamic marriage certificate between him and Sitara.
“This is the modus operandi in all cases involving forced marriages of underage minority girls,” Bhatti said. “The accused first rapes the victim and then uses the cover of an Islamic Nikah [marriage certificate] to escape punishment for this heinous crime.”
Though police are now acting, it is unfortunate that the family is deprived of justice because they are poor and Christian, Bhatti said.
“If the police had acted when the crime was first reported, the child could have been recovered sooner, but the prolonged delay has given the accused ample time to change his locations,” he said. “Some sources have told us that the accused has taken Sitara to Islamabad, and we are now pressing the police to find them there.”
Police took two of Tayyab’s relatives into custody for questioning, and later they were released.
“We are continuing to build pressure on the officials nonetheless, so that they don’t slack in their responsibility,” he said.
Bhatti said only young girls from minority groups are targeted for forcible marriage and conversion because their families are generally poor, with little resources to put up a fight in court.
“The country’s legal system is currently operating under a dual system of state and shariah [Islamic] laws, creating a conflict in the minimum age for marriage,” he said. “State law should prevail in cases of forced conversion and underage marriage of minority girls.”
The minimum age for marriage of girls is 16 in Punjab Province, where Faisalabad is located, and 18 in Sindh Province. Bhatti called for the federal government to set the minimum marriageable age to 18 across Pakistan.
Under Islamic law there is no specific minimum age for marriage, leading to instances where minority girls are forced into marriage with much older men after Islamic conversion. This leads to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Bhatti also criticized the National Commission on the Rights of Child and Punjab’s Child Protection & Welfare Bureau for their inaction amid a rise in cases violating the basic rights of the girl child.
“It is time for the state to take responsibility and protect our children from being exploited under the guise of religious conversion,” he said.
Emotional Wounds
Forced conversions and underage marriages are a long-standing issue in Pakistan.
At least 1,000 women from religious minorities, including Christians and Hindus, are forcibly converted and married annually in the country, Forbes magazine reported in February 2021, quoting human rights organizations.
Although Pakistan dismissed the report as “rubbish and baseless,” Forbes reported that the actual numbers could be much higher as many cases go unreported.
More than 60 cases of questionable conversions were reported in 2021-22, according to the Lahore-based Center for Social Justice. The victims included 30 Christians and 30 Hindus, with 70 percent of these victims less than 18 years old.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.
If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.
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