Syrian Naval Bombardment

BLUF

Now the Navy is getting involved. Not that I find the Syrian navy to be threatening, I just find it deeply disturbing that a national leader is committing genocide, Assad is Shia and the populace is mainly Sunni, with the assistance of another Shia global worry (Iran) and NOBODY is doing anything about it. Obama is a lap dog to the UN and OIC. Until the OIC tells the UN that it is time to stop Assad, Obama will remain quiet and so will his media machine and 2 year old little girls will continue to die at the hands of Assad the murderous.

Syrian Naval Bombardment

At least 25 people have been killed and many others injured after Syrian warships and tanks opened fire on the port city of Latakia, activists said.

A resident in al-Ramel, one of the neighbourhoods which came under attack on Sunday, said at least three gunboats were taking part in the offensive.

"Many homes have been destroyed and the shabiha have broken into shops and businesses," he said, referring to pro-government gangs.

Security forces also appeared to be intent on crushing dissent in the neighbourhood, which has seen large anti-government protests since the Syrian uprising began in mid-March.

The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS) provided a list of 26 victims, including two Palestinian men from the Ramel refugee camp in southern Latakia.

A spokesman for the UN refugee agency UNRWA, Chris Gunness, said reports from the Ramel camp spoke of "fire from tanks which have encircled the area as well as fire from ships at sea".

"Poor communications make it impossible to confirm numbers of those killed and injured," Gunness said in a statement.

Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said one of the dead was a two-year-old girl who was in a car with her father when security forces at a checkpoint opened fire.

The assault on Latakia began on Saturday, when tanks and armoured personnel carriers rolled into al-Ramel amid intense gunfire. Five people were reportedly killed in the offensive. 

'Pursuing gunmen'

State-run news agency SANA said troops were pursuing "gunmen using machine guns, hand grenades and bombs who have been terrorising residents in al-Ramel district".

The agency denied reports the area was being targeted from the sea. It quoted a health official in Latakia as saying two law enforcement officials were killed.

Elsewhere in the country, NOHRS said two people had been killed in Homs, one in Hama and one in Idlib.

Around the capital, Damascus, "security forces entered Saqba and Hamriya in great numbers and launched a campaign of arrests," according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Canada said on Saturday that it had expanded sanctions on Syria to protest against the government's brutal crackdown on demonstrations.

The new sanctions include travel bans on four officials and freezing the assets of the state-run Commercial Bank of Syria, and Syriatel, the country's largest mobile phone company.

The US imposed sanctions on the two firms earlier in the week, and has joined European allies in sanctioning top officials close to President Bashar al-Assad.

'Violence must end'

Canada's sanctions came after US President Barack Obama spoke with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UK and all three called for an immediate end to the Syrian government's crackdown on protests.

Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah "expressed their shared, deep concerns about the Syrian government's use of violence against its citizens," the White House said in a statement.

"They agreed that the Syrian regime's brutal campaign of violence against the Syrian people must end immediately, and to continue close consultations about the situation in the days ahead."

Similar language was used in a statement after a separate Obama conversation with David Cameron, the British prime minister.

Tens of thousands of people rallied in cities across the country on Friday in protest against the government and at least 17 people were reported killed.

The protests have grown dramatically over the past five months, driven in part by anger over the government's bloody crackdown in which rights groups say at least 2,000 civilians have been killed across the country.

The government has justified its crackdown by saying it is dealing with terrorist gangs and criminals who are fomenting unrest.

A Latakia resident speaking to Al Jazeera on Saturday rejected the government's claims. "There are no armed gangs here," he said. "We have been demonstrating peacefully for the last three months."

Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists since the five-month-old uprising against Assad began, making it difficult to verify reports from both sides

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/08/201181475734965763.html

Sanctioned Murder

Muzzammill Hassan of Bridges TV beheads his wife. He claimed that he was being beaten by her and fought back, killing her in self defense. According to reports, the victim Aasiya Zufir, was on the phone with her sister in Cape Town, South Africa. Her sister reported hearing Aasiya struggling. Muzzammill apparently came in while Aasiya was on the phone. Aasiya said they could talk about the divorce later. It would appear that she was strangled, at the very least this was likely just part of what killed her.

It is not exactly easy to saw through a neck. It is not necessarily a quick slash of a knife. Paqrticularly if the two involved are fighting. Is it possible that Muzzammill took a knife and, in one wild swing, sliced Aasiya's throat? Yes, but it is highly unlikely.

Several years ago I found on liveleaks.com a video of a couple being stoned to death. It was clearly a cell phone video. It showed a young man and a girl each being wrapped in white sheets, and, yes, they fought and cried. The two were each buried up to their waists. The members of their society, I am loathe to call them people, threw stones at the two. After the two victims collapsed in the clearly blood soaked sheets, the stones continued. What was the crime? They were alleged to be in love and planned to elope.
I recently posted about a man (only by gender, because no real man would do this) who machine gunned his six daughters in his bedroom. Why? Because one of his two sons claimed that two of the girls had boyfriends.
Why? Why is it that a man can claim he committed these heinous crimes, or worse (gang rape prior to being murdered is one such example happening now), in the thinly veiled excuse of honor?
Honor, to hold in regard or treat with respect is how Webster's Dictionary defines it. These acts are nothing short of crimes against the person and humanity. Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute ofthe International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated orcondonedbya governmentora de facto authority. Murder; extermination; torture; rape; political, racial, or religious persecution and other inhumane acts reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice. Isolated inhumane acts of this nature may constitute grave infringements of human rights, or depending on the circumstances, war crimes, but may fall short of falling into the category of crimes under discussion.
Whether it be a grown woman who has realized her husband's previous marriages failed due to his behavior, a woman barely 20 trying to establish her life and well being, a woman distraught in a forced marriage, women arrested in groups for wanting freedom and equality, or the possibility that a girl seeks her own happiness murder is still murder. By claIming it was done for honor changes nothing. There is no honor in murdering a child, only selfishness. The self serving, self centered fear of the male (not man) being perceived in a different light.
These crimes are not happening just in Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Somalia, and Canada but also in the United States. I have several posts on this and will continue to post them. Those victimized need a voice and justice. Freedom of speech and Justice For All is why they tried to escape from or change their home countries.
http://m.examiner.com/exBaltimore/pm_63622/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=iLBg639L

Honor Killings

Honour killing: Father kills daughter

HYDERABAD: In yet another suspected case of honour killing, a father forced his daughter to consume pesticide for allegedly falling in love with a person of another caste in the neighbouring Mahabubnagar district.

Though it was alleged that the girl was killed for falling in love, the girl's relatives complained that she was killed as her father and stepmother does not want to bear the burden of performing her marriage.

The incident took place in Vatvarlapally village on the Hyderabad-Srisailam road late Monday night. The 16-year-old girl, Padma, recently completed her SSC.

Her father D Mallaiah was an agriculturalist. Mallaiah was married thrice and the victim is the daughter of his first wife.

According to police, Mallaiah suspected that the girl fell in love with a boy of the same village. “We are yet to ascertain whether the girl was in love with the boy or not,” Amrabad DSP P Karunakar said. Locals, however, alleged that Mallaiah was angry that his daughter fell in love with a boy who does not belong to their caste.

On Monday night, Mallaiah and his wife Tirupatamma forced the girl to consume pesticide in the house.

She died within minutes after consuming the pesticide.

Villagers informed the matter to the girl's relatives who in turn called the police on Tuesday morning.

“The girl's relatives complained that she was killed by her parents as they felt it was a burden to perform her marriage,'' Karunakar said.

Police registered a case and investigations are on

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/honour-killing-father-kills-daughter/174452-60-121.html

Ariz. Honor Killing: Police Worried Family Members Might Have Tried to Attack Daughter Again

In 2009, 20-year-old Noor Al-Maleki was killed after her father, Faleh Al-Maleki, ran her over with his car in Peoria, Ariz. She suffered multiple injuries and went into a coma. She was taken off life support and died less than two weeks later.

Prosecutors said it was an honor killing, because the Iraqi-born young woman who immigrated to the United States had become “too Westernized” and brought shame to the family for eschewing traditional Iraqi values — shunning an arranged marriage and instead living with a boyfriend and his parents.

In February, Faleh was found not guilty of murder in the first degree, but was convicted of murder in the second degree. He is currently serving a 34 1/2 year sentence.

Now, audio records obtained by Fox News show that police believed Noor would be attacked again by family members, even as she lay unconscious in a hospital bed.

In one tape, Peoria police detective Bill Laing refuses to tell Noor’s mother, Seham Al-Maleki, where her daughter was until her father — who at first fled to the United Kingdom before being extradited back — was found. Laing tells Seham that her husband ran over Noor and her friend Amal Khalaf:

“I want to see my daughter!” Seham Al-Maleki screams on the tape.

“Until he [Noor’s father] is located, we are not mentioning where she is at,” responds Laing, who told the mother that witnesses in the parking lot identified her husband as the driver.

“This woman, she is lying, because she is dirty,” Seham says, referring to Noor’s friend Khalaf, who survived being hit by Al-Maleki’s jeep.

“You are a sick person,” Laing snaps.

Mohamed El-Sharkawy of the Arizona Muslim Police Advisory Board told Fox News that authorities worried another family member might try to attack Noor again to be sure she was dead.

“They were afraid that, because he did not succeed, that somebody else, his son or a relative, will go and finish her off,” El-Sharkawy said.

Faleh Al-Maleki was convicted of second-degree murder for his daughter's killing. (Fox News)

Although Faleh was convicted of second-degree murder, because he was acquitted of first-degree murder, prosecutor Laura Reckart told Fox in an interview that she felt she had ultimately “failed” Noor.

“I’m not going to say I respect their verdict,” Reckart said.

During the trial, she played recorded prison phone calls of Faleh talking with his wife, discussing how “an Iraqi without honor is nothing” and even though he was in jail, Noor “is comfortable now” in her grave.

Still, Judge Roland Steinle told Fox he believed it was wrong to classify Noor’s murder as an honor killing:

“I think it sensationalizes what is nothing more than a parent killing a child,” he said.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/ariz-honor-killing-police-worried-family-members-might-have-tried-to-attack-daughter-again/

Rape and Mutilation

"Honor Killings" are only part of the issue. Another part of the issue is that these violent acts appear to be more common now in the United States. Whether that is true or just my perception really does not matter. What matters is the silence from Womens Rights groups here. Why have these groups not demanded that our government stop paying the governments where these acts are practiced with impunity?

Rape, mutilation: Pakistan`s tribal justice for women

MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - On April 14, two men entered Asma Firdous' home, cut off six of her fingers, slashed her arms and lips and then sliced off her nose. Before leaving the house, the men locked their 28-year-old victim inside.
Asma, from impoverished Kohaur Junobi village in Pakistan's south, was mutilated because her husband was involved in a dispute with his relatives, and they wanted revenge.
Her fate is familiar in parts of Pakistan's remote and feudal agricultural belts, where women are often used as bargaining chips in family feuds, and where the level of violence they face is increasing in frequency and brutality.
At the hospital in nearby Multan town, Asma's shocked parents sat quietly by her bedside and struggled to explain what the future holds for their now disfigured daughter.
"I don't know what will happen to her when she leaves here," Asma's father, Ghulam Mustafa, said, in a dilapidated ward heavy with the smell of antiseptic and blood, where other women, doused with acid or kerosene by relatives or fellow villagers, awaiting an equally uncertain future.
Asked if Asma will return to her husband, her father remains silent.
Pakistan is the world's third-most dangerous country for women, after Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, based on a survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation (http://link.reuters.com/jet92s)
In its 2010 report, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says almost 800 women were victims of "honour killings" -- murders aimed at preserving the honour of male relatives -- and 2,900 women reported raped -- almost eight a day.
The bulk, or almost 2,600, were raped in Punjab alone, Pakistan's most populous province.
And the numbers are rising: media reports say crimes against women have risen 18 percent in the year to May and the human rights commission believes its figures represent only a fraction of the attacks which take place across the country.
Dr. Farzana Bari, director of Gender Studies at Quaid-e-Azam University, says Pakistan's patriarchal society often condones discrimination against women, which is more prevalent among poor and uneducated rural families.
That mindset can often influence the police and judiciary, which sometimes turn a blind eye to honour killings or rapes carried out to "punish" women.
"I think honour killings are a symptom of vigilante justice," she said. "And vigilante justice occurs in an environment where the state is unable to enforce its writ."

TRIBAL JUSTICE
In rural areas, women are often shut out of the justice system, which is compromised by powerful landowners and feudal lords who dominate a hierarchy that makes it difficult -- and deadly -- for those with little education or social standing to speak out.
Families or tribes then often take justice in their own hands, presiding over "jirgas" or "panchayats" -- gatherings of elders that hand down punishments that include rape, killing or barter of women for crimes that include falling in love with a man deemed inappropriate or besmirching family honour.
Some women are maimed just to settle scores.
Members of the panchayat systems say the tradition is hard to shake because it is entrenched in the local culture and also because it is much more efficient than the regular courts.
"In the settled areas there are courts but people can't always get justice or compensation," said lawyer and tribal elder Karim Masoud, who presides over both panchayat settlements and the mainstream court system.
"With the jirgas, they can get compensation, and it takes less time to settle a dispute. It's fairer and people don't have to use bribes to get justice."
Zarmuhamad Afridi, who also attends jirga rulings in Pakistan's northern tribal belt and works within the mainstream court system, said the jirga system survives because in many parts of Pakistan, a man's honour is intrinsically linked to how his wife or daughter behave.
"If a couple is not married and they are having a relationship, a jirga may rule that the woman should be shot," Afridi said. "That is okay for many, because they have to protect family honour."
The slightest transgression by a woman -- being seen talking to a man on the street, perhaps, or having an unknown phone number in a mobile -- can bring harsh punishment and social ostracism of the family, he says, making the quick, harsh judgment of the panchayats popular.
"Women are cherished here," he said. "Men protect them. If a woman is out of her house then what is she doing? That is what people think here."
Many women are unable to speak out because they lack the support and education to understand their rights, activists say.
But even those who dare often get nowhere.
The most high profile instance of a violent ruling by a tribal court against a woman is that of the gang rape of Mukhtaran Mai, which took place near Multan in 2002.
Mai was allegedly attacked to settle a matter of village honor, as decided by a panchayat. She was then paraded naked through her village.
Unlike most rape victims, who face stark recriminations for speaking out, and who are sometimes even expected to commit suicide, she filed a criminal case against 14 men.
Six men were convicted and sentenced to death that year, but in 2005 the Lahore High Court commuted one sentence to life in prison and acquitted the rest.
Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld that decision in April this year, in what rights activists said was a crushing blow to women's and minority rights in Pakistan.
The men were released days later. Mai said she is afraid they will return and kill her.
Ali Dayan Hasan, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch's South Asia division, said the lack of justice for women in cases like such as Mai's is "a structural failing of the criminal justice system".
"The verdict also lays bare the misogyny of Pakistan's judicial system because it is a judiciary that is instinctively unsympathetic to women."
(Editing by Chris Allbritton and Miral Fahmy)

Torture Camp In Zimbabwe

Witnesses told the BBC that it is Zimbabwe's police and military that run the torture camps.
Robert Mugabe, the country's president, has not responded to this report. Whie it is simgle source reporting, it falls within the realm of very likely as the regime is quite corrupt and violent.

8 August 2011 Last updated at 01:40 ET

Marange diamond field: Zimbabwe torture camp discovered

By Hilary Andersson BBC Panorama

A torture camp run by Zimbabwe's security forces is operating in the country's rich Marange diamond fields, BBC Panorama has found.

The programme heard from recent victims who told of severe beatings and sexual assault.

The claims come as the European Union pushes to let some banned diamonds from the country led by President Robert Mugabe back onto world markets.

The Zimbabwean government has not responded to the BBC's findings.

In an internal document seen by the BBC, the EU said it was confident that two mines in the area now meet international standards and it wants diamonds from those areas to be immediately approved for export, which would partially lift a trade ban dating back to 2009.

The ban was imposed by the Kimberley Process (KP), the international organisation that polices diamonds, following reports of large-scale killings and abuse by Zimbabwe's security forces in the Marange diamond fields.

'Forty whips'

The main torture camp uncovered by the programme is known locally as "Diamond Base". Witnesses said it is a remote collection of military tents, with an outdoor razor wire enclosure where the prisoners are kept.

It is near an area known as Zengeni in Marange, said to be one of the world's most significant diamond fields. The camp is about one mile from the main Mbada mine that the EU wants to approve exports from.

The company that runs the mine is headed by a personal friend of President Mugabe. A second camp is located in nearby Muchena

"It is the place of torture where sometimes miners are unable to walk on account of the beatings," a victim who was released from the main camp in February told the BBC.

All the released prisoners the BBC spoke to requested anonymity.

"They beat us 40 whips in the morning, 40 in the afternoon and 40 in the evening," said the man, who still could not use one of his arms after the beatings and could barely walk.

"They used logs to beat me here, under my feet, as I lay on the ground. They also used stones to beat my ankles."

“They would handcuff the prisoner, they would unleash the dogs so that he can bite”

End Quote Former paramilitary police on torture techniques used

He and other former captives said men are held in the camp for several days at a time, before new prisoners come in.

Women are released more quickly, often after being raped, witnesses said.

"Even if someone dies there, the soldiers do not disclose, because they do not want it known," an officer in Zimbabwe's military told the BBC, again on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses said the camps have been operating for at least three years.

In Marange, the police and military recruit civilians to illegally dig for diamonds for them. Those workers are taken to the camps for punishment if they demand too large a share of the profits.

Civilians caught mining for themselves are also punished in the camps.

Dog maulings

A former member of a paramilitary police unit who worked in the main camp in late 2008 told the BBC that at the time he tortured prisoners by mock-drowning them and whipping them on their genitals.

He also said that dogs were methodically ordered by a handler to maul prisoners.

"They would handcuff the prisoner, they would unleash the dogs so that he can bite," he said. "There was a lot of screaming".

He said one woman was bitten on the breast by the dogs whilst he was working in the camp.

"I do not think she survived," he said.

Another witness the BBC spoke to said he was locked up in Muchena camp in 2008 after police set dogs on him.

He was recaptured in November 2010.

"Nothing has changed between 2008 and 2010... a lot of people are still being beaten or bitten by dogs."
'Pandering'

Marange diamonds were banned in 2009 by the KP, the international initiative of the diamond industry, national governments and non-governmental organisations that attempts to keep conflict or so-called "blood" diamonds out of the lucrative market.

Representatives of the KP visited the area briefly in August 2010 and concluded that the situation in the diamond areas was still problematic but there had been significant progress.

The KP had previously requested that the Zimbabwean police secure the diamond area.

Witnesses told the BBC that it is Zimbabwe's police and military that run the torture camps.

Nick Westcott, spokesman for the Working Group on Monitoring of the KP, said of the BBC's discovery of the torture camps: "It is not something that has been notified to the Kimberley Process."

The EU's proposal to allow diamond sales from two key mines in Marange to resume is part of an attempt to broker a deal within the KP, which is in turmoil over the issue.

Find out more

Hilary Andersson presents Panorama: Mugabe's Blood Diamonds
BBC One, Monday, 8 August at 20:30 BST

In June, KP chairman Matieu Yamba formally announced that the export ban on the two key Marange mines was lifted with immediate effect. The EU, among others, did not accept his decision.

Now the EU's proposal, designed to break the deadlock, agrees with the partial lifting of the ban, but insists that international monitoring should continue throughout Marange.

Panorama asked the Foreign Office to comment on the EU's position.

In a statement, Henry Bellingham MP, Minister for Africa, said: "It is only from these locations that we support exports, subject to ongoing monitoring. From all other Marange mines, the UK and the EU continue to strongly oppose the resumption of exports until independent, international experts deem them to comply with the KP."

Critics have said it is a weak proposal.

Annie Dunneback of the advocacy group Global Witness said of the EU proposal: "It is the latest in a series of deals that have cast aside the principle of exports for progress and pandered to the demands of the Zimbabwean government."

Panorama: Mugabe's Blood Diamonds, BBC One, Monday, 8 August at 20:30 BST, then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14377215

North Korea Disarming The World

Meanwhile, the UN wants to have Kim Jung-il as the head of disarmament.

Joint Statement of NGOs Against North Korea’s
Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament

The undersigned coalition of human rights and non-governmental organizations strongly protest North Korea’s presidency of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), for the reasons described below.  We call on all CD Member States to register their protest, as Canada has already done.  We also call on North Korea to hand over its presidency to a more suitable country.

1.   North Korea is a Gross Violator of Disarmament Principles and Flouts UN Security Council Decisions

The North Korean regime has no credibility on disarmament. Few if any countries pose a greater nuclear threat to the world than North Korea. The rogue regime, led by the unstable dictator Kim Jong-il, possesses an estimated dozen nuclear weapons combined with a record of hostile actions and threats to its neighbors and the world at large.  Moreover, as reported by a UN panel last year, North Korea has defied UN sanctions and used front companies to export nuclear and missile technology to the repressive regimes in Iran, Syria and Burma.

Just last week, the IAEA found that North Korea’s nuclear program remains a matter of “serious concern,” noting reports about the construction of a new uranium enrichment facility and a light water reactor.

Even for a short period, the symbolism of an international outlaw heading “the undisputed home of international arms control efforts”—as the CD was recently described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon—is terribly wrong. 

We further note: 

• On July 15, 2006, ten days after North Korea test launched a series of missiles, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1695 requiring all UN member states to “prevent the transfer of missile and missile-related items, materials, goods and technology to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s missile or weapons of mass destruction programs, as well as procurement of such items and technology from that country.” The resolution further cited North Korea for having “endangered civil aviation and shipping through its failure to provide adequate advance notice.”

• On October 7, 2006, three years after it withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. In response, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1718, finding North Korea’s actions to constitute “a clear threat to international peace and security,” barring a range of military goods from entering or leaving North Korea, and imposing an asset freeze and travel ban on persons related to the nuclear-weapon program.

• In April 2009, North Korea violated this resolution with another rocket launch. The President of the Security Council issued a statement condemning North Korea, and demanded that it cease conducting further launches.

• In May 2009, North Korea conducted another nuclear test, detonating a bomb comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1874, finding that North Korea’s clear threat to international peace and security “continues to exist,” and sharpening the import-export ban of weapons to North Korea by calling on all states to inspect, seize and dispose of military items and deny fuel or supplies to vessels carrying them.

• Two months ago, U.S. Navy warships intercepted a North Korean vessel carrying missiles to Burma and turned it around.

North Korea has allowed millions of its own people to literally starve to death in order to pursue its illicit nuclear-weapons arsenal. North Korea is currently facing another famine. Yet history shows that aid may not even help. An estimated two million people were killed by famine in the 1990s, while Kim Jong-il and his regime kept foreign aid for themselves. 

2.  North Korea is a Gross Violator of Human Rights

As one of the world’s worst violators of human rights, North Korea should not be granted the symbolic legitimacy of chairing a world body dedicated to peace.

The United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council have repeatedly condemned North Korea for its massive violations of human rights. Resolution 65/225 (2010), the UNGA’s most recent condemnation of North Korea, found, inter alia, the following gross violations: 

• Systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;
• Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention;
• The absence of due process and the rule of law,  including fair trial guarantees and an independent judiciary;
• The imposition of the death penalty for political and religious reasons;
• Collective punishments;
• The existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labour;
• All-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, the right to privacy and equal access to information, by such means as the persecution of individuals exercising their freedom of opinion and expression, and their families, and on the right of everyone to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, of his or her country;
• The violations of economic, social and cultural rights, which have led to severe malnutrition, widespread health problems and other hardship for the population in North Korea, in particular for persons in exposed groups such as women, children and the elderly;
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution or forced marriage and the subjection of women to human smuggling, forced abortions, gender-based discrimination, including in the economic sphere, and gender-based violence; and
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, in particular the continued lack of access to basic economic, social and cultural rights for many children. 

Ramadan Begins

On The First Day of Ramadan I beat people in the town square!

While the UN dallies and Obama dithers, the violence against the people of Syria by their own dictator escalates. This is how Obama handled Iran in 2009.

The Syrian crackdown in Hama elicited appalled condemnations on Monday from the European Union and President Obama, who called the violence there “horrifying.”
Tanks in Tahrir Square, really? I suppose that this is nothing new. We have come to expect this sort of thing from “peaceful” leadership changes, despotic regimes, and the like. Where is the horror and disgust, the outrage that we, the United States, showed for nearly the same thing at Tiananmen Square? The lack of emotion, outrage, and action is appalling! The current administration has bowed to the leaders that are committing
While the previous seven years of unstable relations with the Syrian leadership have given the United States cause to stand off, the administration has not made a clear statement about its policies of engagement in the Middle East. For instance, in Iran during the crackdowns against the people in Tehran Obama held back. Obama called for “mutual respect” between the leadership of our two countries. He wanted to have the face of respect from a country that was beating, shooting, and raping its own citizens for complaining about harsh treatment. The State Department wanted lawmakers to believe that Obama found Syria’s relationship with Iran troubling. Still, the Obama Administration gives Syria legitimacy, in spite of apparent troubling close relations with Iran, a nation with which Obama seems to approach warmly. Did he really think no one would be watching?
After months of elected officials urging Obama to do something, like recall political officials, urge the UN to talk about sanctions, throw a shoe at Syria, anything. Obama acts, not against Syrian President Assad, but an asset freeze and a ban on business dealings with the U.S. – on three senior Syrian regime officials – Assad’s brother, Mahir; the president’s cousin, Atif Najib; and his intelligence chief Ali Mamluk .
How many more have to die before Syria meets the same quick, stalwart, decisive actions (16 months of dithering) end that Osama had? What has to happen to elevate the situation high enough for Obama to take control and give operations to NATO? Oh, yes, there is a closed door session going on at the UN building. Obama has to wait for the international peace organization (whose membership includes Syria) to figure out if they are going to write a strongly worded condemnation.


But, hey, don't take my word for it. Check it out on You Tube!!

Religious Intolerance

It was January 14^th, 2011 when Obama declared the 16^th to be Religious Freedom Day.

“My Administration continues to defend the cause of religious freedom in the United States and around the world … human right and to foster tolerance and peace with those whose beliefs differ from our own … The United States stands with those who advocate for free religious expression and works to protect the rights of all people to follow their conscience, free from persecution and discrimination.” In this proclamation Obama asserts that he, as President will support religious freedom and seek to prevent persecution of those who practice different beliefs. It all sounds nice; however, what does he mean by “seek”? To me, it means to look for. IT does not provide for finding or actively protecting that right.

Coptic Christians are being murdered in Egypt, this being the new regime of the Muslim Brotherhood, I would say expect more of that. Girls are being taken, raped, and put into forced marriages. In one most horrific attack a toddler was sexually attacked in view of her parents to force their conversion. That child is likely physically crippled for life. She and her family are reported to be living in Canada now seeking asylum.

Obama had nothing to say at Easter; he did, though, have great and grand things to say yesterday about the coming Ramadan. Now, Obama misses an opportunity to comment on a gathering of national leaders from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Morocco, Sudan and Jordan, representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Egyptian political establishment elements, as well as Hezbollah, and Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations coming together to talk. Aren’t some of these listed as terrorist groups or terror supporting entities? Where is the outrage? Obama must have had a speech written for this occasion. What will come from the White House regarding the slaughter of Syrians by their own government as the peaceful Ramadan comes along?

I do not believe that he will say anything. Even if he did, he would do much less.

Dalits ask govt to stop forced conversions

Zaib Azkaar HussainWednesday, July 27, 2011


Representatives of the Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network (PDSN), who held at a meeting at the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Centre, demanded of the government to take notice of alleged abduction of Dalit girls and then their forced conversion to Islam.

They expressed serious concern over alleged social and economic discrimination against scheduled castes arguing that well-organised and conscious attempts were being made to reduce the share of schedule castes in the overall population of Pakistan in the house counting and the coming census.

The representatives further alleged forced labour, abduction of Dalit girls, and forced conversions of religion and illegal occupation of religious places of minorities.

Dr Sono Khangharani of the Thardeep Rural Development Programme, Karamat Ali and Zulfiqar Shah of the Pakistan Institute of PILER, Malji Meghwar, Avinash Hari of the Upgrade Minorities for Integrated Development (UMID), Ramesh Jaipal, chairman of the Scheduled Caste Rights Movement Pakistan, and other representatives of the PDSN made speeches.

They expressed their concern over exclusion policies against scheduled caste population everywhere in Pakistan and demanded of the government to provide protection to Dalits and allot government land to landless peasants of the low-caste monitories. A large number of Dalit families are working on lands of big landlords, where they face torture and bonded labour.

The representatives of scheduled caste communities said that the share of Dalits in employment, educational scholarships, national resources, development schemes and in the parliament was inadequate and it should be enhanced according to their proportion in the population.

They noted that primary schools in many areas in Tharparkar district had been either closed or they were not functioning. Besides there were no health facilities in localities of Dalits, they added.

They decried that political parties were providing assembly tickets for the reserved seats of minorities to only upper caste Hindus, whereas actually the scheduled caste population was much more than the upper caste Hindus in Pakistan.

They feared that in the forthcoming census, the population ratio of Dalits among the minorities would further be reduced as many scheduled caste people could include themselves in “Hindus” categories, whereas a separate category of “scheduled caste” was also included in the religion column. They underlined the need to create awareness among Dalit families about getting them registered in the census as “scheduled caste.”

The speakers complained that influential people and landlords in rural areas abducted girls of poor Dalits and then marry them off, forcibly converting them to Islam.

“The parents of girls are not allowed to meet their daughters even in the case of conversion,” a member of the Dalit community complained. Moreover, he said that in many cases Dalit girls were forced to beg or become prostitutes, exploited and abused.

He demanded of the government to stop forcible conversations of Dalit girls.

Members of the Dalit community from Karachi complained that religious places of minorities in the city, particularly in Keamari and Clifton areas, were forcibly occupied by land grabbers and at many places they were not allowed to use the worship places.

They also complained that police were reluctant to register a case of murder of a Katchi Dalit community member. Moreover, in rural areas of Sindh and southern Punjab the graveyards of Dalits had been occupied by land mafias and housing schemes had been initiated at the land of graveyards, the speakers concluded.

Egypt hosts terror convention with Hamas, Hezbollah, more

Posted Jul 28 2011 20:21 CEST More from Israel Blogs - elderofziyon.blogspot.com More Bin Ladin, Egypt, Iran, Israel Palestine Conflict, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey - Go to post elderofziyon.blogspot.com - Comments (0)

From the ITIC:
On July 24-25 Egypt hosted a conference called the “Founding Conference of the Arab-Islamic Gathering to Support the Option of Resistance” [i.e., terrorism] to support the so-called “resistance” (i.e., terrorism and violence). It was held at the Egyptian Press Syndicate in Cairo. The Palestinian media reported that the conference was attended by representatives from 14 Islamic countries, among them Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Morocco, Sudan and Jordan. Also present were representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Egyptian political establishment elements. In addition, there were representatives from Hezbollah, and Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations. The Hezbollah representative gave a speech in the name of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Qudspress and Ma’an News Agency, July 24, 2011).

The conference attendees attempted to establish a link between the so-called “resistance” (i.e., the path of terrorism) and the popular protests in the Arab countries in recent months, stressing that the “resistance” was the only option for “liberating” Palestine. Osama Hamdan, responsible for Hamas’ international relations, said in a speech that “the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict will never end unless Israel ceased to exist,” and that Hamas would never recognize Israel (Al-Quds TV, July 24, 2011).

Syria: Over 100 killed as Ramadan starts

Syria Kills 145 on Ramadan Eve Amid International Condemnation

 Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) — Syrian soldiers sought to reassert control over a restive nation yesterday, killing 145 people in one of the deadliest bouts of violence since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began four months ago, Al Jazeera reported.

The army took action the day before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer. Tanks shelled Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, where at least 113 people were killed, the Qatari-based network said, citing the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

The regime “has been very frightened by Ramadan’s onset,” Joshua Landis, a Syria specialist who directs the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, said in a telephone interview.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “deeply concerned” by the reports of killings in Syria, his office said in a statement yesterday. The U.S., France, Turkey and the U.K. joined Ban in condemning the violence.

Activists, analysts and refugees have said they expect the uprising to intensify during the holy month. More than 1,950 protesters have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-March, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Damascus- based Arab Organization for Human Rights, and Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

Challenge to Assad

The unrest poses the biggest challenge to Assad’s rule since he inherited power from his father, Hafez al-Assad, 11 years ago.

“The unfolding crackdown is going to fuel people’s anger more, there is no doubt about it,” Landis said. “Clearly the regime believes they have got to use more force and they have to get on top of this before it expands into more towns and gets beyond the capabilities of the security forces to be in all places at all times.”

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was “appalled” by the Syrian government’s “use of violence and brutality against its own people.” He said the reports out of Hama “demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime,” adding that Assad has “shown he is completely incapable and unwilling to respond to the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people.”

Syria will be a “better place when a democratic transition goes forward,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. “In the days ahead, the United States will continue to increase our pressure on the Syrian regime, and work with others around the world to isolate the Assad government.”

French, Turkish Condemnations

France condemned the Syrian military repression and said the violence would lead to further instability, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Turkey said the events on the eve of Ramadan saddened the Islamic world and raised doubts over Assad’s commitment to a peaceful solution to the protesters’ demands. Ersat Hurmuzlu, an adviser to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, told Al Jazeera that his government was “shocked and disappointed,” calling the military action “part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

“The operations will not only make no contribution to securing public order, they also have an extremely negative impact on the process of necessary reform,” the Foreign Ministry in Ankara said in an e-mailed statement. “The events raise questions over the Syrian administration’s goodwill and sincerity in the search for a peaceful resolution.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “appalled” by the assault. “Assad is mistaken if he believes that oppression and military force will end the crisis,” he said.

Previous Uprising

Hama, in western Syria, was the site of a 1982 uprising that the current president’s father crushed, leaving about 10,000 people dead, according to Human Rights Watch.

The city has been controlled largely by protesters for about the past month, Merhi said. Footage broadcast yesterday by Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera showed columns of black smoke billowing from the city. Gunfire and people screaming could be heard.

Al Jazeera, citing activists, said security forces opened fire on civilians next to a mosque in Daraa, killing three. Abdul-Karim Rihawi of the Syrian Human Rights League said at least 10 people were killed in Deir al-Zour, in northeastern Syria -- the same city where Syrian state television said an army colonel and two other soldiers were slain by armed men.

The unrest is likely to increase pressure on the country's economy, Chris Phillips, a London-based analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said in a telephone interview. Growth is expected to slow to 3 percent this year from 3.2 percent in 2010, the International Monetary Fund said in April. The Institute of International Finance says the economy may contract 3 percent this year.

No Tourists

The tourism industry, which accounts for about 10 percent of gross national product, is slumping, with virtually zero hotel-occupancy rates in Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo, Phillips said.

In Syria, as in other mostly Islamic countries, extended family and community groups typically gather to break the daily Ramadan fast after sunset, and people attend the mosque more frequently than in other months. Mosques have been rallying points for the Syrian protesters and greater attendance may help organizers get more people on the streets, Phillips said.

Calls for Democracy

Inspired by the overthrow of leaders in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year, demonstrators are calling for democracy and increased civil rights in the country, which has been ruled by the Assad family for four decades. Syria has been a key opponent of U.S. and Israeli policy in the Middle East and a power-broker in neighboring Lebanon.

Assad has blamed the protests on foreign-inspired plots, while conceding that some demonstrators have legitimate demands and pledging political changes.

The government last week approved laws that allow new political parties to exist alongside Assad's Baath Party, which has been in power since 1963, and the establishment of a commission to regulate parliamentary elections. Those moves and earlier steps toward change have failed to mollify protesters.

--With assistance from Nayla Razzouk in Amman, Alaa Shahine and Zahra Hankir in Dubai, Tara Patel in Paris, Steve Bryant in Ankara and Katarzyna Klimasinska, Mike Dorning, Flavia Krause- Jackson and Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid in Washington. Editors: Leslie Hoffecker, Daniel Enoch