| JEDDAH, 14 September 2006 — The head of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has asked the US State Department to treat humanely a Saudi citizen in Colorado who was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison for abusing his maid. NSHR President Bandar Al-Hajjar met Erica Barks-Ruggles, deputy assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor at the US State Department, in Riyadh on Tuesday. According to the NSHR, Homaidan Al-Turki, 37, was forced to shave his beard in prison and his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, who pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was transferred to immigration officials on Sept. 1 for deportation, was allegedly forced to remove her hijab while in custody. "The NSHR will focus on the inhuman treatment Al-Turki faces in prison," said Al-Hajjar. Al-Hajjar requested that Al-Turki be treated according to the international laws and treaties. He said: "Ramadan is approaching and Al-Turki will be fasting during the holy month. As a diabetic, the inmate will also require special dietary needs." Al-Hajjar also said he hoped Al-Turki would be allowed courtyard access and an adequate room. Al-Turki was found guilty in June of 12 counts of forced sexual contact with his Indonesian maid, theft of the maid's $150-a-month wages that were never paid, and false imprisonment and conspiracy to imprison her. The Saudi public has viewed the verdict as harsh, says Al-Hajjar, with many suspecting that Al-Turki's nationality and religion played a key factor in the sentence. Last week, federal prosecutors filed a motion to drop their charges, citing "outstanding work" by prosecutors in Arapahoe County, Colorado, where the charges were filed. The federal prosecutors also said they didn't want to subject the maid, whose identity is being concealed because of the sexual nature of the charges, to further testimony on the bench. "We sincerely hope that the authorities in America will abide by the international laws of human rights," said Al-Hajjar. The United States' treatment of prisoners has been under global scrutiny due to the shirking of the Geneva Conventions regarding the detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, many of whom have been denied or given limited access to legal counsel. The NSHR took the opportunity to address the treatment of Guantanamo detainees at the meeting. "They are being treated inhumanely which violates human rights treaties and laws," Al-Hajjar said he told Barks-Ruggles. The NSHR reiterated its call for US officials to charge the Guantanamo detainees and bring them to trial in civil courts. "The detainees' continued presence in the American detention distorts the image of American justice and human rights in front of the Saudi public," said Al-Hajjar. | 
15 comments:
offtopic:
Gujurat con men crowd Interpol site
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1992632.cms
Nowadays I notice such headlines with emphasis on 'Gujurat' or 'Gujurati' (like the Navratri festival unwanted pregnancies)i.e. taking some negative issue...looking for Gujjus in it and publisicing that aspect. Looks like a subtle but dedicated campaign by the P-Secs to defame the Gujurati community. I dont get this, why is no one talking about this abuse ?
Someone please do something. Because the Gujjus fought back the Godhra terrorists, they are having to pay the price for it ? This is just wrong and tomorrow it could be any community's turn.
p.s. No I am not a Gujurati
san,
a factor that this otherwise excellent analysis missed with respect to the timing of this agreement is the Opium "Bumper Harvest" in Afghanistan this year ( article here), which will enable funding for the recreation of the Taliban.
Notice how the opium-free or opium-restrained portions of the country are in the East or the North i.e. where the Pakis do not have a free hand. Opium is bankroller for the new "Emirate of Waziristan" - smashing which is hard - you have to deny the this trade and it's benefits. BTW - This is the reason why Dawood Ibrahim is of Strategic Value to the ISI - because he has assets and routes for trading this Opium.
Overall, here is a way to beat this move
1- Regime change in Pakistan - the Zia-ul-Haq way
2- Curtailment of the drug trade - harder to achieve - one way could be a "scorched earth" policy with respect to Opium Fields? wonder if there is some "magic spray" that can destroy opium crop but leave people unharmed?
One of the things I have noticed is that there are lots of Gujaratis who have jumped on to the internet to counter the media dishonesty.
May the Indian media keep targeting one community after another - the more eyes are opened the better
Notice that after cronulla riots lots of Aussies jumped onto the net. After the Mo cartoons lots of Danes jumped onto the internet. Most of such groups also go into "activist mode" to counter the media
Here is an good article from Australia
The Muslim Problem and What to Do about It - John Stone
LOL
Its the Christists vs. Islamists folks.Watch the Pope burn in effigy - thanks to the Indian Ummah - second photograph in the collection
" The derogatory remarks of the Pope about the philosophy of jihad and Prophet Muhammad have injured sentiments across the Muslim world and pose the danger of spreading acrimony among the religions.
HAMID ANSARI, CHAIRMAN OF INDIA'S MINORITY COMMISSION
The moment we have all been waiting for. Now let us see whose side the Communists take - perhaps Islamists in Bengal and Christists in Kerala?
Virat,
Thanks for replying. Haha but I didnt understand a word beyond "You are right. if the Jehadis have their way, then every body will go through it." You are basically saying secularism by definition is pseudo and there is no such thing as pseudo-sec ?? What is meant by secularism in negation ?
"Many hindus who shouldn't have this baggage of old days don't understand this. "
I dont know about this. I dont mean to berate Hindus but sometimes I do feel the way of living of general Hindu public is quite ethicaless, I mean not like cheating and stuff but generally they dont want to take charge and really look at things and take a stand, everything is like chalta hai. We dont notice injustice (done to ourselves, if injustice is done to other religions we are first to make a noise) or just ignore it. So, I feel that this (Gujrati defamation by TOI) is a case of harassment & ill-will, with or without past baggage. But does the editor and staff of TOI not understand that ? This attitude of chalta hai (& watching from the sidelines, secretly happy that ok at least I or my people are not being targetted) has eroded our ethics & courage to stick to it. In short, the actions & attitudes of certain people (who happen to be PSec) I find are illogical & unjust & unpatriotic, and we dont need to be Hindu loving or RSS-BJP loving to understand that...a normally intelligent person should find something wrong in headlines like these 'Gujurat con men crowd Interpol site' and should find something wrong with people who dont see anything wrong in it.
Chitrakut,
Thanks for replying.
"The Toilet paper has been committed several media crimes."
Thats so true. Generally & specifically speaking, TOI is very unethical newspaper.
"It will be a good idea to document this cheap behavior in one place and spread the word around. Like the Spindian express blog, We could make a "Toilet paper of India" Blog, and document all media crimes emanating from the toiletpaper."
That sounds like a great idea. I do my bit and write on my blog @ TOI (or any other newspaper) as and when I see something weird.
Sage,
Thanks for replying.
"I believe such crappy journalism will die natural death."
I hope so too, before it succeeds in brainwashing more people haha
"I wonder if it is purely anti-Modi campaign and that once Modi is gone they will tone it down."
Thats a scary thought @ anti-Modi. I mean will these spineless Hindus target other Hindus because they 'dared' to defend themselves. Not surprising but so very shameful. In their mind, Islamic or British rule is still on. Pathetic.
I am currently reading “Terrorist Hunter” by Anonymous, which to quote from the front cover of the book, is the extraordinary story of a woman who went undercover to infiltrate the radical Islamic groups operating in US. Its IMO a great and fascinating read and provides insight into how the US federal agencies repeatedly ignored or mishandled the info she provided. One realizes, after reading her account, as to why FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation, the foremost law-enforcement agency in the world, is sometimes mockingly referred to by the local cops as “Famous But Incompetent”, and from the excerpt I quote, the disease of minority appeasement is not limited to the Indian government, agencies in US govt. are/were also inflicted with this lethal sickness.
“Robert G Wright was an FBI agent in Chicago. His work led to the seizure in ’98 of $1.7 million in the bank a/cs of Muhammad Salah, a used-car salesman cum Hamas operative she (Anonymous) had met at the IAP conference in Chicago. Wright’s superb ’98 affidavit on Salah showed that he’d recruited terrorists and funded terrorism…..
So how, you may wonder, did the FBI reward Wright for his excellent work? By suspending him from the investigation on harassment allegations, how else?
In the course of his work on Salah and a Saudi businessman Yassin Qadi, Wright became associated with a fellow FBI agent, a Muslim by the name of Gamal Abdel Hafiz. Hafiz maintained a close relationship with BMI’s (Beit Maal Investment, an New Jersey company thru which Qadi funneled money to Hamas) accountant, who at the time was seeking to get a job as translator with the FBI.
Wright, who was aware of attempts by Hamas members to penetrate the FBI, asked Hafiz to wear a wire to a meeting with BMI’s president, who at the time was under grand jury investigation. Hafiz refused. When Wright brought up the subject with his superiors, Hafiz was again asked to wear the wire. Again he refused to allow the conversation to be recorded in nay form unless the man he met was notified of the recording. He said he didn’t trust the FBI to protect him, irrespective of the fact that Hafiz was an FBI agent. More important, Hafiz said, “A Muslim does not record another Muslim”. It turned out that Hafiz had declined to do similar undercover work in the past.
Wright complained about the incident: he reasoned that he, a Catholic, never took religious consideration into account when he investigated terrorism. Hafiz in turn filed a complaint against Wright, alleging harassment based on religious and ethnic discrimination. Instead of closely examining where Hafiz’s loyalty lay, the FBI suspended Wright from the investigation. Hafiz, meanwhile, was promoted by the FBI. He now serves as the FBI liaison to….Saudi Arabia.
After 9-11, when Yassin Qadi was designated, it had nothing to do with the FBI’s investigation; ever since Wright was suspended, not one bit of progress was made by the FBI on investigation. Salah is still free in Chicago, where he works as a human rights activist. Qadi continues to claim that he was never involved with terrorism. Had Qadi been designated when Wright filed his affidavit in ’97, maybe he and other rich Saudi businessman would have thought twice before giving money to terrorist organizations.
And Wright? Oh, yes, his suspension was terminated a little over a year after 9-11. But he was also prohibited from having any contact with the BMI & Qadi investigation. He doesn’t have access to his own files from when he on the case…..”
Also, among the numerous rallies the author attended, there was one that took place in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, shortly after second intifada began in the summer of 2000, where “Khaibar, Khaibar” was repeatedly chanted. Again, quoting from the same text:
“…To an outsider, this chant, ‘Khaibar, Khaibar, Ya Yahud, Jaish Muhammad Safayood”, sounded perhaps like a cheerful freedom song. Many journalists told me that this was what they thought they were hearing. But its meaning is somewhat different:”Khaibar, Khaibar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad is coming for you.” This song originated in the tale from the days of the Prophet Muhammad. As part of his campaign to conquer the Arabian peninsula, Muhammad laid siege to the city of Khaibar, which was inhabited by the Jews. After losing several battles to the city’s powerful army, Muhammad decided to try a new tactic. He sent emissaries to Khaibar’s leaders with a message of peace. As soon as a peace treaty was signed and the gates of the city were opened, Jaish Muhammad, Muhammad’s army, stormed the city and butchered every last one of the inhabitants. “Khaibar, Khaibar” means “Let’s trick the Jews into making peace, and when they accept our offer, let’s go ahead and kill them”.
Regarding what the Pope said about Islam, I am sure most of you have noticed the falling over of Indian media people to project that Pope only quoted someone else, didn't say something himself. They are writing about it soooo carefully....
I wonder whether the BJP is thinking about exploiting this. If the BJP had any imagination, this single incidence could be used to drive a wedge between the seculars. I doublt BJP would be smart enough to do that. (Most likely, they will come up with a criticism or Pope, and then criticism of Muslims when they protest against Pope). Let use see.
In January 2004, BJP thinktank came up with this crazy idea about wooing Muslims for the elections. They sent the team to Pak, they admitted many Muslims to the party fold (most of whom have not contributed anything later), and they tried to appear 'more liberal than congress'. That did not help much.
Perhaps, now is the time for BJP to support Muslims in a bid to expose Sonia. She will definitely not be able to support Muslims in opposing Pope. They must not speak in two voices. They must take one of the two sides (Sonia and her followers on one hand, and Muslim fundamentalists on the other) and force the other side to commit. Let us wait and watch.
@lazysusan,
Kudos on thinking of taking it to the Toilet of India - of course amongst the glaring shortcomings in this 'paper' is the fact that you can purchase news space - yes NEWS SPACE - not ads but news space .. look at this wikipedia entry for the TOI
Also the amazing story written by Sucheta Dalal (a former TOI edit provider herself - where she exposed the securities scam) - which shows up the TOI for what is really is; a gang of thieves
I don't understand why selling NEWS SPACE (openly) is a bad thing. Hindu groups could use the space in a useful way. That is far better than having staffers that indirectly work for the Pope, or for Pakistan, China, or Russia. And it is definitely better than selling the whole newspaper to aggressive ideologies.
I also wish to draw the attention of posters to the title of this blog "A Hindu nationalist perspective". If we criticise anything and everything that we don't like here, it would only dilute the message and hurt Hindus. (Yes, and don't ask me why I criticise BJP - my purpose is to get people to force BJP to really do something for the Hindus).
Shahryar, what the Pope really said is not all that relevant when we discuss Indian media. Check how they reported what Advani said in Pakistan. Had they quoted the context, Advani would not have had to face such ugly music.
My point is simple. Democracy has certain set rules. Media are mere tools. It is true that the Catholics, Marxists, and Sunnis use the media very well, very skillfully, BJP and its clan does not. That's all.
Post a Comment