Tuesday, July 23, 2013

11-Year-Old Yemeni Girl Nada Al-Ahdal Flees Home to Avoid Forced Marriag...

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Norwegian woman: I was raped in Dubai, now I face prison sentence


By Nicola Goulding and Phil O'Sullivan, CNN
July 21, 2013 -- Updated 0327 GMT (1127 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Marte Deborah Dalelv says she was sentenced to prison in Dubai after reporting she was raped
  • The Norwegian alleges she was attacked by a colleague after a night out on work trip
  • Norway's foreign minister tells UAE her conviction "is contrary to fundamental human rights"
  • Dubai police and UAE authorities have not responded to CNN's requests for comment
Dubai (CNN) -- Norwegian interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv has spoken out after being handed a 16-month prison sentence in Dubai -- after she went to police to report she had been raped by a colleague.
The 24-year-old was convicted and sentenced on charges of having unlawful sex, making a false statement and illegal consumption of alcohol.
This family handout photo taken in Abu Dhabi in May 2013 shows Norwegian businesswoman Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24. A Dubai court has sentenced her to 16 months in prison for extramarital sex after she reported being raped, according to news reports from the United Arab Emirates.
This family handout photo taken in Abu Dhabi in May 2013 shows Norwegian businesswoman Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24. A Dubai court has sentenced her to 16 months in prison for extramarital sex after she reported being raped, according to news reports from the United Arab Emirates.
Her story is dominating the headlines in Norway, and has raised serious questions over the way women who allege sexual assault are treated in the United Arab Emirates.
Dalelv, who had been working at an interior design firm in Qatar since September 2011, told CNN on Saturday how a work trip to Dubai in March with three colleagues turned into a nightmare.
She said she had been out at a bar with her colleagues and friends, and asked a male colleague to walk her to her room when they returned at 3 a.m. to the hotel. She'd asked him to escort her because the hotel was large and confusing, and she didn't want to be wandering on her own, knowing she'd been drinking, she said.
When they reached a room, she realized it wasn't hers -- but the man then pulled her inside despite her vocal objections, according to Dalelv.
"He dragged me by my purse in, so I thought, 'OK, I just need to calm the situation down. I will finish my bottle of water, I will sit here and then I will excuse myself and say I feel fine,'" she said.
That was pretty much the last thing she said she remembers before the alleged sexual assault. "I woke up with my clothes off, sleeping on my belly, and he was raping me. I tried to get off, I tried to get him off, but he pushed me back down."
After someone knocked -- the hotel wake-up call -- she managed to get dressed and make it downstairs to the hotel reception, Dalelv said. "I called the police. That is what you do. We are trained on that from when we are very young," she said.
Some 10 or 12 male police officers arrived, but no female police officers were present, she said. Statements were taken from both Dalelv and the alleged rapist.
She was then taken to Bur Dubai police station, she said.
After again giving her version of events to officers, Dalelv said, "They asked me, 'Are you sure you called the police because you just didn't like it?' I said, 'Well of course I didn't like it.' That is when I knew, I don't think they are going to believe me at all."
Dalelv says she was taken for an intimate medical exam and tested for alcohol consumption. Her belongings were taken and she was kept in jail for four days, she said, with no explanation as to why.
Dubai police and UAE government officials have not responded to repeated CNN requests for comment.
Dalelv said she managed to call her parents on the third day to tell them she had been raped and ask them to contact the Norwegian Embassy. A day later, a representative from the Norwegian consulate came to the police station and she was released -- but her passport was not returned.
A piece of paper with Arabic text was handed to her, she said. An Arabic speaker told her it listed two charges against her: one for sex outside of marriage and the other for public consumption of alcohol. Both are violations of the law in the United Arab Emirates.
It was the first time she was made aware that she faced charges, Dalelv said.
She was allowed out on bail and has been staying since at the Norwegian Seaman's Center in Dubai.
Subsequently, she said her manager advised her to tell the police it was voluntary sexual intercourse and likely the whole issue would just go away. She followed the advice and in one of the many hearings at the public prosecutor's office, she made a statement saying it was voluntary.
Dalelv was then charged with making a false statement.
"That was my biggest regret because it wasn't voluntary. I just thought it would all go away," she told CNN.
But a representative of Al Mana Interiors, who Dalelv worked for, told CNN that she was not advised by her manager to say the sex was consensual but rather by a police officer, who told her that in Arabic and it was translated into English by her manager.
Dalelv said a month after the rape, while forced to stay in Dubai as the case wound through the legal system, she was fired.
The representative, who declined to be publicly identified, said Dalelv and the Sudanese man she accused -- who is married with three children -- have both been terminated by Al Mana Interiors for "drinking alcohol at a staff conference that resulted in trouble with the police."
A statement released late Saturday by Al Mana Interiors spokesman Hani El Korek said the company was sympathetic to Dalelv "during this very difficult situation." It also said that company representatives were by her side through the initial investigation, spending "days at both the police station and the prosecutor's office to help win her release."
"Only when Ms. Dalelv declined to have positive and constructive discussions about her employment status, and ceased communication with her employer, was the company forced to end our relationship with her," the statement said.
"The decision had nothing to do with the rape allegation, and unfortunately neither Ms. Dalelv nor her attorneys have chosen to contact the company to discuss her employment status."
The company is owned by Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, who made headlines earlier this year after it was revealed that he has secretly married singer Janet Jackson in 2012.
Dalelv was convicted Tuesday on all three charges and was sentenced to one year in jail for having unlawful sex, three months in jail for making a false statement and one month for illegal consumption of alcohol.
CNN could not immediately confirm what happened to the alleged perpetrator, who was charged with public intoxication and having sex outside of marriage.
Dalelv is scheduled to appear at the court on September 5 to begin the appeal proceedings. Dalelv, who is not allowed to leave the UAE pending the appeal, said her lawyers have instructed her to be prepared to go back into jail while they submit a request for bail while the appeal is ongoing.
As a rule, CNN does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Dalelv went public with her story.
Facebook page has been set up calling for Dalelv's release, as well as a petition urging the Norwegian government to take action on her behalf.
Her conviction may risk wider diplomatic repercussions.
Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide called his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, on Friday night to protest Dalelv's sentencing, a statement from the Norwegian ministry said.
"I emphasized that we believe that the conviction is contrary to fundamental human rights, including conventions that the UAE have officially ratified," Eide is quoted as saying.
"Norway will continue to do what we can to support her in what is a very difficult situation. Our cooperation with the UAE is strong and good, but I conveyed to my colleague that we are worried that this difficult case may disturb our good relations if we do not reach a good solution in the near future."
Dalelv told CNN she received a call from Eide on Friday reiterating Norway's support.
While Dubai has a reputation as cosmopolitan city that boasts Western influences, where visitors can drink at bars and restaurants and unmarried couples can share hotel rooms, the country adheres to Islamic laws and traditions.
The United Arab Emirates has been heavily criticized by rights groups, which say it condones sexual violence against women. Human Rights Watch has called its record "shameful," saying it must change the way it handles such cases.
In December 2012, a British woman reported being raped by three men in Dubai. She was found guilty of drinking alcohol without a license and fined.
In January 2010, a British woman told authorities she was raped by an employee at a Dubai hotel. She was charged with public intoxication and having sex outside of marriage.
An Australian woman reported in 2008 that she was drugged and gang-raped. She was convicted of having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol, and she was sentenced to 11 months in prison.
CNN's Chelsea J. Carter, Laura Smith-Spark, Bharati Naik, Phil O'Sullivan and Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Taliban to Malala Yousafzai: we regret the shooting but you should join a madrassa

 Malala Yousafzai at the United Nation in New York
Malala Yousafzai at the United Nation in New York Photo: AP
Peshawar, Pakistan: A senior Pakistani Taliban commander has written to Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist shot by militants, accusing her of "smearing" them and urging her to return home and join a madrassa.
Gunmen from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan shot Malala, now 16, in the head in her home town in Swat, in the country's northwest, where she campaigned for the right of girls to go to school, last October.
'I advise you to come back home, adopt the Islamic and Pashtun culture' wrote the Taliban member 
Malala made a powerful speech to the UN on Friday in her first public appearance since the attack which almost killed her, vowing to continue her struggle for education and not be silenced by the militants.
In an open letter released on Wednesday, Adnan Rasheed, a former air force member turned TTP cadre, said he personally wished the attack had not happened, but accused her of running a "smearing campaign" against the militants.
"It is amazing that you are shouting for education, you and the UNO (UN) is pretending that you were shot due to education, although this is not the reason ... not the education but your propaganda was the issue," Mr Rasheed wrote.
"What you are doing now, you are using your tongue on the behest of the others."
The letter, written in English, was sent to reporters in northwest Pakistan and its authenticity confirmed to AFP by a senior Taliban cadre who is a close associate of Mr Rasheed.
He accused Malala of seeking to promote an education system begun by the British colonialists to produce "Asians in blood but English in taste" and said students should study Islam and not what it called the "satanic or secular curriculum".
"I advise you to come back home, adopt the Islamic and Pashtun culture, join any female Islamic madrassa near your home town, study and learn the book of Allah, use your pen for Islam and plight of Muslim ummah (community)," Mr Rasheed wrote.
He said he had originally wanted to write to Malala to warn her against criticising the Taliban when she rose to prominence with a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling life under the militants' 2007-9 rule in Swat.
Mr Rasheed was sentenced to death over a 2003 attack on Pakistan's then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf but escaped from custody in a mass jailbreak in April last year.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/taliban-to-malala-yousafzai-we-regret-the-shooting-but-you-should-join-a-madrassa-20130718-2q59v.html#ixzz2ZLZvaTbV

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Teen sisters shot dead over dancing in the rain video


The sisters were filmed dancing in the rain before being shot dead in an apparent 'honour' killing. The sisters were filmed dancing in the rain before being shot dead in an apparent 'honour' killing.
Two teenage girls have been shot dead in an apparent honour killing in Pakistan after a video was circulated showing them dancing in the rain.

The girls, aged 15 and 16, are seen running around wearing traditional dress, covered in green and purple headscarves, outside their stone bungalow in the town of Chilas, in the far north of the country.

Local media named them as Noor Basra and Noor Sheza, the daughters of a retired police officer. According to Dawn newspaper, five masked men barged into their house and opened fire last Sunday. Their mother was also killed.

The report said police believed that the crime was motivated by a video clip circulated on mobile telephones. The short film, shot six months ago, shows the girls smiling and laughing as they run around their home, breaking into a dance.

An initial investigation, quoted by Dawn, suggested that the girls' stepbrother, named as Khutore, considered the video an "assault on the honour of his family" and carried out the attack. Officers are also examining whether a property dispute or an audio clip - in which the girls are apparently heard talking to an unknown man - might be a motive.

Human rights activist Atiya Jehan was quoted by Yahoo7 as saying "the video of the sisters breaking into dance and flashing a smile at the camera became a big issue in Chillas area."

Five women and two men were reportedly killed in the same region following footage of them singing and dancing together at a wedding, the UK Telegraph reported.

The alleged killer is believed to still be on the run.

Honour killings in Pakistan are carried out to restore honour the the family name, following an action by a family member that causes the name to be shamed in some way.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani girl who was falsely accused of burning a religious text has fled to Canada, according to her supporters.

Rimsha Masih, a Christian believed to be 14, was jailed for several weeks last year after witnesses claimed she had set fire to an Islamic book. The blasphemy case was dropped when it emerged that she had been framed.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/teen-sisters-shot-dead-over-dancing-in-the-rain-video-20130701-2p66o.html#ixzz2YPLMPB24

Terrorists kill 41 children in school attack

Nigeria confirmed terrorists had massacred at least 41 children and a teacher at a boarding school in the country's insurgent-plagued north-east.

Gunmen thought to be loyal to the al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram movement descended on the government secondary school in Mamudo on Saturday, spraying it with bullets and using petrol to burn some pupils alive.

At the regional morgue, Musa Hassan, 15, recalled the horror of listening to the death cries of his fellow pupils.

''We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me,'' he said. He put his arm up in instinctive self-defence, and suffered a gunshot that blew off all four fingers on his right hand.

He said the gunmen came armed with jerry cans that they used to torch the school's administrative block and one of the hostels.

''They burned the children alive,'' he said, horror in his eyes.

Survivors were taken to a clinic a few kilometres away where they were under army guard.
Hundreds more children from the 1200-student school were unaccounted for, having escaped into the bush.

Malam Abdullahi, a farmer and father of two victims, declared he would withdraw his three remaining sons from a nearby school.
He complained there was no additional security for students despite the deployment of thousands of troops since May.
One of Mr Abdullahi's sons, a 10-year-old, was shot in the back as he tried to run away, while his 12-year-old brother was shot in the chest. ''It's not safe,'' he said. ''The gunmen are attacking schools and there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers.''

Mamudo lies just a few kilometres from Maiduguri, the town known as the birthplace of Boko Haram, often referred to as the Nigerian Taliban.

The name of the group, which was established there 11 years ago, translates as a call to ban Western education. It has sought to retaliate against government offensives by attacking government-run schools.

It maintains Western-style education is at the root of corruption and criminality in Nigeria, having lured people away from following Islamic teaching as a way of life.

Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qaqa declared the attacks on schools would escalate as long as government soldiers involved in the assault targeted Koranic schools.

In one incident last month, soldiers had beaten pupils with canes. ''When you attack Koran schools, you totally destroy Western schools,'' Abu Qaqa's message said.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has declared Boko Haram a threat to Nigeria's integrity and sought Western support for an offensive to crush the group.

He imposed a state of emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, saying Boko Haram had turned whole regions into no-go zones for security forces.

Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has killed about 3600 people since 2009, including killings by security forces.

An estimated 10,000 pupils have been forced out of state schooling by hit-and-run attacks, which have intensified since the start of the seven-week-old military offensive.
Telegraph, London; AFP