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This week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed legislation which among other things, allows Afghan men to starve their wives if they refuse to have sex with them. The measure was an amendment to a law which have husbands the right to force themselves on their wives, if they did not consent. Some NATO countries have threatened to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan as a result of the measure. Speaking to British newspaper The Independent, women's rights activist Wazhma Frough said that hard line clerics pressured the Justice Ministry to retain the most outrageous parts of the original legislation. She said: "There have been a few little changes, but they are not enough. For example, if the wife doesn't accept her husband's sexual requirements then he can deny her food." Afghanistan's Muslim law now allows rapists to go free if they offer to marry their victims. The same practice actually exists in Mexico and is known as ‘Rapto.’ The new law has touched-off riots in the streets of Kabul, as hundreds of women protested the law which would be unthinkable in a civilized society. However, groups of men from Kabul’s largest Shia madrassa also took to the streets and attacked the women. The event has been completely ignored by the American press. Activist Razia Jan, who is currently building a women's center in Bamiyan said: "Violence against women is already endemic. Men pay thousands of dollars for young girls and they are treated like slaves. Women here are already so vulnerable." Of course, government sanctioned violence against women is nothing new throughout the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia recently revised their rape laws (of sorts). Now, in order for a woman to prove that she was raped, she must have three men testify as witnesses to the crime. Until recently, a female rape victim was required to bring four male witnesses to court. Of course, under such conditions, the crime of rape is almost never prosecuted in Saudi Arabia. In fact, it is often the woman who ends up in jail and charged with adultery or indecency charges. In 2007 the victim of a brutal gang rape was given a sentence of 200 lashes and six years in prison for having been in an unrelated man’s car at the time of the attack. After the case garnered major world media attention she was pardoned by King Abdullah, though he claimed the sentence to be fair. A few years ago, a book entitled "The Islamic Woman" was published which detailed beating techniques to be imposed on Muslim women--at the hands of their controlling husbands. The book's author is a Muslim Imam named Mohamed Kamal Mostafa, currently living in Spain. "The Islamic Woman" instructs men to hit women "on their hands and feet, making sure to use a cudgel that is not too thick so as not to leave permanent scar tissue." Mostafa also warns his fellow Muslims to "inflict blows that are not too strong nor too hard, because the aim is to make them suffer psychologically." Murder is also inflicted upon Muslim women by their husbands, fathers, and brothers. The practice is called "honor killings." A Muslim woman or young girl will often be killed by a male family member, after she is believed to have committed an act which defies Islam. In 2003, a Jordanian man was sentenced to one year in prison, for the murder of his own sister. The young woman became pregnant as a result of being raped by a neighbor. Her family then decided that she must marry the rapist. Before the forced marriage could take place, word of the pregnancy spread throughout the community. The woman's brother returned from a trip to slurs and jeers, calling him the "brother of a slut." According to the Jordan Times, the man was so angry with his sister over the fact that she had been raped and impregnated--he slipped into her room at night and strangled her with a telephone cord. The Jordanian paper published excerpts of the court's rulings. They are as follows: "The victim's actions were an unlawful and dangerous act that brought disgrace and shame to her family. He (the brother) could no longer control himself and became very angry. It does not matter that the defendant killed his sister hours after returning from Aqaba. He was still under the influence of extreme anger, which caused him to lose his ability because of the unlawful act committed by his sister." *Reporter’s note: It is a travesty beyond imagination that we have sent our young men to fight and die in a country which has established a government that condones rape and a medieval type of oppression against their women. It is also a travesty that American women’s rights groups such as NOW (National Organization for Women) spend their resources lobbying for the continuation of late-term abortions, rather than bringing attention to the plight of their counterparts throughout the Muslim world. In my opinion, we should pull-out our troops and all forms of support to Muslim countries which condone such brutality upon women. The entire Western world lined-up against the government of South Africa and imposed harsh economic sanctions against that nation, until they ended the practice of Apartheid. Are not the lives of mothers and daughters at least as important?
Comments
How come are you working as a reporter? You have no idea what you are talking about in certain aspects. Did you go to college? A good one? If you went, it must have been a party-college. One of those full of drugs and beer. In Mexico "rapto" is the same as "to elope" or "elopement." What you are saying is like "It also exists in the United States and it's called "elopement". No sir. It might exist in many countries, including the U.S., but because there is a word for it, it doesn't mean it's legal.
The Muslims, like their Mohammed, is a wacked out pig. These idiots -- especially the Imams -- created these hell hole countries so they should not be allowed out. Instead of caging them all in their flea infested countries our stupid government takes our tax dollars at gun point and finances Muslim pigs to come to America and get an education which teaches them how to terrorize western culture in general and America in particular.
If I understand correctly, half the country does not care about this story, because it was the Conservatives who started the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Left wing talking points trump feminism, I believe, from straining to understand the Left's priorities over the years. Clinton vs. Lewinski, and then the Press vs. Palin, are further lesser examples.
In the final analysis, the various cultures around the world have their own social practices and standards. This certainly isn't new -- and no one in their right mind rationally believes it to be incumbent on the United States to force all these various cultures to abandon their social mores and adopt the Western European model.
For mr stupid Ed. You son of the bitch mind your language when you talk about muslims and especially about our profit. You son of a bitch.
I really wonder, who is bringing out such news about Islam. I guess it is widely and openly said in may places that Do Not Mix Muslims and Islam.
Surely Muslim is a person who follows Islam. But if he is contaminated with evil then it has nothing to do with Islam. It is same as you fetch fresh water in a glass and mix it with mud and complain that Oh! all fresh water is muddy.
Moreover, everyone should see his/her own-self to find and amend faults inside. Even if you are Mr. or Miss Perfect (like an Angel), you are not allowed ethically that you point out fingers on others.
Finally, Look at yourself and your surrounding and then see what other places.
Dave you stupid idiot mother facker. Funny how you work for low budget internet "biased" news site. You are scum of the earth and may a pig that you are give you a new form of swine flu that only infects you and people like you.
BASTARD
muslims get your act together so the rest of the sane world doesnt have to wipe you`s off the face of the earth. leave the women alone and get an education please.
Of the various comments here, only Jim's and Susan Fox-Bailey's were worth reading. Most of the others were rants at Dave Gibson for daring to criticise Muslim cultures at all.
As for Mike's comment, he does bring up a worthwhile point, albeit badly. It has always been true that "the various cultures around the world have their own social practices and standards." It has also always been true that cultures try to influence others.
What Mike fails to notice is that refusing to provide economic, military and other forms of support to a foreign culture isn't the same thing as forcing said culture to adopt your own.
More importantly, in the final analysis, is the truth that the cultures that gives us westerners so much pause are those that wouldn't even have flush toilets if it weren't for the influence of the West. And no one in his right mind rationally believes it to be incumbent on us westerners to support people whose values are diametrically opposed to our own.
Wouldn't it be great if all our military efforts were to arm all the abused women in those countries so they could defend themselves and their human rights? Let's see how brave those cowardly abusers would be then!
Oh my f*cking god. What the hell is wrong with u people?? To get all bent outta shape at this man over him merely informing others of how f*cked up these people are being!! They are! If u are from there or feel bad about what's being said about their actions, then get ur ass over there. Yeah, go on. And when ur little girl is all grown up and that kind of sh*it happens to her, then u have the right to bitch about it. Meanwhile u are HERE where our government will kill you by electric chair, gas or lethal injection if you act that way. SO go for it, I beg you. The less freakin twisted people we have here, the better. I understand the vast differences of cultures, but give me a break. LEGAL RAPE? Making it ok to just starve your wife because she doesn't want you? Wow
Quote (The same practice actually exists in Mexico and is known as ‘Rapto.’)
WOW, get your head out of your ass, and inform yourself, typical stupid american news reporter dave gibson, have you actually ever been to mexico???, rapto hahahahah, where did you get this information???, a tribu leader in the sierra???, sorry to disapoint you but those things you said about mexico are lies, get a book about laws here in mexico, read it , THEN talk.
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