Senate Member
Posts: 6,500 
November 21st, 2006, 07:45 AM
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD136206
So now they are turning on each other from within???
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD136206
Quote:
Special Dispatch Series - No. 1362November 21, 2006No.1362
The following are excerpts from Haddad's blog entry: [1]
"Arab Public Opinion... Has Found, in Antisemitism, the Perfect Catalyst For All Its Narcissistic Wounds and Social, Economic, and Political Frustrations"
"The young Iranian president's deliberately outrageous, mortifying, and extremist [statements] aiming at Holocaust denial have provoked stupor and indignation everywhere in the world, with the quite symptomatic exception of the Islamic countries... This deafening silence cannot be explained solely by the fear of suffering from terrorist attacks, as in the heyday of Khomeinist obscurantism. It is also explained by the necessity of getting along with Arab public opinion, which, after years of galvanization by the most reactionary forms of nationalist casuistry and Islamist dogmatism, has found in antisemitism the perfect catalyst for all its narcissistic wounds and social, economic, and political frustrations.
"It must be admitted that some Koranic verses, intentionally isolated from their historical context, have contributed even more to the anchoring of antisemitic stereotypes in Arab-Muslim mentalities. Incidentally, one could say the same about the New Testament, certain passages of which served, in the distant past and the not-so-distant past, to give a theological patina to the most abominable of anti-Jewish persecutions. The Church had to carry out its own 'aggiornamento'... in order to deprive Christian extremists of any evangelical legitimacy.
"All this is to say that the petrifaction of Arab-Muslim mentalities is not at all irremediable - provided that Islamic thinkers show intellectual audacity. Since they cannot purge the Koran of its potentially antisemitic dross, they must closely examine this corpus with hermeneutical reasoning...
"If the West's indignation [at Ahmadinejad's statements] is perfectly understandable and justified, their stupor shows, on the other hand, a certain credulity in their very conception of the Iranian regime. Those who were surprised by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's heinous stigmatizations are the very same people who - distinguishing between the regime and the people who comprise it, and swallowing the fable that there are 'moderate' Islamists and 'extremist' Islamists - have long believed in the normalization of the Islamic Republic [of Iran] and in its ineluctable democratization. As Jesus said [John 20:29], 'Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed'...
"It is true that this rehabilitation of the fundamentalist Iranian regime was possible only following the irruption, on September 11, 2001, of a new, mutant form of the most extreme kind of Islamism: Al-Qaeda and its macabre cortege of candidates for martyrdom... Bin Laden's triumph, his true miracle, consists in not only having given a civilized appearance to hideous theocracies, but also in having given a human, or even humanist, face to neo-fascist movements who aspire to power: Hamas in Palestine... Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and their alter egos everywhere in the Arab world...
"Like amnesiacs, no one wanted anymore to remember on what ideological substratum this Shiite theocracy rested... What was forgotten was that Islamism - this theocratic, fundamentally totalitarian, and clearly antisemitic ideology -... is doctrinally inalterable. Following the most unexpected geopolitical paths, giving in to the demands of realpolitik, Islamism can demonstrate a great degree of pragmatism in its relations with Western powers. Nonetheless, it will not renounce its strategic objectives: in domestic policy, an obsolete shari'a on all of its subjects; and in foreign policy, hegemonic expansion, international proselytizing, and the eradication of 'the Zionist tumor.' Semantic changes within ideological continuity - that is the essence of Islamist Machiavellianism..."
"One Cannot Reform A Theocracy; One Must Throw It Back Into The Wastebasket Of History"
"It is because people for so long believed in the illusion of an Islamism one can live with... that they had recourse to every possible and imaginable ratiocination in order to make sense of the Iranian president's fundamentally antisemitic diatribes. In this anatomy of anathema, every analytical tool was employed... [but] one has to go back to the original purity of the Khomeini's doctrine in order to understand the congenital antisemitism of the current Iranian president...
"On August 30, 1979, Khomeini declared at Qom: 'Those who demand democracy want to drag the country into corruption and ruin. They are worse than the Jews. They should be hanged. They are not men...' In his pamphlet 'Political, Philosophical, Social, and Religious Principles,' he reproduced all of the stereotypes propounded by Islamist rhetoric...: 'The Jews, may God lay them low, have manipulated the editions of the Koran... These Jews and their supporters have a project to destroy Islam and to establish a Jewish world government.' Whence this categorical imperative: 'Israel, this cancerous tumor, must disappear, and the Jews must be damned and fought until the end of time.'
"But in the meantime, Ayatollah Khomeini could beg Israel for arms and military assistance in order to resist the Iraqi invasion. We can thus easily guess from whom Rafsanjani, Khatami, and the other emblematic figures of 'enlightened Islamism' derived their cynical pragmatism! "Therefore one should stop viewing the Iranian regime with naive eyes, as some people perpetuate the myth of an opposition between 'reformists' and 'conservatives,' which, while it expresses a real - but utilitarian -political nuance, does not, however, imply a doctrinal antagonism. One cannot reform a theocracy; one must throw it back into the wastebasket of history, from which it never should have cropped up [in the first place]. "In Iran, and in general in the Muslim world, the line of demarcation does not pass between 'moderate' Islamists and 'extremist' Islamists, but rather between theocrats and democrats, between fundamentalists and secularists, between those who have reduced the Koran to a case of nauseating antisemitism and those who, having seized the spirit and put the letter in perspective, know that Jews, like Christians, are Muslims' brothers in monotheism and in humanity, and that the Muslims' God is much more tolerant than the Islamists' divinity..."
Special Dispatch Series - No. 1362November 21, 2006No.1362
Tunisian Philosopher Mezri Haddad: Islamists 'Have Reduced the Koran to a Nauseating Antisemitic Lampoon'In a blog entry, Tunisian philosopher Mezri Haddad attacked the Muslim world's tolerant attitude toward the antisemitism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; stated that there was no such thing as a moderate Islamist; and suggested that Muslims reinterpret potentially anti-Jewish Koranic passages, as the Vatican had done with similar passages in the New Testament.
The following are excerpts from Haddad's blog entry: [1]
"Arab Public Opinion... Has Found, in Antisemitism, the Perfect Catalyst For All Its Narcissistic Wounds and Social, Economic, and Political Frustrations"
"The young Iranian president's deliberately outrageous, mortifying, and extremist [statements] aiming at Holocaust denial have provoked stupor and indignation everywhere in the world, with the quite symptomatic exception of the Islamic countries... This deafening silence cannot be explained solely by the fear of suffering from terrorist attacks, as in the heyday of Khomeinist obscurantism. It is also explained by the necessity of getting along with Arab public opinion, which, after years of galvanization by the most reactionary forms of nationalist casuistry and Islamist dogmatism, has found in antisemitism the perfect catalyst for all its narcissistic wounds and social, economic, and political frustrations.
"It must be admitted that some Koranic verses, intentionally isolated from their historical context, have contributed even more to the anchoring of antisemitic stereotypes in Arab-Muslim mentalities. Incidentally, one could say the same about the New Testament, certain passages of which served, in the distant past and the not-so-distant past, to give a theological patina to the most abominable of anti-Jewish persecutions. The Church had to carry out its own 'aggiornamento'... in order to deprive Christian extremists of any evangelical legitimacy.
"All this is to say that the petrifaction of Arab-Muslim mentalities is not at all irremediable - provided that Islamic thinkers show intellectual audacity. Since they cannot purge the Koran of its potentially antisemitic dross, they must closely examine this corpus with hermeneutical reasoning...
"If the West's indignation [at Ahmadinejad's statements] is perfectly understandable and justified, their stupor shows, on the other hand, a certain credulity in their very conception of the Iranian regime. Those who were surprised by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's heinous stigmatizations are the very same people who - distinguishing between the regime and the people who comprise it, and swallowing the fable that there are 'moderate' Islamists and 'extremist' Islamists - have long believed in the normalization of the Islamic Republic [of Iran] and in its ineluctable democratization. As Jesus said [John 20:29], 'Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed'...
"It is true that this rehabilitation of the fundamentalist Iranian regime was possible only following the irruption, on September 11, 2001, of a new, mutant form of the most extreme kind of Islamism: Al-Qaeda and its macabre cortege of candidates for martyrdom... Bin Laden's triumph, his true miracle, consists in not only having given a civilized appearance to hideous theocracies, but also in having given a human, or even humanist, face to neo-fascist movements who aspire to power: Hamas in Palestine... Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and their alter egos everywhere in the Arab world...
"Like amnesiacs, no one wanted anymore to remember on what ideological substratum this Shiite theocracy rested... What was forgotten was that Islamism - this theocratic, fundamentally totalitarian, and clearly antisemitic ideology -... is doctrinally inalterable. Following the most unexpected geopolitical paths, giving in to the demands of realpolitik, Islamism can demonstrate a great degree of pragmatism in its relations with Western powers. Nonetheless, it will not renounce its strategic objectives: in domestic policy, an obsolete shari'a on all of its subjects; and in foreign policy, hegemonic expansion, international proselytizing, and the eradication of 'the Zionist tumor.' Semantic changes within ideological continuity - that is the essence of Islamist Machiavellianism..."
"One Cannot Reform A Theocracy; One Must Throw It Back Into The Wastebasket Of History"
"It is because people for so long believed in the illusion of an Islamism one can live with... that they had recourse to every possible and imaginable ratiocination in order to make sense of the Iranian president's fundamentally antisemitic diatribes. In this anatomy of anathema, every analytical tool was employed... [but] one has to go back to the original purity of the Khomeini's doctrine in order to understand the congenital antisemitism of the current Iranian president...
"On August 30, 1979, Khomeini declared at Qom: 'Those who demand democracy want to drag the country into corruption and ruin. They are worse than the Jews. They should be hanged. They are not men...' In his pamphlet 'Political, Philosophical, Social, and Religious Principles,' he reproduced all of the stereotypes propounded by Islamist rhetoric...: 'The Jews, may God lay them low, have manipulated the editions of the Koran... These Jews and their supporters have a project to destroy Islam and to establish a Jewish world government.' Whence this categorical imperative: 'Israel, this cancerous tumor, must disappear, and the Jews must be damned and fought until the end of time.'
"But in the meantime, Ayatollah Khomeini could beg Israel for arms and military assistance in order to resist the Iraqi invasion. We can thus easily guess from whom Rafsanjani, Khatami, and the other emblematic figures of 'enlightened Islamism' derived their cynical pragmatism! "Therefore one should stop viewing the Iranian regime with naive eyes, as some people perpetuate the myth of an opposition between 'reformists' and 'conservatives,' which, while it expresses a real - but utilitarian -political nuance, does not, however, imply a doctrinal antagonism. One cannot reform a theocracy; one must throw it back into the wastebasket of history, from which it never should have cropped up [in the first place]. "In Iran, and in general in the Muslim world, the line of demarcation does not pass between 'moderate' Islamists and 'extremist' Islamists, but rather between theocrats and democrats, between fundamentalists and secularists, between those who have reduced the Koran to a case of nauseating antisemitism and those who, having seized the spirit and put the letter in perspective, know that Jews, like Christians, are Muslims' brothers in monotheism and in humanity, and that the Muslims' God is much more tolerant than the Islamists' divinity..."
[1] http://rencontrejfm.blogspot.com/2006/01/lantismitisme-une-tumeur-cancreuse.html, January 31, 2006. The site on which the article appeared is the webpage of the Parisian radio broadcast "Encounters with the Muslim World."
So now they are turning on each other from within???
Senate Member
Posts: 6,500
November 21st, 2006, 11:52 AM
I assume you are addressing me - as I put up the post.
Because you have muslim friends does not make you an expert any more than I am - and I too have friends who are muslim - from Lebanon and Jordan - two families, plus many other people I know casually... but have known for years.
All express dismay - with the exception of two Jordanian sons who are militant - but remain in the U.S. for whatever reason they have - perhaps comfort and safety. They all relate to me their community are very
concerned about the fighting in the middle east - but none of their group have volunteered to serve in any military group either in the ME or US forces - or even as interpreters who are needed.
The Imams and leaders of the nations of these countries can write great epic novels about their "upsets" and voice their "upsets" but this does nothing to further peace. I don't see any action ....
It appears to me that region of our world has been fighting since the dawn of man - and I doubt that there has ever been 100% peace in the Islamic community - ever ever ever.
It is their way of life to be brought up to believe they have enemies....and now they do....
And you say I should be happy about dissenting opinions from muslims?
Too little too late. But I wish them peace and harmony in the future. Some day. If it is their will and that of Allah. I am only sorry it is my nation's young being killed for their peace and harmony.
I also wish the people of Israel peace and harmony in their future as well.
Quoting tracy
Tracy
I would think you'd be happy to see dissenting opinions from muslims.
I assume you are addressing me - as I put up the post.
Because you have muslim friends does not make you an expert any more than I am - and I too have friends who are muslim - from Lebanon and Jordan - two families, plus many other people I know casually... but have known for years.
All express dismay - with the exception of two Jordanian sons who are militant - but remain in the U.S. for whatever reason they have - perhaps comfort and safety. They all relate to me their community are very
concerned about the fighting in the middle east - but none of their group have volunteered to serve in any military group either in the ME or US forces - or even as interpreters who are needed.
The Imams and leaders of the nations of these countries can write great epic novels about their "upsets" and voice their "upsets" but this does nothing to further peace. I don't see any action ....
It appears to me that region of our world has been fighting since the dawn of man - and I doubt that there has ever been 100% peace in the Islamic community - ever ever ever.
It is their way of life to be brought up to believe they have enemies....and now they do....
And you say I should be happy about dissenting opinions from muslims?
Too little too late. But I wish them peace and harmony in the future. Some day. If it is their will and that of Allah. I am only sorry it is my nation's young being killed for their peace and harmony.
I also wish the people of Israel peace and harmony in their future as well.
House Member
Posts: 2,846
Location: California
Location: California
November 21st, 2006, 12:25 PM
You've read WAAAAAYYYYY too much into my post. I'm not accusing you of ignorance or bigotry or of hating anyone. I really don't know how my ideas come out so unclearly sometimes, but it happens. I only meant what I said: that I would think muslims speaking out against anti-semitism would meet with approval here. Many posters on here have expressed dismay that muslims aren't publically speaking out against fanaticism within their religious communities. This man is. That's something that could be seen as hopeful.
You've read WAAAAAYYYYY too much into my post. I'm not accusing you of ignorance or bigotry or of hating anyone. I really don't know how my ideas come out so unclearly sometimes, but it happens. I only meant what I said: that I would think muslims speaking out against anti-semitism would meet with approval here. Many posters on here have expressed dismay that muslims aren't publically speaking out against fanaticism within their religious communities. This man is. That's something that could be seen as hopeful.
Knows No Bounds
Posts: 2,976
November 21st, 2006, 12:50 PM
This article explains why Muslim can't speak out, other Muslims won't let them.
DISSENT CRUSHED
WHY MUSLIMS RARELY SPEAK OUT, EVEN IN U.S.
November 19, 2006 -- MUSLIMS are often accused of not speaking out sufficiently against terrorism. Nonie Darwish knows one reason why: Their fellow Muslims won't let them.
Darwish, who comes from Egypt and was born and raised a Muslim, was set to tell students at Brown University about the twisted hatred and radicalism she grew to despise in her own culture. A campus Jewish group, Hillel, had contacted her to speak there Thursday.
But the event was just called off.
Muslim students had complained that Darwish was "too controversial." They insisted she be denied a platform at Brown, and after contentious debate Hillel agreed.
Weird: No one had said boo about such Brown events as a patently anti-Israel "Palestinian Solidarity Week." But Hillel said her "offensive" statements about Islam "alarmed" the Muslim Student Association, and Hillel didn't want to upset its "beautiful relationship" with the Muslim community.
Plus, Brown's women's center backed out of co-sponsoring the event, even though it shares Darwish's concerns about the treatment of women. Reportedly, part of the problem was that Darwish had no plans to condemn Israel for shooting Arab women used by terrorists as human shields, or for insufficiently protecting Israeli Arab wives from their husbands.
In plugging their ears to Darwish, Brown's Muslim students proved her very point: Muslims who attempt constructive self-criticism are quickly and soundly squelched - by other Muslims.
"Speaking out for human rights, women's rights, equality or even peace with Israel is a taboo that can have serious consequences" in the Arab world, Darwish says. In part to drive home that point, she wrote a book, just out. Its title says it all: "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror." Darwish argues that her own community - in the Middle East and in America - is hostile to criticism, even from Muslims. After 9/11, she says, many in Egypt refused to believe that Muslims were responsible. Instead, they blamed "the Zionist conspiracy."
Here here, this article is bang on. That is one book I will be buying in the near future.
This article explains why Muslim can't speak out, other Muslims won't let them.
DISSENT CRUSHED
WHY MUSLIMS RARELY SPEAK OUT, EVEN IN U.S.
November 19, 2006 -- MUSLIMS are often accused of not speaking out sufficiently against terrorism. Nonie Darwish knows one reason why: Their fellow Muslims won't let them. Darwish, who comes from Egypt and was born and raised a Muslim, was set to tell students at Brown University about the twisted hatred and radicalism she grew to despise in her own culture. A campus Jewish group, Hillel, had contacted her to speak there Thursday.
But the event was just called off.
Muslim students had complained that Darwish was "too controversial." They insisted she be denied a platform at Brown, and after contentious debate Hillel agreed.
Weird: No one had said boo about such Brown events as a patently anti-Israel "Palestinian Solidarity Week." But Hillel said her "offensive" statements about Islam "alarmed" the Muslim Student Association, and Hillel didn't want to upset its "beautiful relationship" with the Muslim community.
Plus, Brown's women's center backed out of co-sponsoring the event, even though it shares Darwish's concerns about the treatment of women. Reportedly, part of the problem was that Darwish had no plans to condemn Israel for shooting Arab women used by terrorists as human shields, or for insufficiently protecting Israeli Arab wives from their husbands.
In plugging their ears to Darwish, Brown's Muslim students proved her very point: Muslims who attempt constructive self-criticism are quickly and soundly squelched - by other Muslims.
"Speaking out for human rights, women's rights, equality or even peace with Israel is a taboo that can have serious consequences" in the Arab world, Darwish says. In part to drive home that point, she wrote a book, just out. Its title says it all: "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror." Darwish argues that her own community - in the Middle East and in America - is hostile to criticism, even from Muslims. After 9/11, she says, many in Egypt refused to believe that Muslims were responsible. Instead, they blamed "the Zionist conspiracy."
Here here, this article is bang on. That is one book I will be buying in the near future.
November 21st, 2006, 12:57 PM
Does anyone remember Solmon Rushdi? If that's how you spell his name.
Oh, if you want to smash the bible or Torah, hop on the band wagon, but don't touch the Quran, what ever you do!
I really feel for those that are trapped in their own heads, that just want to scream atthe top of their lungs, from the highest mountian, that the fanatics are killing the innocents and driving a spike in to the heart of Islam.
Does anyone remember Solmon Rushdi? If that's how you spell his name.
Oh, if you want to smash the bible or Torah, hop on the band wagon, but don't touch the Quran, what ever you do!
I really feel for those that are trapped in their own heads, that just want to scream atthe top of their lungs, from the highest mountian, that the fanatics are killing the innocents and driving a spike in to the heart of Islam.
Senate Member
Posts: 6,500
November 21st, 2006, 01:20 PM
Many of your previous posts arguing more calm attitudes towards Islamic people lends me to believe you
feel we are all against them.
I merely answered your response - and I assume it was to me - that I also have friends who are Muslim or of the Islamic faith - and they need to learn how to walk the talk.
Whispering among the "safety of a few" isn't going to do a damn thing.
Quoting tracy
Sorry Tracy
You've read WAAAAAYYYYY too much into my post. I'm not accusing you of ignorance or bigotry or of hating anyone. I really don't know how my ideas come out so unclearly sometimes, but it happens. I only meant what I said: that I would think muslims speaking out against anti-semitism would meet with approval here. Many posters on here have expressed dismay that muslims aren't publically speaking out against fanaticism within their religious communities. This man is. That's something that could be seen as hopeful.
Many of your previous posts arguing more calm attitudes towards Islamic people lends me to believe you
feel we are all against them.
I merely answered your response - and I assume it was to me - that I also have friends who are Muslim or of the Islamic faith - and they need to learn how to walk the talk.
Whispering among the "safety of a few" isn't going to do a damn thing.
jimmoyer
Posts: 5,040
Location: Winchester Virginia
Location: Winchester Virginia
November 21st, 2006, 01:23 PM
They gotta get rid of their Public Hate School System in the Middle East.
Little kids sing Israel and America are Satan from 5 years old and up.
There's no way to stop that schooling.
We really ought to get rid of our oil dependency.
They gotta get rid of their Public Hate School System in the Middle East.
Little kids sing Israel and America are Satan from 5 years old and up.
There's no way to stop that schooling.
We really ought to get rid of our oil dependency.
House Member
Posts: 2,846
Location: California
Location: California
November 21st, 2006, 02:18 PM
.
I agree that whispering among the safety of the few isn't going to do much, but at least it's a start. And people like this man are obviously strong enough to come out publicly, so that's a good thing.
Quoting Curiosity
There is only one poster on this bb who I truly think is a biggot when it comes to muslims and I think that was pretty clear when I used to bother responding to him/her Sorry Tracy
Many of your previous posts arguing more calm attitudes towards Islamic people lends me to believe you
feel we are all against them.
I merely answered your response - and I assume it was to me - that I also have friends who are Muslim or of the Islamic faith - and they need to learn how to walk the talk.
Whispering among the "safety of a few" isn't going to do a damn thing.
Many of your previous posts arguing more calm attitudes towards Islamic people lends me to believe you
feel we are all against them.
I merely answered your response - and I assume it was to me - that I also have friends who are Muslim or of the Islamic faith - and they need to learn how to walk the talk.
Whispering among the "safety of a few" isn't going to do a damn thing.
. I agree that whispering among the safety of the few isn't going to do much, but at least it's a start. And people like this man are obviously strong enough to come out publicly, so that's a good thing.
Knows No Bounds
Posts: 2,976
November 21st, 2006, 04:14 PM
Quoting jimmoyer
I agree Jim, it would be the first step in distancing the West from Radical Islamists.
They gotta get rid of their Public Hate School System in the Middle East.
Little kids sing Israel and America are Satan from 5 years old and up.
There's no way to stop that schooling.
We really ought to get rid of our oil dependency.
Little kids sing Israel and America are Satan from 5 years old and up.
There's no way to stop that schooling.
We really ought to get rid of our oil dependency.
November 21st, 2006, 05:12 PM
Quote:
I have no idea which country it was, it was somethiung on Glen Beck, which I hardly ever watch. I t caught my eye because this was a distinct departure from the usual tripe he shovels at the camera. The video was like a talk show or something to that effect. Maybe like Arabian Tyra banks or something.
What country was this video depicting curious Muslims questioning radical orthodoxy ???
Knows No Bounds
Posts: 2,976
November 21st, 2006, 06:29 PM
This article leaves me shaking my head, so Bush sends over a legal beagle to explain why the US has convicted a criminal? Why does the US have to explain it's laws to Saudi Arabia? I've highlighted the areas that have me seeing red. The faster we can cut ties with this country the better, I'd agree to rationing Oil and Gas just to rid the West of this vile country.
Saudi Arabia: False Imprisonment, Rape Are "Basic Muslim Behaviors"
On June 30 this year, a Saudi living in Arapahoe County, Colorado, was convicted of sexual abuse against his Indonesian maid. 37-year old Homaidan al-Turki (pictured, right) was studying for a linguistics doctorate at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was found guilty of 12 felony counts of unlawful sexual contact with use of force and two misdemeanors, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. He had never paid the maid the paltry $150 per month that he had promised her when her "employment" had commenced.
For four years, he kept the 24-year old maid as a virtual slave in his home, confiscated her passport, and subjected to her to sexual assaults which culminated in her rape in late 2004. His attorney, John Richilano, had argued in court that there had been misunderstood cultural differences, which he described as "cynical Islamophobia". His wife, Sarah Khonaizan, who had obviously colluded with the maltreatment of the maid, who cooked and looked after their five children, was deported. The maid now lives in Aurora.
Al-Turki's followers and family caused havoc in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. He was sentenced on August 31. Additionally, he was given a further eight years' jail for theft, where he withheld the maid's wages. Even while being sentenced, Al-Turki, who had lived in the US for 14 years, still protested that he was "framed" by the prosecutors' Islamophobia.
"The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution," Al-Turki said to the judge. If you have read our special report on a Filipino maid who was similarly kept a prisoner in a Saudi imam's home in Riyadh, and subjected to frequent rape, then perhaps this sort of "Muslim behavior" comes naturally to Saudi Arabian men.
The Saudi press has described the case as one of Islamophobic oppression, with the US judiciary expressing their bias against Muslims. Many Saudis are convinced that Al-Turki would never have been convicted in Saudi Arabia. The experiences of Flora del Mindanao, who was even accused of theft by the imam who imprisoned and raped her, would suggest that this is true.
A US government report stated: "Foreign embassies continued to receive reports of employers abusing domestic servants. Such abuse included withholding of food, beatings and other physical abuse, and rape (see Section 5). The Government's figures for 1999 stated that 7,000 maids fled their place of employment, and the actual number presumably was higher. In 2001 the media reported additional stories of such incidents. The authorities in some cases forced such maids to return to their places of employment."
Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to work unless they have permission from a male relative, states Human Rights Watch. They are not allowed to drive, such is their second-class status. But for the imported maids, there is little redress when they are assaulted or raped by their Saudi employers.
In April 2005, a Saudi employer burned his Indonesian maid Suniati Binti Nibaran Sujari, who barely survived. When in March last year another Indonesian maid accused her employers of torture, she was placed in a hospital, a prison, and a women's rehabilitation center before being handed over to the Indonesian embassy.
Indian maids travelling to Saudi Arabia must first be registered before they leave, to avoid the potential abuse they may endure from their employers.
In April last year, Indonesian maid Nour Miyati had to have four fingers amputated. They were removed because they had developed gangrene, after she was tied up for a month by her Saudi employer. Her toes managed to remain attached to her body, even though these too had become affected.
600,000 Indonesian women are kept as "maids" in the kingdom. In 2004, it was reported that suicides had increased amongst Indonesian maids. Between January and June 2004, 32 Indonesians died, and six committed suicide in the kingdom. One maid drank detergent to end her life of misery. At that time, requests for help from maids were running at 10 a day at the Indonesian embassy and five to seven a day at each of the consulates. These were the ones who were lucky enough to be able to escape to seek help.
On Saturday in the Rocky Mountain News, the visit by Colorado Attorney, General John Struthers, to Saudi Arabia last week, paid for by the federal government, was justified.
Struthers had gone to reassure the Saudi authorities that Homaidan Al-Turki had been treated fairly. He met with King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan, as well as with Saudi journalists.
Deputy Attorney General Jason Dunn said on Friday: "There was a lot of public attention in Saudi Arabia on this case." He explained that Struthers had told the Saudis how the US judicial system works and that "in Colorado, crimes of this sort are dealt with severely. He wasn't apologizing for it, but he wanted them to understand why the result of the case was what it was."
It beggars belief that anyone should have to explain to the Saudis that imprisoning and raping a maid is illegal, and judged to be a serious crime in the United States. The necessity of such a visit only shows how barbaric, sexist and Medieval the Saudi kingdom really is.
This article leaves me shaking my head, so Bush sends over a legal beagle to explain why the US has convicted a criminal? Why does the US have to explain it's laws to Saudi Arabia? I've highlighted the areas that have me seeing red. The faster we can cut ties with this country the better, I'd agree to rationing Oil and Gas just to rid the West of this vile country.
Saudi Arabia: False Imprisonment, Rape Are "Basic Muslim Behaviors"
On June 30 this year, a Saudi living in Arapahoe County, Colorado, was convicted of sexual abuse against his Indonesian maid. 37-year old Homaidan al-Turki (pictured, right) was studying for a linguistics doctorate at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was found guilty of 12 felony counts of unlawful sexual contact with use of force and two misdemeanors, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. He had never paid the maid the paltry $150 per month that he had promised her when her "employment" had commenced.For four years, he kept the 24-year old maid as a virtual slave in his home, confiscated her passport, and subjected to her to sexual assaults which culminated in her rape in late 2004. His attorney, John Richilano, had argued in court that there had been misunderstood cultural differences, which he described as "cynical Islamophobia". His wife, Sarah Khonaizan, who had obviously colluded with the maltreatment of the maid, who cooked and looked after their five children, was deported. The maid now lives in Aurora.
Al-Turki's followers and family caused havoc in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. He was sentenced on August 31. Additionally, he was given a further eight years' jail for theft, where he withheld the maid's wages. Even while being sentenced, Al-Turki, who had lived in the US for 14 years, still protested that he was "framed" by the prosecutors' Islamophobia.
"The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution," Al-Turki said to the judge. If you have read our special report on a Filipino maid who was similarly kept a prisoner in a Saudi imam's home in Riyadh, and subjected to frequent rape, then perhaps this sort of "Muslim behavior" comes naturally to Saudi Arabian men.
The Saudi press has described the case as one of Islamophobic oppression, with the US judiciary expressing their bias against Muslims. Many Saudis are convinced that Al-Turki would never have been convicted in Saudi Arabia. The experiences of Flora del Mindanao, who was even accused of theft by the imam who imprisoned and raped her, would suggest that this is true.
A US government report stated: "Foreign embassies continued to receive reports of employers abusing domestic servants. Such abuse included withholding of food, beatings and other physical abuse, and rape (see Section 5). The Government's figures for 1999 stated that 7,000 maids fled their place of employment, and the actual number presumably was higher. In 2001 the media reported additional stories of such incidents. The authorities in some cases forced such maids to return to their places of employment."
Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to work unless they have permission from a male relative, states Human Rights Watch. They are not allowed to drive, such is their second-class status. But for the imported maids, there is little redress when they are assaulted or raped by their Saudi employers.
In April 2005, a Saudi employer burned his Indonesian maid Suniati Binti Nibaran Sujari, who barely survived. When in March last year another Indonesian maid accused her employers of torture, she was placed in a hospital, a prison, and a women's rehabilitation center before being handed over to the Indonesian embassy.
Indian maids travelling to Saudi Arabia must first be registered before they leave, to avoid the potential abuse they may endure from their employers.
In April last year, Indonesian maid Nour Miyati had to have four fingers amputated. They were removed because they had developed gangrene, after she was tied up for a month by her Saudi employer. Her toes managed to remain attached to her body, even though these too had become affected.
600,000 Indonesian women are kept as "maids" in the kingdom. In 2004, it was reported that suicides had increased amongst Indonesian maids. Between January and June 2004, 32 Indonesians died, and six committed suicide in the kingdom. One maid drank detergent to end her life of misery. At that time, requests for help from maids were running at 10 a day at the Indonesian embassy and five to seven a day at each of the consulates. These were the ones who were lucky enough to be able to escape to seek help.
On Saturday in the Rocky Mountain News, the visit by Colorado Attorney, General John Struthers, to Saudi Arabia last week, paid for by the federal government, was justified.
Struthers had gone to reassure the Saudi authorities that Homaidan Al-Turki had been treated fairly. He met with King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan, as well as with Saudi journalists.
Deputy Attorney General Jason Dunn said on Friday: "There was a lot of public attention in Saudi Arabia on this case." He explained that Struthers had told the Saudis how the US judicial system works and that "in Colorado, crimes of this sort are dealt with severely. He wasn't apologizing for it, but he wanted them to understand why the result of the case was what it was."
It beggars belief that anyone should have to explain to the Saudis that imprisoning and raping a maid is illegal, and judged to be a serious crime in the United States. The necessity of such a visit only shows how barbaric, sexist and Medieval the Saudi kingdom really is.
