Lobbying The British Government: Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar

Over the past 4 weeks, the Rohingya, a community numbering nearly 1 million in Burma's Arakan state have been under siege by local Rakhine community also living in Arakan.

The UN have described the Rohingya as 'the most persecuted community in the world' and have referenced the Rohingya as the Palestine of Asia. It is reported that the Rohingya have been living in Myanmar from as far back as the 8th Century, yet in 1962, the Burmese military junta began a programme of ethnic cleansing. Starting by denying birth certificates and citizenship to the Rohingya, right now, the community are in a perilous situation where they are being targeted because they are not of the same race and religion of the Buddhist majority Rakhine. Looking darker and closer to the South Asian race as opposed to the more oriental looking majority, and being Muslims as opposed to Buddhist, the Rohingya are being targeted by state sponsored ethnic cleansing.

In recent weeks, villages belonging to the Rohingya have been burnt to the ground, whilst refugees fleeing to other countries have been refused entry left to fend for themselves on board rickety boats on rough seas.
The Myanmerese Government refuse to accept Rohingya as citizens and as such have no rights in a country they call their motherland.

This issue is much larger than a Myanmar only problem, it is fast becoming one of the worst cases of ethnic cleansing alongside the likes of Rwanda, Bosnia and even the holocaust of the Second World War.
We urge the international community and in particular the British Government to champion this cause and settle this situation in peaceful, diplomatic and humane means.

Pls contact the UK government HERE
 

Baraka Blue - Love and Light

Evils of Arrogance

 

 

" When you see someone who is not as religious, remember that you were once on the edge of the fire, and it was Allah’s favor upon you to guide you. Arrogance will wipe away any goodness from the transformation. " Nouman Ali Khan

The forced marriage ban is welcome, but it's 20 years too late

The government's decision to criminalise forced marriage comes 20 years too late for some of us. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely welcome legislation to bring this terrible practice to an end. After all, I was a victim of it in my teenage years. This is my story.

When I was 19 I was invited on a family holiday to Bangladesh where my father, without consulting me, had organised my marriage. I have a vivid memory of those harrowing weeks, the psychological toll they took, and the severe physical impact. I was ill, I lost three stones in weight, I contracted tuberculosis for which I have had to undergo major surgery twice (the scar and occasional pain still brings back the raw feelings, even today). I would never wish this on anyone.

Forced marriage and arranged marriage are two different things. The former violates human rights, while the latter could be a source of family unity if conducted with mutual agreement. I remember when my father said to me: "I am your father, it is my duty to get you married." I knew instantly that he was wrong. He had no right to impose his choice on me. This confusion between parental responsibilities and parental will is at the core of this practice. I believe parents have the right to be consulted over their children's choice of marital partner, and that their blessings are vital to family harmony – but they have no right to choose their marital partner.

When we first arrived in Bangladesh my father tried to take my passport and plane ticket from me. To keep the peace I gave them to him, but as soon as he left his bag out of his sight I took them back. In fact, although I had not been told about the marriage I was not unprepared. I had a hunch he may attempt something like this so I had made copies of my passport and left them with people in the UK and one trusted friend in Bangladesh. I am thankful I had a plan and an escape route; many others have no way out.

When my father could not find my passport, he knew he had no real control over me, but he still wanted to exert as much pressure as possible to force me to accept his choice. I was thrown out of the house and my uncle took me in. I could have left Bangladesh, but I did not want to leave like a coward. I wanted to stand my ground, not just for my own sake, but for my siblings too. I was young, an idealist and I wanted to fight this injustice.

I was asked to meet the girl, but refused. Why meet her, I argued, when I was not ready to get married? Instead I wrote to the girl's father, apologising for not marrying his daughter but saying his daughter should not be forced into a marriage either, she must have the right to choose. I later heard that he was impressed by my stance.

All my relatives gathered for a family meeting in an attempt to persuade me to agree to my father's demand. They told me: "Your father has given his word to this family. It would bring dishonour and shame on him if you do not comply." I could not stop laughing at this warped logic. Why did he give his word in the first place, I asked? "If he really wants to keep his words and protect his honour, let him marry the girl of his choice," I shouted. Then the village elders came round. They, too, tried to persuade me that this was becoming embarrassing for the village and that in the interests of the people and my father, I should accept. God would bless me, they reassured me. My response was as robust as before. So they tried a final bombshell. "Your father will kill himself – surely you don't want him to do that?" My reply still shocks me. "If my father wants to buy a one-way ticket to hell, then good luck to him," I answered, referring to the Islamic prohibition on suicide.

Emotional blackmail is one of the key factors that traps sons and daughters. The majority only eventually agree to such marriages because of the love and high esteem they have for their parents. They say to themselves "what will I lose if I marry this person? I have to get married one day." But a marriage should not be based on how sorry you feel. In Islam husband and wife are described as "garments unto one another" that protect, cover, maintain privacy, beautify and create a safe space for intimacy.

Forced marriages have nothing to do with honour or keeping promises. They have everything to do with power, control and social status. I was never going to submit to that – and deep inside my father knew this. But he still wanted to control me. This came at a huge price. I did not speak to my father for more than three years.

Eventually we did mend our relationship, but it can never be the same. Today I am married. My father met my wife before we wed, and gave his full blessing – in fact, although he now suffers from dementia and easily forgets people and places he never forgets my wife, and always asks about her.

I believe my struggle worked; my siblings have married partners of their choice, from various cultures and countries. My wife is Hungarian, one sister is married to a white man from Preston and another to a Czech man.

But all this misery and heartache could have been avoided if this legislation had been introduced earlier. I believe it would have been a strong enough deterrent to save many people. Forced marriage is not sanctioned in any religion and no cultures should condone it.

I am lucky that I was able to stand up for myself but most young and vulnerable people are not so lucky. This legislation, along with better awareness, will help eradicate this ghastly practice.

Source

'Rape-law' triggers fury in Jordan

The ordeal of a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped and raped repeatedly for three days has infuriated Jordanians, especially when her attacker agreed to marry her to avoid going to jail.

In conservative Muslim societies like Jordan, rapists can walk free thanks to penal code Article 308, known as the "rape-law."

In April, the unidentified girl was shopping in the northern city of Zarqa when a 19-year-old man kidnapped her, took her to the desert where he had a pitched a tent and raped her for three consecutive days, judicial sources said.

Police found the girl during a routine patrol, drove her back to her family home and arrested the man.

Within days news emerged that the boy had agreed to marry the girl, while all charges against him have been dropped.

Earlier this month, another girl, aged 15, was talked into following a young man to an empty apartment in Amman where she was also raped.

Judicial sources say the young man is now desperately trying to work out an arrangement with her family to marry her, to avoid going to jail.

Article 308 allows rape charges to be dropped if the perpetrator agrees to marry the victim. He cannot divorce the woman for five years.

"This article of the law not only helps perpetrators walk free, it rewards them by allowing them to marry their victims, who get punished ... for God knows what," Nadia Shamrukh, head of the Jordanian Women's Union, told AFP.

"By applying this law, another crime is committed. How can this 14-year-old girl, who is a minor anyway, marry her rapist? Can you imagine this?"

The rape of a child under the age of 15 is punishable by death in Jordan, which recorded 379 cases of rape in 2010, according to court documents.

"In one case, we tried so hard to prevent a rapist from marrying an 18-year-old girl, who did not want to end up being his wife," said Eva Abu Halaweh, a lawyer and human rights activist who heads law group Mizan.

"But the girl's father struck a deal with the unemployed rapist, who was already married to another woman and had six children. He was unable to provide for his family and his wife was a beggar."

Abu Halaweh said the law is "inefficient anyway."

"It should be scrapped. What if a girl gets raped by more than one man? In this case, Article 308 will fail to address the problem," she said.

"Even if the victim does not resist marrying her rapist, he should not walk free ... The penalty could be reduced."

But Israa Tawalbeh, the country's first woman coroner, sees "nothing wrong in Article 308 as such."

"The problem is how some local and international human rights groups interpret the law," she told AFP.

"Actual rape cases are rare in our society. Sometimes, girls under 18 lose their virginity to force their families to accept marriage to their boyfriends. The law categorises this as rape."

Tawalbeh said the law "solves problems for some."

"Accepting marriage under Article 308 is better than leaving girls to be killed by their parents or relatives," she said.

"I think the law fits our society and reality. It protects the girls by forcing attackers to marry them."

In Jordan, between 15 and 20 women are murdered annually in the name of "honour" and at least six such killings have been reported so far this year, according to authorities.

Murder is punishable by death, but in "honour killings," courts sometimes commute or reduce sentences.

But Hani Jahshan, who is a forensic pathologist and physician at the health ministry and the Family Protection Directorate, has a quite different view of Article 308.

"This law is a stark violation of rights of women and children," he said "Sexual violence has a deep impact on victims that could last for a long time, and if a raped girl marries her rapist, her suffering will only be aggravated."

Jahshan blamed social misconceptions.

"Society believes that a female's virginity must be preserved until marriage. This forces girls to marry their rapists in order to protect her reputation and avoid social problems," he said.

Jordanians, particularly women activists, have held several street protests against the law.

"This issue must be effectively addressed," Nadia Hashem Alul, Jordan's first state minister for women's affairs, told AFP. "I think Article 308 should be amended to ensure justice to rape victims." source

UK ready to take on Israel over fate of children clapped in irons

The Foreign Office revealed last night that it would be challenging the Israelis over their treatment of Palestinian children after a report by a delegation of senior British lawyers revealed unconscionable practices, such as hooding and the use of leg irons.

In the first investigation of its kind, a team of nine senior legal figures examined how Palestinians as young as 12 were treated when arrested. Their shocking report Children in Military Custody details claims that youngsters are dragged from their beds in the middle of the night, have their wrists bound behind their backs, and are blindfolded and made to kneel or lie face down in military vehicles.

Children from the West Bank are held in conditions that could amount to torture, such as solitary confinement, with little or no access to their parents. They can be forced to stay awake before being verbally as well as physically abused and coerced into signing confessions they cannot read.

The team – led by Sir Stephen Sedley, a former Court of Appeal judge – heard that "every Palestinian child is treated like a potential terrorist". In a damning conclusion, the report points out repeated breaches of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

"We were sitting in court and saw a section of a preliminary hearing when a very young looking child, a boy, was brought in wearing a brown uniform with leg irons on. We were shocked by that. This was a situation where we had been invited into the military courts for briefings from senior judges," explained one of the report's authors, human rights barrister Greg Davies. "To hold children routinely and for substantial periods in solitary confinement would, if it occurred, be capable of amounting to torture," the report said. Last night the Foreign Office, which backed the report, said it would be taking up the claims with the Israeli authorities:

"The UK government has had long-standing concerns about the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli detention, and as a result decided to fund this independent report. While recognising that some positive recent steps have been made by the Israeli authorities, we share many of the report's concerns, and will continue to lobby for further improvements."

While the legal team said it was in no position to prove the truth of the claims of cruelty made repeatedly by Palestinian children, but denied by the Israeli authorities – which offered unprecedented access to the delegation – it pointed to the disparity in the law.

Israeli children must have access to a lawyer within 48 hours and cannot be imprisoned under the age of 14. But Palestinian children as young as 12 are jailed and can be kept for three months without legal representation. Between 500 and 700 are jailed each year.

"The other shocking thing is they are incarcerated in breach of many conventions. The practical effect is parents can't get there because they can't get permits," said Marianna Hildyard QC.

While the investigating team welcomed improvements introduced by the Israeli authorities, both Palestinian and Israeli lawyers on the ground insisted much of it was "rhetoric ra ther than real change".

Last night, Israeli Embassy spokesperson Amir Ofek said the country appreciated the efforts of the delegation but blamed Palestinians who "glorify terrorism". He said: "As a result [children] are frequently involved in lethal acts. With the Palestinian Authority unable or unwilling to meet its obligation to investigate and prosecute these offences, Israel has no choice but to do so itself.

"Israel notes the detailed recommendations in the report and will study them closely as part of its ongoing efforts to find the most appropriate balance between preventing violence and treating perpetrators with humanity."  Source

The report details claims children are dragged from their beds, bound and blindfolded:

www.childreninmilitarycustody.org

Bosnian Nasheed

Note to self!

Mum I'm A Muslim

The War on Palestinian Soccer: Free Mahmoud Sarsak

On June 3, Palestinian national soccer team member Mahmoud Sarsak completed 80 days of a grueling hunger-strike. He had sustained the strike despite the fact that nearly 2,000 Palestinian inmates had called off their own 28-day hunger strike weeks ago.

Although the story of Palestinian prisoners in Israel speaks to a common reality of unlawful detentions and widespread mistreatment, Sarsak's fate can also be viewed within its own unique context. The soccer player, who once sought to take the name and flag of his nation to international arenas, was arrested by Israeli soldiers in July 2009 while en route to join the national team in the West Bank.

Sarsak was branded an 'illegal combatant' by Israel's military judicial system, and was since imprisoned without any charges or trial.

Sarsak is not alone in the continued hunger strike. Akram al-Rekhawi, a diabetic prisoner demanding proper medical care, has refused food for over 60 days.

At the time of writing of this article, both men were reportedly in dire medical condition. Sarsak, once of unmatched athletic built, is now gaunt beyond recognition. The already ill al-Rekhawi is dying.

According to rights groups, an Israeli court on May 30 granted prison doctors 12 more days before allowing independent doctors to visit the prisoners, further prolonging their suffering and isolation. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHRI), which has done a remarkable job battling the draconian rules of Israeli military courts, continues to petition the court to meet with both al-Sarsak and al-Rekhawi, according to Ma'an news agency.

Sadly, the story here becomes typical. PHRI, along with other prisoners' rights groups, are doing all that civil society organizations can do within such an oppressive legal and political situation. Families are praying. Social media activists are sending constant updates and declaring solidarity. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is merely looking on - not due to any lack of concern for human rights, but due to the selective sympathy of Western governments and media.

Think of the uproar made by US media over the fate of blind Chinese political activist Chen Guangcheng. When he took shelter in the US embassy in Beijing, a near-diplomatic crisis ensued. Guangcheng was finally flown to the US on May 19, and he recently delivered a talk in New York before an astounded audience.

"The 40-year-old, blind activist said that his lengthy detention (of seven years) demonstrates that lawlessness is still the norm in China," reported the New York Post on May 31. "Is there any justice? Is there any rationale in any of this?" Chen asked. Few in the US media would contend with the statement. But somehow the logic becomes entirely irrelevant when the perpetrator of injustice is Israel, and the victim is a Palestinian. Al-Rekhawi is not blind, but he has many medical ailments. He has been in Ramle prison clinic since his detention in 2004, receiving severely inadequate medical care.

Sarsak, who has been a witness to many tragedies, is now becoming one. The 25-year old had once hoped to push the ranking of his national team back to a reasonable standing. If Palestinians ever deserve to be called 'fanatics', it would be in reference to soccer. As a child growing up in Gaza, I remember playing soccer in few minute increments, braving Israeli military curfews, risking arrests, injury and even death. Somehow, in a very crowded refugee camp, soccer becomes tantamount to freedom.

Palestine's ranking at 164th in the world is testament not to any lack of passion for the game, but to the constant Israeli attempts at destroying even that national aspiration.

The examples of Israeli war on Palestinian soccer are too many to count, although most of them receive little or no media coverage whatsoever. In 2004 Israel blocked several essential players from accompanying the national team out of Gaza for a second match against Chinese Taipei. (Palestine had won the first match 8-0.) The obstacles culminated in the March 2006 bombing of the Palestinian Football Stadium in Gaza, which reduced the grass field to a massive crater. Then, in the war on Gaza (Cast Lead 2008-09), things turned bloody as Israel killed three national soccer players: Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshtahe. It also bombed their stadium again.

Sarsak was a promising new face of Palestinian soccer. In times of Palestinian disunity and factionalism, it was the national team that kept a symbolic unity between Gaza and the West Bank - and indeed Palestinians everywhere. These young men exemplify hope that better times are ahead. But Sarsak's star is now fading, as is his life. His mother, who hasn't seen him since his arrests, told Ma'an that she thinks of him every minute of each day. "Why is there no one moving to save his life?" she asked.

Writing in the Nation on May 10, Dave Zirin wrote, "Imagine if a member of Team USA Basketball-let's say Kobe Bryant-had been traveling to an international tournament only to be seized by a foreign government and held in prison for three years without trial or even hearing the charges for which he was imprisoned...Chances are all the powerful international sports organizations-the IOC, FIFA-would treat the jailing nation as a pariah until Kobe was free. And chances are that even Laker-haters would wear buttons that read, 'Free Kobe.'"

Sarsak is the Bryant of his people. But ask any political commentator and he will tell you why Mohmoud Sarsak is not Kobe Bryant, and why Al-Rekhawi is not Chen. It is the same prevalent logic of a powerful Washington-based pro-Israel lobby and all the rest. Even if the logic was founded, why are international sports institutions not standing in complete solidarity with the dying Sarsak? Why don't soccer matches include a moment of solidarity with killed Palestinian players, and the dying young man aching to join his teammates on the field once more? Why is Israel not fully and comprehensively boycotted by every international sports organization?

"As long as Sarsak remains indefinitely detained and as long as Israel targets sport and athletes as legitimate targets of war, they have no business being rewarded by FIFA or the UEFA, let alone even being a part of the community of international sports," wrote Zirin.

It would be a belated step, but an unequivocally urgent one, for Palestinian sportsmen are literally dying.

Source