பர்தாவை போடாத பெண்களை எல்லாம் கழுத்தை அறுத்து கொல்வது ஈராக்கில் அதிகரிக்கிறது

பர்தாவை போடாத பெண்களை எல்லாம் கழுத்தை அறுத்து கொல்வது ஈராக்கில் அதிகரிக்கிறது
பல நேரங்களில் இந்த கொலைகளை செய்வது அந்த பெண்களின் உறவினர்களே. பர்தாவை போடாமல் போனால், கௌரவக்குறைச்சல் என்று அந்த பெண்களின் பெற்றோர் உறவினர் கருதுகின்றனர்.

துவா காலில் அஸ்வாத் என்ற 17 வயது பெண் யாஜிதி ஜாதிக்கு வெளியே ஒரு பையனை காதலித்தார் என்பதற்காக அவரை கொன்றார்கள்.


"Women Are Being Beheaded for Taking Their Veil Off": Honor Killings On Rise in Iraq
By Terri Judd, Independent UK. Posted April 30, 2008.

At first glance Shawbo Ali Rauf appears to be slumbering on the grass, her pale brown curls framing her face, her summer skirt spread about her. But the awkward position of her limbs and the splattered blood reveal the true horror of the scene.

The 19-year-old Iraqi was, according to her father, murdered by her own in-laws, who took her to a picnic area in Dokan and shot her seven times. Her crime was to have an unknown number on her mobile phone. Her "honor killing" is just one in a grotesque series emerging from Iraq, where activists speak of a "genocide" against women in the name of religion.

In the latest such case, it was reported yesterday that a 17-year-old girl, Rand Abdel-Qader, was stabbed to death last month by her father for becoming infatuated with a British soldier serving in southern Iraq.

In Basra alone, police acknowledge that 15 women a month are murdered for breaching Islamic dress codes. Campaigners insist it is a conservative figure.

Violence against women is rampant, rising every day with the power of the militias. Beheadings, rapes, beatings, suicides through self-immolation, genital mutilation, trafficking and child abuse masquerading as marriage of girls as young as nine are all on the increase.


Du'a Khalil Aswad, 17, from Nineveh, was executed by stoning in front of mob of 2,000 men for falling in love with a boy outside her Yazidi tribe. Mobile phone images of her broken body transmitted on the internet led to sectarian violence, international outrage and calls for reform. Her father, Khalil Aswad, speaking one year after her death in April last year, has revealed that none of those responsible had been prosecuted and his family remained "outcasts" in their own tribe.

"My daughter did nothing wrong," he said. "She fell in love with a Muslim and there is nothing wrong with that. I couldn't protect her because I got threats from my brother, the whole tribe. They insisted they were gong to kill us all, not only Du'a, if she was not killed. She was mutilated, her body dumped like rubbish.

"I want those who committed this act to be punished but so far they have not, they are free. Honor killing is murder. This is a barbaric act."

Despite the outrage, recent calls by the Kurdish MP Narmin Osman to outlaw honour killings have been blocked by fundamentalists. "Honor killings are not actually a crime in the eyes of the government," said Houzan Mahmoud, who has had a fatwa on her head since raising a petition against the introduction of sharia law in Kurdistan. "If before there was one dictator persecuting people, now almost everyone is persecuting women.

"In the past five years it is has got [much] worse. It is difficult to described how terrible it is, how badly we have been pushed back to the dark ages. Women are being beheaded for taking their veil off. Self immolation is rising -- women are left with no choice. There is no government body or institution to provide any sort of support. Sharia law is being used to underpin government rule, denying women their most basic human rights."

In August last year, the body of 11-year-old Sara Jaffar Nimat was found in Khanaqin, Kurdistan, after she had been stoned and burnt to death. Earlier this month, two brothers and a sister were kidnapped from their home near Kirkuk by gunmen in police uniforms. The brothers were beaten to death and the woman left in a critical condition after being informed that she must obey the rules of an "Islamic state". One week ago, a journalist, Begard Huseein, was murdered in her home in Arbil, northern Iraq. Her husband, Mohammed Mustafa, stabbed her because she was in love with another man, according to local reports.

The stoning death of Ms. Aswad led to the establishment of an Internal Ministry unit in Kurdistan to combat violence against women. It reported that last year in Sulaymaniyah, a city of 1 million people, there were 407 reported offences, beheadings, beatings, deaths through "family problems", and threats of honor killings. Rape is not included as most women are too fearful to report it for fear of retribution. Nevertheless, police in Karbala recently revealed 25 reports of rape.

The new Iraqi constitution, according to Mrs. Mahmoud, is a mass of confusing contradictions. While it states that men and women are equal under law it also decrees that sharia law -- which considers one male witness worth two females -- must be observed. The days when women could hold down key jobs or enjoy any freedom of movement are long gone. The fundamentalists have sent out too many chilling messages. In Mosul two years ago, eight women were beheaded in a terror campaign.

"It was really, really horrifying," said Mrs. Mahmoud. "Honor killings and murder are widespread. Thousands [of people] … have become victims of murder, violence and rape -- all backed by laws, tribal customs and religious rules. We urge the international community, the government to condemn this barbaric practice, and help the women of Iraq."

16 வயதான மகளை தடியால் அடித்து மின்சாரத்தால் சுட்டு கொன்ற தந்தைக்கு ஆறு மாதம் மட்டுமே சிறை

16 வயதான மகளை தடியால் அடித்து மின்சாரத்தால் சுட்டு கொன்ற தந்தைக்கு ஆறு மாதம் மட்டுமே சிறை தண்டனை கொடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

ஜோர்டனில் இது போல ஏராளமாக கௌரவக்கொலைகள் நடைபெறுகின்றன. கௌரவக்கொலை என்றால், ஒரு பெண் வேறு ஜாதி பையனை காதலித்தாலோ, அல்லது திருமணத்துக்கு வெளியே யாராவது ஆணை காதலித்தாலோ குடும்ப கௌரவம் போய்விட்டதென்று குடும்பத்தினரே அந்த பெண்ணை கொல்லுவதுதான்.

ஜாதிவெறி முற்றிப்போன அரபுகள் இது போல பெண்களை கொலை செய்கிறார்கள். அதற்கு தண்டனை கொடுக்கப்படாமல் இருந்தது. தற்போது பல நாடுகள் அழுத்தம் கொடுத்து தண்டனை கொடுக்கப்படுகிறது.




Jordan man jailed for 6 months in daughter's honor killing
The Associated PressPublished: April 30, 2008

AMMAN, Jordan: A Jordanian court has sentenced a man to six months in jail after convicting him of the honor killing of his 16-year-old daughter.

The court ruled Wednesday that the man killed his married daughter because she had an affair out of the wedlock. The enraged father severely beat her with a baton and ultimately electrocuted her in November 2006.

Neither the father nor daughter were identified.

Like other tribal-oriented societies, many Jordanians consider sex out of the wedlock an indelible stain on the family's honor that can only be cleansed by blood.

An average of 20 women are killed by male relatives in Jordan each year. So far, four were killed this year.

ஜாதிவெறி இருப்பது தேசியத்துக்கு கேடு. - அல் ஹயாத் எச்சரிக்கை

லெபனானிலிருந்து வரும் அல் ஹயாத் பத்திரிக்கை, லெபனானில் இருக்கும் அரபு ஜாதிகள் தங்கள் ஜாதியை சார்ந்தவர்களுக்கே ஓட்டு, "நம் ஜாதி மகனுக்கு மட்டுமே நாம் ஓட்டுப்போடுவோம்" என்று அரபுகள் ஜாதிவெறியோடு லெபனான் தேச நலனுக்கு ஊறு விளைவிக்கின்றனர் என்று எச்சரிக்கிறது


Tribes Emerge and Patriotism Regresses!
Jameel Theyabi Al Hayat - 22/04/08//

Gulf channels. Gulf Spectators. "Luxurious" studios. Identical poetic shows. One satellite image. TV stations crowded with poetic shows in the Gulf. The tribe comes first, whereas the country comes in the second or maybe third place. In the same vein, Mazayen al-Ibl competitions give precedence to the tribe over every other consideration.

Shortly after the Kuwait liberation war, numerous poetry magazines circulated in the Gulf along with pictures of popular poets. People even turned away from reading politics and culture, and started memorizing and composing poetry. Today, this same scene is being repeated thanks to the satellite dishes.

The UAE "Millions Poet" show awakens the tribal "hormone" and threatens patriotism in Gulf countries!

Why has the culture of returning to the tribe emerged in the 21st century in a wealthy region coveted by avid parties pursuing their own interests?

What is this show's real objective? Perhaps the announced "explicit" answer is the preservation of the Arab peninsula's heritage. But the "hidden" answer lies in stirring emotions and draining people's accounts.

What would be the justification of those who are obsessed with "the conspiracy theory" if the "Millions Poet" show was produced by a Western or American company instead of Gulf TV stations?

Is Egyptian Nashwa Al Rowainy the new "Nabati Poetry" philosophy-maker to be dubbed the "godmother" of a Gulf poetry show?

Saudis have called for boycotting the show through websites and SMS, as their poets failed to obtain the first three places, with numerous accusations regarding the jury's unfairness. They claimed that the "banner" of poetry was taken away from them due to weak voting participation, overlapping of calls and cheating.

Al Fara'ina from Saudi Arabia did not know from where to gather justifications after the results were announced. He praised his "camel" throughout the competition, but it did not give him milk on the D-day. Though he ranked fifth, he eventually did win fame and popularity. It seems Al Fara'ina was the deepest and most cultured participant noted for his ability to play with words. Yet the results came contrary to Saudi wishes and expectations.

Change of scenery. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed did not deliver the poetry "banner" as he had done in the show's first edition. He withdrew suddenly and entrusted this mission to Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed. This gave rise to a new question… Is there a hidden message behind the "banner" of the poet of the million?

Many questions remain unanswered. Accusations, enmities, "milking" of accounts, and disappointments stand out. Tribalism mounts, and tribes sing the praises of their men and their actions, at the expense of wealthy Gulf countries that enjoy a stability unattained by other countries.

The Saudi poet Khalil Al Shabrami, who holds the Qatari nationality, returned to Doha with the banner, proclaiming himself the "Poet of the Million" in the show's second edition.

The "Millions Poet" has created a revolution in TV audience and inflamed the feelings of the people. TV stations have started emulating this show in order to attract spectators and "voluntarily" rip off money by pressing the button of tribalism and emotions.

The tribal sense of belongingness has prevailed over patriotism. The show revived tribal feelings that had been bridled by modern countries. Websites promoted the slogan of "Vote Now for Your Tribe's Son," without heeding patriotism or poetic talent.

Sectarianism and internal conflicts intensify in Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. In the Gulf countries, a ball of fire is rolling, aiming to promote the rise of individual tribal values to the detriment of the common patriotic spirit.

I am afraid we are invading ourselves without knowing, then we vent our anger on Western countries and Israel under the banner of intellectual invasion and Zionist conspiracy.

It is an "open" space against which we commit a "tribal" crime - whereas the prophet Muhammad had warned against it.

Poetry is a beautiful language that must be preserved. It is the language of our ancestors. However, the concept of such shows needs to be revised in such a way that it becomes in tune with the region's conditions and what threatens its unity. Otherwise, things will take a dangerous turn in the future!

எண்பது தலைமுறைக்கும் மேலாக இன இழிவில் வாழும் இஸ்லாமியர்கள்!!!

அரபிய தீபகற்பத்தில் ஏமன் நாட்டில் வாழும் அல் அக்தும் என்ற தலித்துகளும், இஸ்லாம் ஆளும் நாடுகளில் முக்கியமாக சவுதி அரேபியா, மௌரிட்டானியா, டார்பர் ஆகிய இடங்களில் அரபுகளின் அடிமைகளாக வாழும் கருப்பின மக்களும் இஸ்லாமை தங்கள் மீது இன இழிவு கொண்டுவந்ததாகவே கருதுகிறார்கள்.

அரபு ஜாதிவெறியும் அரபு இனவெறியும் பற்றி இந்த பக்கங்களில் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான செய்திகள் இருக்கின்றன.

அரபு ஜாதிவெறி படிக்க

இஸ்லாமிய அடிமைமுறை பற்றிபடிக்க

Languishing at the Bottom of Yemen’s Ladder
Bryan Denton for The New York Times
In Yemen’s capital, Sana, the Akhdam live crammed into a stinking warren of low concrete blocks. More Photos >

By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: February 27, 2008
SANA, Yemen — By day, they sweep the streets of the Old City, ragged, dark-skinned men in orange jump suits. By night, they retreat to fetid slums on the edge of town.

Skip to next paragraph
Multimedia
Slide Show
The Akhdam of Yemen

The New York Times
The Akhdam held a demonstration in Taiz this month. More Photos »
They are known as “Al Akhdam” — the servants. Set apart by their African features, they form a kind of hereditary caste at the very bottom of Yemen’s social ladder.

Degrading myths pursue them: they eat their own dead, and their women are all prostitutes. Worst of all, they are reviled as outsiders in their own country, descendants of an Ethiopian army that is said to have crossed the Red Sea to oppress Yemen before the arrival of Islam.

“We are ready to work, but people say we are good for nothing but servants; they will not accept us,” said Ali Izzil Muhammad Obaid, a 20-year-old man who lives in a filthy Akhdam shantytown on the edge of this capital. “So we have no hope.”

In fact, the Akhdam — who prefer to be known as “Al Muhamasheen,” or the marginalized ones — may have been in this southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula for as long as anyone, and their ethnic origins are unclear. Their debased status is a remnant of Yemen’s old social hierarchy, which collapsed after the 1962 revolution struck down the thousand-year-old Imamate.

But where Yemen’s other hereditary social classes, the sayyids and the judges and the sheiks, and even the lower orders like butchers and ironworkers, slowly dissolved, the Akhdam retained their separate position. There are more than a million of them among Yemen’s fast-growing population of 22 million, concentrated in segregated slums in the major cities.

“All the doors are closed to us except sweeping streets and begging,” Mr. Obaid said. “We are surviving, but we are not living.”

The Akhdam have not been offered the kind of affirmative action programs India’s government has used to improve the lot of the Dalits, or untouchables, there. In part, that is because Yemen never had a formal caste system like India’s.

As a result, the Akhdam have languished at the margins of society, suffering a persistent discrimination that flouts the egalitarian maxims of the Yemeni state.

Even the recent waves of immigrants from Ethiopia and Somalia, many of them desperately poor, have fared better than the Akhdam, and do not share their stigma.

The Akhdam who work as street sweepers, for instance, are rarely granted contracts even after decades of work, despite the fact that all Yemeni civil servants are supposed to be granted contracts after six months, said Suha Bashren, a relief official with Oxfam here. They receive no benefits, and almost no time off.

“If any supervisor wants to dismiss them, they can do that,” said Ali Abdullah Saeed Hawdal, who started working as a street sweeper in 1968. “The supervisors use violence against them with no fear of penalties. They treat them as people with no rights.”

The living conditions of the Akhdam are appalling, even by the standards of Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world.

In one Akhdam shantytown on the edge of Sana, more than 7,000 people live crammed into a stinking warren of low concrete blocks next to a mountain of trash. Young children, many of them barefoot, run through narrow, muddy lanes full of human waste and garbage.

A young woman named Nouria Abdullah stood outside the tiny cubicle — perhaps 6 feet by 8 feet, with a ceiling too low to allow her to stand up — where she lives with her husband and six children. Inside, a thin plastic sheet covered a dirt floor. A small plastic mirror hung on the wall, and a single filthy pillow lay in the corner.

Nearby, a single latrine, in a room approximately 3 feet by 3 feet, serves about 50 people. The residents must carry water in plastic jugs from a tank on the edge of the slum, supplied by a charity group.

Wearing a brown dress, with a rag tied around her head, Ms. Abdullah said she and her family brought in no more than 1,000 Yemeni riyals a week, about $5. She begs for change, while her husband, Muhammad, gathers metal and electrical components from trash heaps and sells them.

Like most people in the shantytown, they have no documents, and they do not know how old they are.

“We are living like animals,” Ms. Abdullah said. “We cook and sleep and live in the same room. We need other shelters.”

When the winter rains come, the houses are flooded, she said. On the cold days in winter, the family burns trash to stay warm.

இன இழிவு கொண்டுவரும் இஸ்லாம்!!!

அரபிய தீபகற்பத்தில் ஏமன் நாட்டில் வாழும் அல் அக்தும் என்ற தலித்துகளும், இஸ்லாம் ஆளும் நாடுகளில் முக்கியமாக சவுதி அரேபியா, மௌரிட்டானியா, டார்பர் ஆகிய இடங்களில் அரபுகளின் அடிமைகளாக வாழும் கருப்பின மக்களும் இஸ்லாமை தங்கள் மீது இன இழிவு கொண்டுவந்ததாகவே கருதுகிறார்கள்.

அரபு ஜாதிவெறியும் அரபு இனவெறியும் பற்றி இந்த பக்கங்களில் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான செய்திகள் இருக்கின்றன.


Languishing at the Bottom of Yemen’s Ladder
Bryan Denton for The New York Times
In Yemen’s capital, Sana, the Akhdam live crammed into a stinking warren of low concrete blocks. More Photos >

By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: February 27, 2008
SANA, Yemen — By day, they sweep the streets of the Old City, ragged, dark-skinned men in orange jump suits. By night, they retreat to fetid slums on the edge of town.

Skip to next paragraph
Multimedia
Slide Show
The Akhdam of Yemen

The New York Times
The Akhdam held a demonstration in Taiz this month. More Photos »
They are known as “Al Akhdam” — the servants. Set apart by their African features, they form a kind of hereditary caste at the very bottom of Yemen’s social ladder.

Degrading myths pursue them: they eat their own dead, and their women are all prostitutes. Worst of all, they are reviled as outsiders in their own country, descendants of an Ethiopian army that is said to have crossed the Red Sea to oppress Yemen before the arrival of Islam.

“We are ready to work, but people say we are good for nothing but servants; they will not accept us,” said Ali Izzil Muhammad Obaid, a 20-year-old man who lives in a filthy Akhdam shantytown on the edge of this capital. “So we have no hope.”

In fact, the Akhdam — who prefer to be known as “Al Muhamasheen,” or the marginalized ones — may have been in this southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula for as long as anyone, and their ethnic origins are unclear. Their debased status is a remnant of Yemen’s old social hierarchy, which collapsed after the 1962 revolution struck down the thousand-year-old Imamate.

But where Yemen’s other hereditary social classes, the sayyids and the judges and the sheiks, and even the lower orders like butchers and ironworkers, slowly dissolved, the Akhdam retained their separate position. There are more than a million of them among Yemen’s fast-growing population of 22 million, concentrated in segregated slums in the major cities.

“All the doors are closed to us except sweeping streets and begging,” Mr. Obaid said. “We are surviving, but we are not living.”

The Akhdam have not been offered the kind of affirmative action programs India’s government has used to improve the lot of the Dalits, or untouchables, there. In part, that is because Yemen never had a formal caste system like India’s.

As a result, the Akhdam have languished at the margins of society, suffering a persistent discrimination that flouts the egalitarian maxims of the Yemeni state.

Even the recent waves of immigrants from Ethiopia and Somalia, many of them desperately poor, have fared better than the Akhdam, and do not share their stigma.

The Akhdam who work as street sweepers, for instance, are rarely granted contracts even after decades of work, despite the fact that all Yemeni civil servants are supposed to be granted contracts after six months, said Suha Bashren, a relief official with Oxfam here. They receive no benefits, and almost no time off.

“If any supervisor wants to dismiss them, they can do that,” said Ali Abdullah Saeed Hawdal, who started working as a street sweeper in 1968. “The supervisors use violence against them with no fear of penalties. They treat them as people with no rights.”

The living conditions of the Akhdam are appalling, even by the standards of Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world.

In one Akhdam shantytown on the edge of Sana, more than 7,000 people live crammed into a stinking warren of low concrete blocks next to a mountain of trash. Young children, many of them barefoot, run through narrow, muddy lanes full of human waste and garbage.

A young woman named Nouria Abdullah stood outside the tiny cubicle — perhaps 6 feet by 8 feet, with a ceiling too low to allow her to stand up — where she lives with her husband and six children. Inside, a thin plastic sheet covered a dirt floor. A small plastic mirror hung on the wall, and a single filthy pillow lay in the corner.

Nearby, a single latrine, in a room approximately 3 feet by 3 feet, serves about 50 people. The residents must carry water in plastic jugs from a tank on the edge of the slum, supplied by a charity group.

Wearing a brown dress, with a rag tied around her head, Ms. Abdullah said she and her family brought in no more than 1,000 Yemeni riyals a week, about $5. She begs for change, while her husband, Muhammad, gathers metal and electrical components from trash heaps and sells them.

Like most people in the shantytown, they have no documents, and they do not know how old they are.

“We are living like animals,” Ms. Abdullah said. “We cook and sleep and live in the same room. We need other shelters.”

When the winter rains come, the houses are flooded, she said. On the cold days in winter, the family burns trash to stay warm.

சவுதி அரேபிய இளைஞர்களிடையே சாதிவெறி முற்றுகிறது: அதிர்ச்சி ரிப்போர்ட்

தங்களுடைய ஜாதியை குறிக்க மூன்று எண்களை பயன்படுத்துகிறார்கள். இந்த எண்களை மற்ற சவுதி இளைஞர்களும் புரிந்துகொள்கிறார்கள். தங்களுடைய சாதியை பெருமையாக கூறிக்கொள்ள தங்களது எண்களை கூறுகிறார்கள்.

கீழ் சாதியை சேர்ந்த அரபு இளைஞர்களை கிண்டல் செய்யவும் துன்புறுத்தவும் அவர்களது எண்களை உரத்து கூறுவதும் பழக்கமாக ஆகிவருகிறது.

Saudi ‘Tribal Codes’ Draw Mixed Response
Ali Al-Zahrani, Arab News


RIYADH, 7 March 2008 — Increasingly, young Saudis are using three-digit numeric codes to indicate their tribal affiliations. Among the codes used by them to identify the tribes they originate from are 511, 505, 502, 707, 711, 501 and 111.

The code is aimed at others who know how the numbers translate.

The numbers indicate the number-bearer’s tribe and, by implication, where his loyalty lies.

These numbers are showing up in school, cars and in graffiti. Some, like Saad Al-Otaibi, an high school student who has seen taunting among students of different tribes, told Arab News such numbers could have a negative impact.

“Sometimes the codes put on notebooks generate arguments and fights in classrooms as pupils take pride in their tribe and make fun of other tribes,” said Al-Otaibi.

“Even though the legitimacy of tribal loyalty as a solid social alliance is unquestionable, the pride has reached an extent where certain people look down on others,” said Muhammad Makdari, an Arabic-language teacher.

Muhammad Al-Zulfa, a member of the Shoura (Consultative) Council, denounced the trend, saying the purpose behind them was not conducive to promoting unity in the Kingdom. “This is a dangerous phenomenon,” he said. “That is why we need to create awareness to unify ourselves under a symbol, which is our leader, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.”

Others say that the numbers amount to little more than harmless pride in family names, much like allegiance to a sports team.

“The code has a special place in my heart,” said Muhammad Al-Qahtani, an intermediate school student. “It represents strength and loyalty to my tribe.”

Some students claim that the trend started in the Eastern Province when locals distinguished others by their areas of residence inside public housing complexes in Al-Jubail Industrial area. Saudis from a certain tribe would be often found in a certain area with a three-digit code similar to a zip code in the US. The location code then evolved into a code for particular tribes.

“I really do not know where these codes came from. I only learned of it now when I saw the codes glued to the windows of my big brother’s car,” said Al-Qahtani.

அல் அக்தம் :அரபிய தலித்துகளுக்காகவும் குரல் கொடுப்போம்

சாதிக்கொடுமையால் மிகவும் தீவிரமாக கொடுமைப்படுத்தப்படும் அரபியதலித்துகளான அல் அக்தம் ஜாதியினர் தங்கள் உரிமைகளை பெற்று நலமாகவாழவும் குரல் கொடுப்போம்
Minority Report: Yemen's Akhdam "Out-Castes"


They have lived in Yemen for well over a thousand years. They are Arabic-speaking Muslims. And yet they are Yemen's great outcasts. Meet the Akhdam.

The photo at right is a snapshot from one of the Akhdam shanty-towns in Yemen's capital. As one article notes, this street slum lies "virtually in the shadows of the multi-million-dollar presidential mosque, and is made up of squat cinderblock buildings and shacks made from scrap materials. It sits on a waterway that fills up in the winter, turning the pathways into rivulets and dirt floors into muck."

Legend has it that the Black Yemenis, who do not belong to any of the major Arab tribe groups, descend from Ethiopian invaders from the sometime between 100-600 A.D. When the Ethiopian invasion failed, they became slaves and servants. With the abolition of slavery in Yemen (in 1962!), the Akhdam are now all "free" but face widespread discrimination and economic hardship:

They are almost always kept at arms length, and any chance of social integration is next to impossible. Their name, akhdam, is the plural of the Arabic term khadim, which literally means servant, a term far predating their common occupation nowadays as sanitary workers and garbage collectors, and is given to any Yemeni-born person with black skin, especially in the north of the country.

For more on the obstacles faced the Akhdam and proposed reforms, see Huda Seif's report in the Muslim World Journal of Human Rights [excerpt from abstract]:

...the Al-Akhdam are persecuted on account of their being of African-descent in a country with an Arab-majority... The article advocates the protection of the collective human rights of the Al-Akhdam minority and proposes cogent measures for restoring social justice through the implementation of specific actions, including international condemnation of their persecution; official recognition of the violence meted to them; national international recognition and promotion of their rights; cessation of Yemeni government-supported policy of Al-Akhdam forced labor; formal extension of constitutionally-guaranteed economic and social rights and the establishment of a program designed to integrate them into the mainstream of Yemeni society.

November 03, 2005 in Civil Rights Abuses: Minority Rights | Permalink

இஸ்லாமிய ஜாதிமுறை: அல் அக்தம்- அரபியாவில் தீண்டத்தகாத மனிதர்கள் என்று இழிவு

அரபியாவில் இருக்கும் ஜாதிமுறையில் அரபுகள் செல்லும் இடமெல்லாம் கொண்டு செல்லும் ஜாதிவெறியாலும் தினந்தோறும் பாதிக்கப்படும் பெண்களை பற்றியும் ஜாதிவெறியால் நிகழும் இழிவுகளை பற்றியும் தொடர்ந்து பதிந்து வருகிறேன்.

ஏமனில் அல் அக்தம் என்று தீண்டத்தகாத மனிதர்களாக ஏமனின் மக்களே இழிவு செய்யப்பட்டு 500000க்கும் மேற்பட்ட மனிதர்கள் கொடுமைக்கு ஆளாக்கப்படுகிறார்கள்.







நன்றி கவ்ண்டர்கரண்ட்ஸ்

Caste In Yemen
By Marguerite Abadjian
25 April, 2004
Baltimore Sun

SANA'A, Yemen - The walled shantytown near the Old City here makes a
horrifying impression:

Houses made of refuse, families as large as 15 living in one room, children eating what appears to be dirt, pools of disease-laden water, piles of garbage and human waste buzzing with flies, the stench. The scene followed Aisha Sulaiman even after she was far away. She couldn't forget it.

It is a place where children have gotten high snorting crushed glass. They
beg barefoot on the city streets - the soles of their feet callused and evidently immune to the blazing asphalt, fired by the incessant Yemeni sun.

Sulaiman, like many of the shantytown residents, belongs to the lowest
social caste in Yemen, the Akhdam. The Arabic word Akhdam means servants, and for centuries they have felt discrimination and isolation from mainstream society.

Though conditions have improved somewhat over the past few years, many in
mainstream society still stereotype them, considering them lowly, dirty,ill-mannered and immoral.

Even their plates are considered dirty. "Don't eat with the Akhdam because worms come out of their plates," the saying goes.

While there is no official record of the number of Akhdam in Yemen, they are considered to be the country's largest and poorest minority. Unlike all others in Yemen, they do not belong to a tribe. They are poorly educated and are not allowed to marry into higher social castes.

Legends of Akhdam origins abound. The most credible is that they descend from Abyssinian soldiers who stayed in Yemen after a failed invasion in the sixth century AD. The soldiers, from ancient Ethiopia, were so hated they were forced to accept the worst jobs, such as transporting and disposing of human sewage and collecting garbage.

Today, the most common job for male Akhdam is street cleaning. They also work as porters, foot soldiers and shoemakers. Women and children beg.

Sulaiman was considerably better off than most because of her tenacity. Some of her relatives don't believe women should be educated. They think women should sit at home, get married and have children, she says. But Sulaiman resisted and is halfway toward completing a university degree in philosophy. She is also determined not to have a large family that could lead to economic ruin.

Along the way, she has become a human rights trainer and educator, fighting for the rights of other Akhdam women and children who she believes suffer most. Her goal is to help the women become more self-confident and aware of their rights.

Many Akhdam do not share her hope for the future.

Tears come easily to the weathered eyes of Sai'ida Bin Sa'ad Ahmed Souhaib. She, along with five members of her family, lives in a one-room shelter in the Bab Al-Yemen (Yemen Gate) shantytown, one of the largest of 11 shantytowns in Sana'a.

Souhaib, a Yemeni, had a good job and life in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s but was forced to return to Yemen after her country supported Iraq in the Persian Gulf war. This was the fate of countless thousands of Yemenis. She returned, minus a husband who died there, and with no means to support her family.

"Now when I get hungry, I simply go out and beg," she says. "All my children are on the streets."

Souhaib and others in the shantytown say they are treated with contempt
outside their community.

Rawsha Hassan, 20, is another woman who lives in the Bab Al-Yemen shantytown. She, her parents and most of her 13 siblings live in a ramshackle
shelter there.

Hassan's mother is a street sweeper in the center of the city. Her father, a former security guard, can no longer work. He can't see well because of surgery gone wrong, she says.

Hassan's sad, tired eyes peek through her luthma, a black veil revealing only the eyes, worn by most Yemeni women in public. She gazes at her dirty, dreary surroundings in the shantytown. She doesn't want to bring children
into this world, she says.

In the shantytowns, men make important household decisions, even though, in many cases, the women and children bring in most of the income by begging.

Even the poorest families spend a significant amount of their money on qat, an amphetamine-like mild narcotic shrub that is chewed by men and women daily.

Hassan, like her mother, used to sweep the dusty streets of her capital city. But she stopped when a male cousin, also a sweeper, working the night shift was hit by a car whose driver didn't even stop to look. Her cousin is disabled. Hassan now works as a janitor at a human rights organization. Although she makes less than her salary as a sweeper, she is happier.

Hassan would be even more content if she could continue her education. While in fifth grade she stopped because, as she recalls, her father told her school is not for girls. Also, Akhdam children are often rejected in schools for the same reasons adults are rejected in society, because they are considered unclean and immoral. Hassan is trying to get literacy training without her father's knowledge.

Akhdam often have to resort to secrecy. While they are proud of their background among their peers, they usually do not advertise their social caste to outsiders. One successful Akhdam doctor, who has worked in a local hospital for years, does not reveal his social status, afraid he will lose his patients.

Officially, there are efforts to help the Akhdam. The Yemeni government is building a new housing project financed with international aid, says Noor Ba Aabad, assistant to the deputy minister of social affairs and labor.

There have been reports that owners of expensive villas near the housing
project intend to sell out because they don't want to live near the Akhdam.

Ba Aabad, who has worked on women's, children's and poverty issues since
the 1970s, says she thinks the most important way to help the Akhdam is to
integrate them into mainstream society and improve their education.

While mainstream society is becoming more accepting of Akhdam, she says,
Akhdam have low self-esteem. It will take time to erase the effects of centuries of stereotyping, she says.

Society as a whole has to change its beliefs about Akhdam, says Jonathan
Puddifoot, country representative with Care International in Yemen. But the most disadvantaged group in Yemen has to find a way to rise above its
self-perceptions.

"The prejudice keeps them down," he says, "and they keep themselves down as well."

கீழ்ஜாதி பையனை திருமணம் செய்ததற்காக கட்டாய விவாகரத்து!

பாத்திமா அல் திமானி என்ற பெண்மணி கீழ் ஜாதியான மன்சூர் அல் திமானியை திருமணம் செய்ததை தவறு என்று சொல்லி சவுதி அரேபிய ஷாரியா கோர்ட் விவாகரத்து செய்துவிட்டது தெரிந்ததே.

சவுதி அரேபிய மன்னர் தங்களை மன்னித்து மீண்டும் சேர்ந்துவாழ அனுமதிப்பார் என்று இன்னமும் நம்புவதாக பாத்திமா தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.


BC-ME-GEN--Saudi-Forced Divorce,0941
Print article
Refer to a friend
© AP
2008-01-20 14:12:07 -


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Two years ago, a knock on Fatima and Mansour al-Timani's door shattered the life they had built together.
It was the police, delivering news that a judge had annulled their marriage in absentia after some of Fatima's relatives sought the divorce on grounds she had married beneath her.
That was just
the beginning of an ordeal for a couple who _ under Saudi Arabia's strict segregation rules _ can no longer live together. They sued to reverse the ruling, publicized their story and sought help from a Saudi human rights group.
But the two remain apart and Fatima is considering suicide, she said, if her recent appeal to King Abdullah doesn't reunite her with the man she still considers her husband.
«Only the king can resolve my case,» Fatima told The Associated Press by telephone in a rare interview. «I want to return to my husband, but if that is not possible, I need to know so I can put an end to my life.
Fatima's case underscores shortcomings in the kingdom's Islamic legal system _ in which rules of evidence are shaky, lawyers are not always present and sentences often depend on the whim of judges.
Those rules' most frequent _ and recently, most high-profile _ victims are women, who already suffer severe restrictions on daily life in Saudi Arabia: They cannot drive, appear before a judge without a male representative, or travel abroad without a male guardian's permission.
Recently, the king did intervene and pardon another high-profile defendant _ a rape victim who was sentenced to lashes and jail time for being in a car with a man who was not her relative.
The two cases have brought Saudi human rights once again into the international spotlight _ revealing not only the weakness of the kingdom's justice system, but the scant rights Saudi women have here.
«When I heard that the (rape victim) was pardoned, I couldn't believe it. My case is so much simpler than hers, since my divorce is invalid,» Fatima said.
Fatima said her husband, a hospital administrator, followed Saudi tradition in asking her father for permission to marry her in 2003.
«My brother reported good things about him, so my dad accepted his proposal,» said Fatima, a computer specialist who was 29 when she married.
She said her father knew that Mansour came from a less prominent tribe than hers, but that he didn't mind because he «cared about the man himself.
A few months after the wedding, several of Fatima's relatives persuaded her father to give them power of attorney to file a lawsuit demanding an annulment, she said.
Then her father died, and Fatima said she'd hoped the case would be dropped.
But on Feb. 25, 2006, police knocked on the couple's door to serve Mansour with divorce papers _ which said his marriage had been annulled nine months earlier.
«We were shattered. How did this happen? Why?» Fatima asked.
Fatima took the couple's 2-year-old daughter and 4-month-old son to live with her mother, who had persuaded her to let Mansour deal with the legal issues on his own.
But after three months without her husband, Fatima and the children sneaked out of her mother's house and flew with Mansour to the western seaside city of Jiddah, where they sought to live in anonymity.
Saudi police soon discovered them and imprisoned the family for living together illegally.
«The police told me I either return to my (mother's) family or go to jail,» Fatima said. «I chose jail.
«My children and I were thrown in a cell with women sentenced for pushing drugs, practicing witchcraft and behaving immorally,» Fatima said. Authorities allowed her to send her daughter back to live with her father, but the infant stayed with Fatima in jail.
«He learned to speak in jail, he learned to walk in jail and his teeth came out in jail,» she said.

Meanwhile, Mansour went to court to appeal the divorce ruling, but a Riyadh appeals court upheld the decision in 2007.
Last September, the head of a prominent Saudi human rights group reportedly asked the kingdom's highest court to review the case.
Bandar al-Hajjar, head of the National Society of Human Rights, submitted two Islamic studies concluding that the divorce was invalid, according to the Arab News, a Saudi English-language daily.
The studies, conducted by Islamic researcher Adnan Al-Zahrani and Bassam Al-Bassam, a counselor at the Court of Cassation in Mecca, said that if a woman's legal guardian represented her at the original wedding, then other relatives have no right to object to the marriage based on compatibility.
Both studies concluded that Fatima married Mansour with her father's permission, and that only the wife can decide whether she wants her marriage annulled, the paper reported.
Despite their legal fight, Fatima and Mansour remain apart.
After nine months in jail, Fatima moved to an orphanage where she and her son share an apartment with several other women.
Fatima said she is holding out hope the king might pardon her, and recognize her as «married to Mansour, before God.
«I love him more than ever. He's the only one who has stood by me,» she said.

மகமீது ஜாதியை சேர்ந்த அரபு ஜஞ்சாவீது ஜாதிவெறியர் சூடானின் இஸ்லாமிய அரசு ஆலோசகராக நியமனம்

மூஸா ஹிலால் என்னும் ஜஞ்சாவீது தலைவரின் கீழ் கருப்பினத்தவர்கள் டார்பரில் கொல்லப்படுகின்றார்கள். இந்த அரபு இனவெறியரால் இதுவரை பல லட்சக்கணக்கான கருப்பின முஸ்லீம்கள் கொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளனர். ஏராளமான பெண்கள் கற்பழிக்கப்பட்டு கொல்லப்பட்டிருக்கின்றனர். ஏராளமான கர்ப்பிணி பெண்கள் கதற கதற சிசு வீசியெறியப்பட்டு சிதைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

அப்படிப்பட்ட கொடூரனான இந்த மூஸா ஹிலால் தற்போது சூடானின் அரபு இஸ்லாமிய அரசின் முக்கிய ஆலோசகராக நியமனம் செய்யபப்ட்டுள்ளார்.

சூடானில் இருக்கும் அரபு ஜாதிகளில் மகாமீது என்ற ஜாதியை சேர்ந்தவர் இந்த மூஸா ஹிலால்.

Sudan president appoints notorious Janjaweed leader as special adviser
Thursday 17 January 2008 04:48. Printer-Friendly version Comments...

January 16, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir appointed a suspected Janjaweed leader as a special adviser.


Musa Hilal (NYT)Press reports in Khartoum said that Al-Bashir issued a decree appointing Musa Hilal, leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan, as an adviser for the ministry of federal government.

Hilal has been named by numerous eyewitnesses in Darfur as leading terror campaign against the African tribes in the war ravaged region.

The tribal leader denied any wrongdoings and told Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a videotaped interview in 2005, that he only recruited militias on behalf of Sudan’s central government.

The 43 years old was jailed by the Sudanese authorities in 1998 for leading armed robbery of the central bank in the city of Nyala in Darfur. However the First Vice president Ali Osman Taha secured his release in 2002 for unknown reasons.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when an ethnic minority rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which then was accused of enlisting the Janjaweed militia group to help crush the rebellion.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been investigating the war crimes in Darfur and has issued arrest warrants against Ahmed Muhammed Harun the Sudanese minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb.

Hilal was named in the filings made by the ICC prosecutor in February 2007 as making a speech alongside with Harun in July 2003, which was characterized as “racist”. However he was not named as a war crime suspect.

“Hilal was enthusiastic about unifying to fight the enemy and characterized the conflict as a holy war” the ICC prosecutor said in the document he submitted to the judges.

The UN Security Council imposed travel and financial sanctions on Hilal and three other individuals in April 2006. The US president George Bush issued an executive order enforcing similar sanctions on them.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.

(ST)

தாழ்ந்த அரபுஜாதி கணவரை மணந்ததற்காக விவாகரத்து கொடுக்கப்பட்ட பெண்

அரபியர்களின் ஜாதிவெறி காரணமாக கட்டாயமாக பிரிக்கப்பட்ட தம்பதியினர் சார்பாக பலரும் முறையீடு செய்திருக்கின்றனர்.
ஆனால் மன்னர் மனம் இன்னும் இரங்கவில்லை

Fatima and Mansour Still Have Hope, Says NSHR
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News


JEDDAH, 10 December 2007 — Fatima, the forcefully divorced wife and perhaps the most spoken about Saudi woman in the past two years, knows nothing of the International Human Rights Day, which is taking place today.

For seven months, Fatima, 34, has been living in a women’s refuge — with her two-year-old son Sulaiman — after agreeing to leave prison.

In a highly publicized case, a Saudi judge nullified Fatima’s marriage to Mansour Al-Timani, 37, on July 20, 2005. The court decision was issued after Fatima’s half brothers filed a divorce case saying that Mansour had lied about his tribal background.

However, by that time Fatima and Mansour were already parents of two children. Fatima remains in the refuge, and refuses to return into the custody of the men who arranged for her marriage to be nullified.

Hussein Al-Sharif, head of the National Society of Human Rights’ (NSHR) Western Province branch and a law professor at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, said that although a higher court last January upheld the decision to nullify the marriage there is still a way out.

“The only legal way to end this family’s misery is for the king to intervene by asking the Supreme Judicial Council, the highest judicial authority in the Kingdom, to look at the case again,” he said.

Al-Sharif said that NSHR President Bandar Al-Hajjar sent an official letter to the Royal Court last September asking for the case to be reviewed. The NSHR provided along with the letter two studies, based on Islamic law, concluding that the divorce is invalid.

The studies have been undertaken by Adnan Al-Zahrani, a researcher in Islamic law, and Bassam Al-Bassam, a counselor at the Court of Cassation in Makkah.

The two studies, copies of which have been obtained by Arab News, provide sayings from the Prophet (peace be upon him) as well as Islamic scholars negating the Al-Jouf judge’s decision to nullify Mansour and Fatima’s marriage.

Both scholars agreed that if the woman’s legal guardian represented the bride during the original wedding contract, then other members of the family have no right to object to the marriage based on compatibility. Both studies stress that it is only the wife who can decide whether she wants her marriage to be annulled. Fatima married Mansour with the approval of her father.

However, for more than two years Fatima continues to yearn to be with Mansour. Since Arab News initially met her in November 2006 at Dammam Prison, Fatima continues to say, “I want to go back to my husband. I will never submit to anyone who wants to ruin my family.”

It seems that as the time passes, Fatima is becoming more resilient about her case. At the refuge, Fatima looks after her son Sulaiman and patiently awaits news on her case.

She is limited in how much she is allowed to venture out and is monitored. “I can hardly go outside and shop. If that happens, then I’m not allowed to go alone. The social workers say they fear my half brothers would see me outside,” said Fatima.

Since moving to the shelter, Fatima and Sulaiman have not seen Mansour nor Sulaiman’s elder sister Noha.

Last year Sulaiman celebrated his first birthday in prison and this Eid he will be at the shelter, which is more like an orphanage.

“Sometimes, I look at my son and wish I could get into his brain and know what this two-year-old could be possibly thinking?” said Fatima.

Fatima’s husband, Mansour, who lives temporarily in Riyadh with Noha, has not lost hope either. “I really wish our case reaches the council; if it did I’m sure they will rule for us getting back together,” he said.

In the same way that Fatima is suffering, Mansour is also. In July he was made to sign two gag orders by Dammam police preventing him from speaking to the press. When being made to sign the second gag order, Mansour was also detained with Noha.

After two years of separation, Mansour and Fatima have not lost hope of reuniting. “She is still my wife,” Mansour told Arab News, breaking the gag order.

“The best thing that happened to me is having children from Mansour. He will always be my husband and the father of my children,” said Fatima.

கணவன் வேறுஜாதி என்பதால் விவாகரத்து செய்விக்கப்பட்ட பெண் தற்கொலை முயற்சி

கணவன் கீழ் ஜாதியை சேர்ந்தவர் என்பதால் மனைவியையும் குழந்தைகளையும் பிரித்து அவர்களுக்கு கட்டாய விவாகரத்து கொடுத்த சவுதி அரசாங்கத்தை பற்றியும், இந்த தம்பதியினர் அல்திமானியை பற்றியும் முன்னரே எழுதியிருந்தேன்.

இந்த பெண்மணி பாத்திமா அல்திமானி, குழந்தைகளையும் கணவனையும் பிரிந்து இருக்கும் சோகத்தில் தற்போது தற்கொலை புரிந்துகொள்ள முயற்சி செய்திருக்கிறார்

இப்படிப்பட்ட குரூரமான இஸ்லாமிய ஷாரியாவை விட்டு, அமைதிமார்க்கமான இந்துமதம் வர அரபுக்களை அழைப்போம்.

Forcefully Divorced Fatima Threatens Suicide
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News

JEDDAH, 22 December 2007 — Human rights activist Fawziya Al-Oyoni said that Fatima, the 34-year-old woman who was forcefully divorced from her husband by a judge in 2005 at the request of her half-brothers, called her in a state of panic threatening to commit suicide late Thursday night.

Fatima spent Eid in a women’s shelter in Dammam with her two-year-old son. Most of the staff at the shelter went home for the holidays.

“She told me ‘please come and take my child, I have to end my life tonight. I can’t take this anymore’,” said Al-Oyoni, recounting the phone conversation. She said Fatima asked her to pick up the boy, Suleiman, and deliver him to his father. “‘I’m tired,’ she said. ‘I’m just tired. Please come right away’.”

Al-Oyoni, who is based in the Eastern Province, said she fears that Fatima’s mental state is cracking under an ordeal that started when her father passed away. Objecting to what they considered her husband’s low tribal background, Fatima’s half-brothers asked a local court to divorce the couple even though they had been married for over two years and had children.

The judge agreed. The couple fled and were later arrested in Jeddah where they were seeking help from officials. Fatima and her children spent some time in a women’s prison and when she refused to go back to her family the state sent her to the women’s shelter.

“I was literally shaking when I received her call,” said Al-Oyoni yesterday in an interview with Arab News. “She’s had rough days before, but this time it was different; she sounded determined to kill herself. She was screaming.”

Al-Oyoni said she contacted an official at the governmental Human Rights Commission on Thursday night requesting that they provide Fatima with a psychiatrist. “They told me to try to calm her down and tell her that they’re working on the case,” she said.

Fatima’s 37-year-old husband said yesterday that he fears his wife (he still considers her his wife) is breaking down under the stress. “She was always the strong and very much stubborn in fighting for her rights,” he said. “She’s wearing out.”

Al-Oyoni has now sent a letter to a high official (Arab News is withholding this name due to the sensitivity of the case) explaining Fatima’s mental state and her current situation.

Al-Oyoni said she’s asking this official to present Fatima’s case to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah hoping he might intervene.

Hussein Al-Sharif, head of the National Society of Human Rights (NSHR) in the Western Province and a law professor at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, told Arab News last week that since the Court of Cassation upheld the lower court’s verdict in January reversing the decision would require royal intervention.

A study by the NSHR was presented to the king in September that concluded the divorce ruling is invalid based on Islamic law.

Fatima was not answering her phone yesterday. Speaking to Arab News last week she said life in the women’s shelter is much like a prison.

She is limited in how much she is allowed to venture out and is monitored. “The social workers say they fear my half brothers would see me outside,” she said.

Adding to the stress, Fatima has said that she receives hateful SMS messages from her half-siblings. She provided Arab News with one that read: “We are highly connected with officials. You’re not getting anywhere by what you are doing you (expletive). You have no choice but to come back to us. Forget about your husband, the slave.”

Al-Oyoni said she was able to contact Fatima yesterday. “She sounded a bit better today, but I’m still very much concerned about her safety and that of her child,” said Al-Oyoni.

கருப்பின மக்களை துரத்தி அரபுஜாதியினரை டார்பரில் குடியேற்றவில்லை- சூடான் மறுப்பு

கருப்பின மக்களை டார்பரிலிருந்து துரத்திவிட்டு அங்கு இடத்தை கைப்பற்ற மற்ற நாடுகளிலிருந்து அரபு ஜாதியினரை இறக்குமதி செய்து டார்பரில் குடியேற்றி அங்கு மீதமிருக்கும் கருப்பினத்தவரை கொல்ல முயற்சி செய்வதாக மனித உரிமை கழங்கங்களும் கருப்பினத்தவரும் சூடானின் அரபு அரசாங்கத்தை குற்றம் சாட்டுகின்றனர்

அப்படியெல்லாம் இல்லை என்று சூடான் அரசாங்கம் மறுத்துள்ளது.

Sudan Denies Arab Tribes Repatriation Charge
Thursday 29 November 2007

Khartoum: sudan vision Dilay

Sudan denied charges that it is attempting to repatriate Arab tribes from Mali, Niger and Chad in the form of regular migratory waves in order to change the demography of Darfur region.
The Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Hasabu Mohammed Abdelrahman, said Sudan had received in West Darfur State a number of Chadian refugees at the beginning of 2007 as a result of the struggle between the Chadian government and opposition.
"The surveys made by UNHCR, the Refugees Commission and West Darfur State for verifying the accusations have revealed that Sudan has not made any attempt at repatriating refugees," Abdelrahman said, reiterating that those refugees are a mixture of Arab and non-Arab tribes that fled the insecurity conditions in their home regions. He noted that the refugees have been accommodated in camps in order to return to their home regions after improvement of conditions there.
Abdelrahman explained at a press conference he held yesterday afternoon that the concerned authorities in West Darfur State has treated those refugees in accordance with the immigration rules and regulations, stating that they were granted the status of refugees pursuant to the provisions of international humanitarian law and the Geneve Convention that protects their possessions considering that they are herders who came over with their cattle. He added that the local authorities has allowed them to reside in Um-Shala camp while the West Darfur authorities has formed a technical committee to address any problems that may arise.
Referring to the abduction of Sudanese children from Chad, Abdelrahman said the missing 74 children were reported to be present in Europe, indicating that the abduction project, named (Darfur Sward) and promoted in the United States and Europe, started last March, targeting 10,000 children. The project, he explained, was planned to collect children inside the Sudanese border (mostly from refugee camps), assemble them at Urri region, accommodate them there for three months and finally smuggle them to Abeshi to round off the scenario. He disclosed that Sudan has lodged an official demand for investigation the issue in both Sudan and Chad for uncovering the plot and the motives of the culprits, be they individuals, groups or organizations.
Abdelrahman called on the EU , the AU, Arab and Islamic groups and the Human Rights Council to recognize the act as one of the most enslavement heinous crimes in view of the fact that French families have paid between 2500 - 5000 euros each for the operation.
Abdelrahman further revealed that a number of French organizations said they had been asked during the past months of April and May to support the child abduction operation and that they had consequently filed defamation claims at French courts

டார்பரில் இருக்கும் அமைதிப்படை மீது ஜிகாத் தொடுக்க பின்லாடர் அறைகூவல்

சூடானின் இஸ்லாமிய அரபு அரசாங்கத்து துருப்புகளும் அவர்களது கூலிப்படையான அரபு போராளிக்குழு ஜஞ்சாவீதும் டார்பரில் உள்ள கருப்பின மக்களை கொன்று குவித்து வருகின்றனர்.

உலக மக்கள் உரத்த குரலெடுத்து கோரியதன் காரணமாக ஆப்பிரிக்க யூனியனின் துருப்புகள் இங்கு அமைதி நிலைநாட்ட வந்திருக்கின்றன.

அந்த துருப்புகளை கொல்ல பின்லாடர் கோரிக்கை விடுத்துள்ளார்


Bin Laden calls for jihad against Darfur peacekeepers
The Associated PressPublished: October 23, 2007

CAIRO, Egypt: Al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden called for a holy war against a proposed peacekeeping force in Sudan's war torn region of Darfur in a message that appeared on jihadi Web sites Tuesday.

The audio recording was accompanied by a still picture and excerpts were aired by pan-Arab satellite news channel al-Jazeera on Monday. Bin Laden called on those living in the areas surrounding Darfur, particularly the Arabian peninsula, to drive out any foreign forces in the region.

"It is the duty of the people of Islam in the Sudan and its environs, especially the Arabian Peninsula, to perform jihad against the Crusader invaders and wage armed rebellion to remove those who let them in," he said, according to a transcript provided by IntelCenter which monitors jihadi Web sites.

Bin Laden's deputy, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawhiri, made a similar call for jihad in Darfur in a Sept. 20 video message.

In Tuesday's message, bin Laden referred to talks between Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir and Saudi officials to pressure him to agree to a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. Those meetings took place in March and April of this year.

Today in Africa & Middle East

2 reports assail U.S. State Dept. role on Iraq security

Bombs strike commuters southeast of Baghdad

New threat reported against Bhutto

In the sections of the message broadcast Monday, Bin Laden took the highly uncharacteristic step of admitting the movement had made mistakes and chiding in followers for not uniting their ranks -- a reference to the squabbles among the various insurgent groups in Iraq.

"Everybody can make a mistake, but the best of them are those who admit their mistakes," he said. "Mistakes have been made during holy wars but mujahideen have to correct their mistakes."

The Arab satellite station's decision to only air these critical parts of the video rather than the lengthy opening section which applauded insurgent victories in Iraq appeared to have angered the militants.

On one militant Web site that is a clearing house for extremist videos, it was announced the message would appear uncut and its entirety, as opposed to the way it was shown by al-Jazeera.

"The shameful and dissolute channel is seeking to support the Crusaders and the enemies," said an angry posting on the site. "The channel is the shame of the Islamic community.

The site then called on all of its supporters to reveal to the world the falsehoods and wickedness of the channel. In the past, al-Jazeera was the outlet of choice for al-Qaida videos.

The rest bin Laden's message applauded the insurgents in Iraq for a job well done and told them to remain steadfast in the face of the increase in coalition forces, singling out the fighters in Diyala in particular.

"You massacred the enemy and applied yourself to fighting them, until they became prisoners of their bases and the Green Zone, fearing danger. So continue to make the soldiers of unblief drink from the bitter cup of death."

Bin Laden also called on Arabs from around the region to join the fight in Iraq.

_________

Associated Press Writer Nadia Abou el-Magd contributed to this report

அரபியர்களின் கற்பழிப்பு ஜிகாத் - டார்பர் கருப்பின பெண்களின் துயரம்

டார்பரின் கருப்பின பெண்கள் இனவெறி கொண்ட அரபு ஜஞ்ஞாவீத் போராளிகளால் கற்பழித்து கொல்லப்படுகிறார்கள்.

இந்த பெண்களின் துயரத்தை கண்டும் காணாததுமாக உலகம் இருக்கிறது.

இந்த கருப்பின மக்களும் இஸ்லாமியர்களே. அரபுகள் இவர்களது நிலங்களை அரபியாவிலிருந்து வந்து ஆக்கிரமித்து இவர்களை கட்டாயமாக இஸ்லாமுக்கு மதம் மாற்றினர். தற்போது அரபு ஜாதிகளுக்கு மேலும் நிலம் வேண்டும் என்பதற்காக சவுதி அரேபியா போன்ற இஸ்லாமிய நாடுகளிலிருந்து பணம் பெற்று அதன் உதவியுடன் ஆயுதங்களை வாங்கி பல அரபு ஜாதியினரை இணைத்து ஜஞ்ஞாவீத் என்ற போராளிக்கூட்டத்தத உருவாக்கியுள்ளது சூடான் இஸ்லாமிய அரசு.

இவர்கள் டார்பரின் கருப்பின பெண்களை கற்பழித்து கொன்று துரத்துகின்றனர். இதுவரை பல லட்சக்கணக்கான கருப்பினத்தவர் கொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

கற்பழிக்கப்பட்ட பெண்கள் தங்களது குரல்களை தற்போது பதிவு செய்து வருகின்றனர்

September 23, 2007
Curse of the Janjaweed

Since 2003, Janjaweed bandits have been preying on the women of Darfur. Nobody knows how many they have raped, nobody knows how many pregnancies have resulted from these attacks, or how many babies have been killed by their ‘disgraced’ mothers. But now the women are beginning to speak out. Photographs: Jon NicholsonAnn McFerran
As soon as she saw the two darkly clad men riding towards her on camels, their heads and faces swathed in scarves, Nafisa Mohamed knew what she must do. “I told my son and my daughter to run as fast as they could.” The men were the Janjaweed, nomadic Arab bandits who have been slaughtering Darfuri men and raping women, in a military offensive engineered by the Sudanese government. Jinn is Arabic for demon and jawad means horse. Darfuri people will tell you that the Janjaweed are indeed devils on horseback. Nafisa had been living for a year in Kalma camp, which houses about 120,000 Darfuri people who have had their homes destroyed by the Janjaweed. On this day she walked several miles away from the camp with two of her children to collect firewood. When the men approached, she feared they would try to kill her 13-year-old son and rape her 11-year-old daughter, but thought that if she surrendered herself and submitted they wouldn’t bother chasing her children. She knew they might kill her. Certainly they’d rape her.

The first man went off in pursuit of other women, while the second tore off her tobe, a large veil that covers the head and body, and screamed at her: “Unclean slave! I will give you a pale-skinned baby.” Then he thrust himself upon her so violently, she bled: “Slave woman! Your children will be Arabs, and they will inherit this land.” Afterwards, Nafisa, full of self-loathing, ran as fast as she could back to the camp where her other children were waiting. Her greatest fear was that she’d become pregnant by a Janjaweed.

Nafisa, 30, and her children live in Kalma camp near Nyala, the capital of Southern Darfur, where the Khartoum government has been conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arabs for the past five years. Around 300,000 have died as a result, and more than 2m have lost their homes – over a third of the population. In 2004, when Nafisa’s village was destroyed by the Janjaweed, she had trekked to Kalma camp with thousands of others to escape the slaughter. Even then, what was happening in Darfur was condemned by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, as “genocide”.

Nafisa is a Fur, from the original tribe of Darfur. She is strong, resourceful and beautiful. She is also almost illiterate, as she left school at the age of 11 to become engaged to a man nearly 20 years older. She married him at 13, and had his five children. Then he left her for a second wife. He gave the family’s food card from the World Food Programme (WFP) to his new wife.

Multimedia
Curse of the Janjaweed

“I couldn’t afford to be pregnant,” says Nafisa. “My children would be shamed by a Janjaweed baby.” Within weeks, however, it became clear that she was pregnant. “I hated the Janjaweed baby I was carrying,” she says. “I hated myself.”

In October 2006, during Ramadan, Nafisa went into labour and gave birth to a perfect baby girl. And then a small miracle happened: she was overwhelmed with love. “I thought, this baby doesn’t deserve my hatred or anger. This baby is a gift from God, so that is my baby’s name, Quisma, which means ‘gift from God’.”

As Nafisa reaches this part of her story, Gisma, who is 10 months old, and has been suckling noisily under her mother’s orange tobe, peers out at us. “The love that I feel for my daughter is as powerful as the hatred I feel for her father,” smiles Nafisa. “Gisma is part of me.” Gisma is lucky, and she may be exceptional. Nafisa knows raped mothers who have placed their innocent offspring in plastic bags and thrust them down latrines. “But that’s bad,” she says. “A child is a child, and no matter what its birth, it should be given every chance to live.”

Since violence convulsed Darfur in February 2003, rape has been part of the Janjaweed’s gruesome pattern of violence against the Darfuri people, though rape was virtually unheard of before these attacks. But it’s impossible to determine how many babies have been born from rape, partly because of a widespread belief that pregnancy only results from wanted sex, and partly because of the subsequent shame of these mothers in this traditional Muslim society.

In the early years of the conflict, some rape victims who had babies were ostracised, and some of them rejected their babies. The Sudanese journalist Nima Elbagir recalls “a hugely disturbing” encounter in Western Darfur in 2005 with a 14-year-old rape victim. The girl was dark-skinned but her baby was light-skinned, suggesting its father was a Janjaweed. The girl was so traumatised, she refused even to hold her baby, let alone feed it. When Elbagir returned some months later, she learnt that the baby had died from lack of nutrition.

In Sudan, a child’s identity is determined by the ethnicity of the father. In Darfur, the rapists have a ready-made excuse for their crimes on the battlefield: to replace the existing communities with a new generation of Arab children.

Darfur is a complex African crisis, rooted in violent ethnic and historical factors, and recently exacerbated by drought and famine. Most of Darfur’s 6m people are either farmers or nomadic herders. Most farmers are African and most nomads Arab. Until recently, the two groups mixed fairly easily. Competition between the tribes tended to be economic rather than ethnic. The three main African tribes are the Fur, who are also the largest, the Zaghawa and the Masalit. Almost everyone is Muslim, speaks Arabic and has dark skin.

The recent violence also has its roots in the cultural legacy of slavery, now outlawed. Until little more than a generation ago, Darfur was Sudan’s slave-trading ground. For many Arab Sudanese, Darfuri women are seen as beautiful, sexually generous and comparatively liberated. By some Arabs they are seen as fit for little more than slavery or prostitution.

Earlier this year, in a dizzying vindication of lawless Janjaweed behaviour, the Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal summarised the contempt the Janjaweed feel for Darfuri women: “Why would you want to rape these women? They’re disgusting; rape is shameful. We have honour, but our men wouldn’t need to use force. These things hold no shame for these women.”

Some rural Darfuri women are not circumcised – certainly none of those I spoke to was – unlike Sudanese Arab women, who are often subjected to an extreme form of genital mutilation. To the Janjaweed, this is conclusive proof that many Darfuri women are unclean.

Women in Darfur who report rapes are risking their lives and stand more chance of being prosecuted than the rapists. (Earlier this year two women were sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery, although their sentences have yet to be executed.) In sharia law, a woman needs four male witnesses to testify to a rape. If she is married, reports a rape but doesn’t have these witnesses, she may be prosecuted for adultery and stoned to death. The Khartoum government has always vehemently denied that its soldiers rape women. Because of what one Sudanese human-rights activist describes as the government’s ongoing objection to the focus of rape in Darfur, the official statistics for last year’s rape cases amounted to a paltry seven. The Janjaweed, like the police and the rest of the military, enjoy immunity.

Six months ago, Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, publicly denied that rape had ever been a problem in Darfur. “It’s not in the Sudanese culture to rape,” he said. “Rape doesn’t exist.” In the teeth of such denial, non-governmental organisations risk being expelled from Darfur if they speak out. In 2005, when Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) published a damning report on the scale of rape, two senior members were arrested – a stark warning to other NGOs. Later that year, police arrested a rape victim in Nyala who’d gone to a clinic for help.

Earlier this year, after lengthy negotiations with the government, a delegation from the US-based group Refugees International arrived in Khartoum to investigate rape in Darfur. They were ordered to leave Sudan within 24 hours.

Fatima was cooking when she heard the vehicle outside her front door. In it were eight men, some in military fatigues. She’d been expecting them ever since she’d been seen rescuing her neighbour’s six-year-old daughter when the Janjaweed were attacking neighbours’ houses. It was 2003, and the Janjaweed’s brutal campaign was beginning to intensify. What happened next is hard to fathom because Fatima emits a sound from somewhere deep within her that is piercing and startling, like the cry of a wounded animal.

Her wail continues for what seems an age. Tears pour down her face as she recalls how the men beat her, whipped her, then proceeded to rape her, passing her from one to the other. Then they whipped her again. She pulls aside her black tobe to reveal a large scar on her shoulder. Then another by her ribcage and left breast. “When I remember that day I can’t control my crying. On that day I lost my children; I lost my heart.”

We are in a large tent that is the women’s centre in Otash camp, near Nyala. Our translator says that Fatima is like many women from Western Darfur whose villages have been destroyed. “What happened to these women is so terrible that we’d find ourselves sitting with them from 6am to 6pm while they wept. Often they don’t want to admit that they became pregnant as a result of rape because they fear that they and their children will be stigmatised.”

But like most Darfuri women, Fatima, 37, is resourceful and courageous, and before the men returned she had prepared emergency supplies – a jerry can of water and a bag of food. When the rape took place, her three older children were helping their uncle at the market. She hopes they’re still with him, because she hasn’t seen them since. (Her husband had been killed some months before.) Within hours of the attack, she strapped her 18-month-old son on her back, took her four-year-old’s hand and set out in the direction of Nyala. It took her 30 days to reach Otash camp. But she arrived safely, and eight months later gave birth to a baby girl, Maryam.

Four years on, Fatima still lives at Otash, in a small, sweltering hut. A rope bed with a filthy blanket stands along one side; at the back is a sack of millet. From the roof hang cooking utensils and jerry cans. A rush mat covers part of the dirt floor. Fatima’s sons appear. She picks up Maryam and sits her proudly on her lap.

Fatima’s life since the rape sounds relentlessly hard. She earns a little money washing blankets for others in the camp, for which she is paid the price of a bar of soap. That money and the WFP’s millet and oil are what she and her family survive on. “My children don’t have enough to eat,” she says. “I still cry and cry because of that terrible day. Time has not healed.” People view her with suspicion because of her situation, and men can be disrespectful to a woman alone. Sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night to find a man in her hut. “I scream ‘Thief!’”

Ask Fatima why her village was attacked in 2003 and she says: “I had heard that the Sudanese want the land of the Fur, so they want us to leave our land.” Which is more or less what the conflict amounts to. In the past two decades, relations between the Arab and African tribes in Darfur have become increasingly strained as persistent drought has forced the camel-riding Arabs onto the more arable lands of the African farmers. Hostilities simmered with the arrival of more Arabs from Chad, Mali and Mauritania. But Khartoum’s leaders ignored the tensions, and even appointed Arabs to Darfur’s top jobs. In February 2003, a group of African rebels calling themselves the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) swept into the airport in El Fasher, northern Darfur, killed 100 soldiers and posted their manifesto on the internet, demanding a democratic Sudan for all Arab and African tribes.

Khartoum’s government realised that since most Sudanese rank-and-file soldiers were from Darfur, they couldn’t be relied upon to turn on their own families and communities. The president called on Arab warlords to crush the rebels. The most enthusiastic recruits came from small bands of Arab nomads who were little more than freelance bandits. They relished the opportunity to grab land and livestock: the Janjaweed – evil on horseback – were born.

Goaded by Khartoum’s exhortations of Arab supremacy, the Janjaweed began a brutal and effective system to destroy the Darfuri people. Liaising with the Sudanese air force and army by satellite phone as villages were being shelled, the Janjaweed would then ride in on camel or horseback to finish the carnage. They’d kill the men, rape the women, often in front of their families, then burn down the rest of the villages. As a parting gesture, boy babies might be thrown into the fire. In February 2004, 75 people were killed in the town of Tawilla and more than 100 women raped – some by as many as 14 men; six girls in front of their fathers.

In March 2004, just before the world’s leaders commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, Mukesh Kapila, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, told the BBC: “This is ethnic cleansing; I don’t know why the world isn’t doing more.” By January 2005, the UN had completed an international inquiry and concluded that the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed were responsible for crimes against humanity, but said they could find no evidence of a policy of genocide. The UK’s then foreign minister, Lord Triesman, doesn’t balk at the term “genocide” but prefers “ ‘crimes of concern to humanity’, which includes war crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing”.

Khartoum had often described the Janjaweed’s attacks as overenthusiastic counterinsurgency. Whether it was this or a carefully orchestrated campaign of ethnic cleansing, Triesman knew he had to negotiate with Khartoum: “We [the international community] were like rabbits in the headlights – because of the complexity of Darfur. People were appealing to Bashir’s better nature. They should have saved their breath. You don’t get bad people to become good people by schmoozing them. The government of Sudan believed we didn’t have the mettle to test them on the two things that mattered most to them – their leaders ending up before the International Criminal Court, like Milosevic, and they didn’t want it to appear as if they did not exert authority in their own country.”

Today, with most people in central Darfur living in camps, the women are most vulnerable to the Janjaweed when they leave the camps to collect firewood and hay. Gathering firewood is one of the few ways to supplement basic aid. It used to be men’s work; now it’s yet another task performed by the women. Gladys Atinga, a Ghanaian who runs the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) gender-based violence programme in Southern Darfur, says this is also causing a profound change. “Many women have lost their husbands because of the war. They see the remaining men taking advantage of the war, protesting that they’re targets of the killers, so can’t collect firewood. They see how irresponsible and useless the men have become.”

The African Union’s (AU) troops in Darfur sometimes accompany the women as they collect wood, supposedly to protect them. But they don’t usually go the whole distance, and their “firewood patrol days” are known throughout the community, so the attacks on the women on other days are more intense. Until the UN hybrid force arrives in 2008, women will be vulnerable. Meanwhile, Darfur is descending further into tribal anarchy. It’s often hard to work out who is fighting who, let alone why. Some of the most brutal recent rapes are by former SLA rebels led by Minni Minnawi now fighting alongside government militias. Atinga describes how this summer she helped women raped and mutilated by former SLA rebels. “These women haunt me,” she says.

But a remarkable breakthrough is happening. In this highly conservative society, where rape has been the ultimate female disgrace, Darfuri women are beginning to talk. When rapes increased around Kalma camp recently, four women leaders encouraged more than 300 women to demand a meeting with members of the international community to discuss ways to improve protection. “War is terrible,” says Atinga. “Yet despite what they’ve endured, Darfuri women are being transformed because of the war and are becoming more powerful.”

Along the road from Nyala to Manawashei are convoys of WFP and Red Cross vehicles. In the early years of the conflict, when aid agencies were scarce and their neutrality respected, neither side attacked vehicles carrying aid. Today, they are some of the bandits’ biggest prizes. The sight of camels wandering among thorn bushes makes even experienced UN drivers visibly tense, particularly on a 12-mile stretch they call the “forest”, where the Janjaweed have camps.

At Manawashei’s camp, the queue of women for Dr Nourad Umdadin is long, even in the heat of the midday sun. Some come to the doctor at night. A few weeks ago, a father and his 15-year-old pregnant daughter knocked on the doctor’s door one evening. The girl had been raped on firewood patrol, and the doctor says her father was distraught with anxiety – the girl wouldn’t be able to marry and would bring disgrace on her family. Abortion is against the law in Sudan, but the doctor performed what he describes as “a suitable medical procedure”.

Occasionally, he says, young women take action themselves. Discovering she was pregnant, a 17-year-old rape victim drank iodine, believing it would poison the foetus. By the time she came to see the doctor, “she was fainting and I could do nothing”. The doctor sent her to hospital, where she died a slow, painful death. A gentle, compassionate man in his early thirties, the doctor stretches out his palms in a supplicatory gesture. “What can I do to help these young girls? First they’re raped, then their shame is so great they do terrible things to themselves.”

Eighteen months ago, Haja Ibrahim, 25, set out from Manawashei camp with some other women to collect hay. When they saw the Janjaweed, the women tried to escape. Two succeeded, on donkeys, but Haja couldn’t run fast enough. While the men raped her, she screamed. For a month after the rape, she couldn’t – or didn’t – speak at all. Today she speaks in a husky whisper. “After they raped me they branded me with a knife, saying that is what they did to slave women or to their camels.” But the women who’d escaped on donkeys returned with others from the camp, and the bandits fled. “I was lying almost naked in the dirt. My mother cried and cried when she saw me.”

When Haja found she was pregnant, her husband, who’d left her some years earlier, refused to send money to her other two children. Like Nafisa, Haja says she loves her baby. However, she hates it that there are still some who taunt her child for its Janjaweed parentage. “People are shocked at what happened to me, but I think women understand and are angry for me. And they think we should talk about the terrible things that have happened to us.”

As Gordon Brown and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy unite to tackle the problems in Darfur, David Triesman says all the “building blocks” are in place for resolution of the conflict. Those blocks include the threats of the International Criminal Court, sanctions, an arms embargo and the strengthened AU/UN hybrid force. Triesman is confident that “Gordon will see this as a moral issue in which an ethical outcome is essential.” He adds: “And if there isn’t a ceasefire when the hybrid force arrives, I’d be inclined to say to the Janjaweed, ‘If you don’t stop fighting, we will come after you and kill you.’”

Tough talk, but Triesman insists: “Only when Darfur is no longer a war zone will there be effective protection of women.” And what will happen to the children of the raped Darfuri women, to the babies of the Janjaweed? If the children’s mothers are brave enough to care for them in the first place, they will perhaps be integrated within their communities. “A blind eye will be turned towards their paternity,” says Pam Delargy of the UNFPA. “A general amnesia will take place.”

Jon Nicholson’s photographs of Darfuri women will be exhibited at the Air Gallery, 32 Dover Street, London W1, from October 8 to 13. Tel: 020 7250 4500.

To help the women of Darfur, visit www.unfpa.org

அரபியர்களும் அவர்களது எஜமான சிந்தனையும், மற்றவர்களை அடிமைகளாக நடத்துவதும்

அரபியர்களும் அவர்களது எஜமான சிந்தனையும், மற்றவர்களை அடிமைகளாக நடத்துவதை பற்றியும் எழுதப்பட்ட கட்டுரை
பங்களாதேஷ் பத்திரிக்கையில் வந்துள்ளது.
முக்கியமாக பங்களாதேஷ் மக்கள் எப்படி அரபியர்களால் நடத்தப்படுகிறார்கள் என்பதை பேசுகிறது.

Knowing the Arabs
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

Almost all the non-Arab Muslim nations consider Arabs as ‘brethren’ or ‘beloved part of Muslim Ummah’. However, let us have a glimpse over the Arab mind. In their mind, those Arabs always hold a kind of superior attitude thus considering most of the poor Muslim nations as ‘Miskins’ [baggers]. Bangladeshis working in the Middle East are well acquainted to such brutal Arab mentality. Arabs consider themselves to be a kind of superior creations of God and treat all other Muslims, especially those from poor nations to be subject of fulfilling their luster and nasty desires. We know about sexual and otherwise exploitation of tinder-aged boys from poor Muslim nations to Arab countries, especially United Arab Emirates, are not only used as ‘Camel Jockeys’ but also are molested and sexually abused by Arab sheikhs as well affluent Arabs for decades.

This is not the only side of the nasty Arab face. Whenever a poor Bangladeshi would go to Arab countries to work in various projects or offices, they are treated like unconditional slaves by their Arab employers and in some cases even worst. Arab men and women in many cases try to sexually abuse and harass the domestic employees, which is a very common phenomenon. There are at least a few hundred cases of Bangladeshi workers [both male and female] who went to Arab houses as domestic employees, and finally they are back home with the horrifying memories of being sexually abused by their masters. In some cases, Bangladeshi females, who worked in Arab houses came back home with HIV virus infection. In addition, most interestingly, in case of any such incidents, Arab employees mostly remain above the law while there are some instances where male employees were charged with rape charges by the Arab women, who failed to ultimately get the poor workers in meeting their sexual urge.

Istiak, a Bangladeshi village youth went to Saudi Arabia as domestic servant in 1997. He was recruited by one of the Arab businessperson who owns large super markets in the country. Istiak’s employer had seven wives at home and had a bad habit of attending many more concubines and prostitutes. This made his wives mentally sick and they virtually turned into a kind of beast searching human flesh. Istiak was rather a handsome young man with well-built physical structure as he worked in agricultural fields for years before he found the ‘opportunity’ of a job in Saudi Arabia. When he went to Kuwait, Istiak found to have been provided a rather luxurious life in comparing to what he has lived since his childhood in Bangladesh. The employer provided him a room at the top floor of his mansion and his job was to keep the house clean. Things were ‘excellent’ for him for first 18 days after he arrived in Kuwait. Then at one evening, his employer did not come back home. Istiak was asked by his employer’s third wife to clean her bedroom right after the supper. The Bangladeshi Youngman innocently went in her room as per instructions and started mopping the floor. At one stage, he was horrified to see that the employer’s wife locked the door and went to take shower, asking Istiak not to leave the room. Few minutes later she entered the room by in a panty and short bikini with an ulterior motive of seducing his. He was asked to massage olive oil in her body. Istiak had no option left but to obey her orders in fear of loosing job. Once he started massaging oil, she suddenly grabbed him and forced him into physical relations. The poor man was abused sexually for the whole night and things ended in the morning with some cash incentives to the domestic servant for the ‘extra duty’ of the night. This was the beginning of horror for the young employee as he was subsequently forced to provide similar ‘services’ to most of the wives of the Saudi businessman. In a letter written to one of his close friends in Bangladesh, Istiak narrated such stories and told that he was desperately looking for opportunity to get rid of such notoriety.

Due to hard work as well sexual exploitations, Istiak was becoming physically ill. Nevertheless, he had no room to complaint or even fell the hellish situation. But, worst things were even waiting for him. One day, right before lunch, one of the seven wives of the Kuwaiti man invited Istiak to her bed room and when they were in extreme intimate situation, suddenly the house master came back home and knocked the door. They wife hurriedly wore clothes and opened the door thus complaining of being attempted to have been raped by the domestic servant. The Saudi employer was angry and called the police instantly. The story ended with Istiak being executed for adultery thus letting the real story of him of being rather sexually exploited by the wives of his employer.

We can also look into the sordid story of 21-year-old Bangladeshi women Rina [not real name], who went to Saudi Arabia as hospital nurse at the age of 17. Her parents managed the money to send Rina abroad in search of good fortune. After working in a hospital for almost three months, Rina came into the attention of her Saudi employer who offered her double the salary to work at his house to look after his elderly mother. She accepted the offer and left her job in the hospital to join her employer’s domestic job. But, on the second night, some time in the late hours, Rina realized that her employer was already in her bed room. He was looking for physical pleasure with her. But, this was something she never wanted as she was not married yet and did not want to lose her virginity. She tried initially to convince her employer with words saying rape was seriously against Koran and it is one of the worst crimes in religion. But, the employer was drunk and had no intention of leaving her untouched. He forcibly took off her clothes and raped her for consecutive five times, and left her in blood and unconscious condition. This was the very beginning of her nightmare when she had to allow her employer to use her almost every night. Few months later, the Arab employer had another girl from India for the same domestic services as Rina was hired for and she was sent back to Bangladesh with an amount of US$ 2,000 as salary and the cost of her virginity. Two years later she came back from Saudi Arabia, Rina died in a local hospital because of Aids.

Human rights groups have highlighted human trafficking problems in Arabi countries for years but in recent years Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were downgraded to Tier-3, the lowest level of compliance. The report evaluates countries' efforts in fighting the trafficking of roughly 800,000, mostly women and children, forced into servitude or the sex trade every year, often lured with false promises of work or other benefits.

The downgrade ranks the four Arab Gulf States with such countries as Myanmar and Sudan as well as Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela. Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea and Jamaica. Cambodia and Togo were also downgraded to Tier-3 in recent years. Tier-3 lists nations that “do not fully comply with the minimum standards (laid down by U.S. law) and are not making significant efforts to do so.'' Officials from the Gulf countries have made no comment on the downgrade for a de facto promotion of slavery.

Slaves to the Arab Gulf States are imported mostly from Asia to serve as domestic servants and laborers, women prostitutes and boy camel jockeys as young as three, according to the annual report. The report cited the case of a 17-year-old orphan, Lusa, who was kidnapped from Uzbekistan and sold into a slavery ring in the United Arab Emirates. She was eventually “no longer usable'' as a prostitute and the Emirates' immigration service said she should serve a two-year prison sentence for entering the country illegally.

Saudi Arabia is accused of having turned a blind eye to the problem of poor or low-skilled workers brought into the country and exploited, or who go there voluntarily but find themselves in ''involuntary servitude.'' Saudi employers or members of their families physically and sexually abuse migrants, withhold pay and travel documents and use migrant children as forced beggars, the report said. ''We have domestic workers being brought in from many countries into domestic servitude, child beggars, a lot of beatings, reports of beatings and rape.''

Worst stories are not only coming from the ordinary employers in the Arab countries, but even from those dictatorial monarchs. We all have heard about those nasty stories inside Arab palaces within ‘most-restricted’ Princess of royal families. It is needless to mention as to how much ‘naughty’ the Arab kings and Princes are. Sexual abuse is possibly one of the very regular stories inside the palaces, just like morning breakfast. But, also we need to know the brutalities in the palaces with the poor domestic helps.

In 1991, two servants of Prince Saad Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his wife, Princess Noora, who lived on two floors of the Ritz-Carlton in Houston, filed a lawsuit against the prince. They said they were held for five months against their will, "by means of unlawful threats, intimidation and physical force." They claimed say they were only partially paid, were denied medical treatment, and suffered mental, physical and sexual abuse.

In 1988, the Saudi defense attaché in Washington, Colonel Abdulrahman S. Al-Banyan, employed a Thai domestic worker until she escaped his house by crawling out a window. She later said that she had been imprisoned there, did not get enough food, and was not paid. Her work contract specified that she could not leave the house or make telephone calls without her employer's permission.

In 1982, a Miami judge issued a warrant to search Prince Turki Bin Abdul Aziz's 24th-floor penthouse to determine if he was holding an Egyptian woman, Nadia Lutefi Mustafa, against her will. Mr. Turki and his French bodyguards prevented a search from taking place, then won retroactive diplomatic immunity to forestall any legal unpleasantness.

Bahrain is one of the alluring destinations for women and men who migrate legally but fall victim to conditions of sexual servitude, debt bondage or conditions of work that constitute involuntary servitude. The government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Bahraini law does not criminalize homosexual relationships between consenting adults aged 21 and over. The adult prevalence rate of persons with HIV/AIDS is reported at 0.2%, with fewer than 600 people said to be living with HIV/AIDS. Most of the Bangladeshi workers [especially female], who went to Bahrain with employment had been sexually abused by their employers and came back home with numerous nightmares of such incidents.
But, do the Arabs in general feel ashamed of what they are doing with the poor workers employed from foreign countries especially those Muslim nations? The reply is, certainly not. Because, the Arabs consider non-Arab Muslims as a kind of inferior creatures. They believe that, by sexually or otherwise abusing these poor Muslims, they commit no crime.

Posted on 22 Aug 2007 by Root

யேமனில் அரபு ஜாதிகளுக்கிடையே சண்டை

யேமனில் ஒவ்வொரு ஜாதி தலைவரையும் ஷேக் என்று அழைக்கிறார்கள்.

பகீல் ஜாதியின் தலைவரான (ஷேக்கான) அப்துல் அஜீஸ் அஷ்-ஸய்யப் வீட்டில் நடந்த அரபு ஜாதி தலைவர்களின் கூட்டத்தில் யேமன் தேசிய ஒற்றுமை கவுன்ஸிலுக்கு எதிராக கூக்குரல் எழுப்பப்பட்டது. பகீல் ஜாதியே யேமனில் மிகப்பெரிய ஜாதியாக இருக்கிறது.

யேமன் தேசிய ஒற்றுமை கவுன்ஸிலின் தலைவராக ஹாஷித் ஜாதி தலைவரான ஷேக் உச்சேன் அல் அஹ்மார் இருக்கிறார். இவர் தீவிரவாத கும்பல்களுக்கு ஆதரவாக செயல்படுகிறார் என்று குற்றம் சாட்டப்பட்டுள்ளது.


Ash-Shayif accuses National Solidarity Council of treachery
By: Saddam Al-Ashmouri For Yemen Times

SANA’A, August 15 — A number of sheiks accused the National Solidarity Council along with its supporters of treachery and supporting subversive elements. This accusation was made in a meeting attended by close to 1,000 sheiks at the Sana’a home of Sheik Abdul Aziz Ash-Shayif, sheik of the Bakeel tribe, one of the greatest tribes in Yemen. The meeting aimed at standing against the National Solidarity Council headed by Sheik Hussein Al-Ahmar who is affiliated with the Hashid tribe. The Hashid and Bakeel tribes are well-known for their tribal rivalry.

The meeting, chaired by Sheik Naji Ash-Shayif, in a statement signed by a number of sheiks, announced their objection to the National Solidarity Council along with its suspected goals, inciting feuds and conflict among Yemeni citizens. It also said that sponsors of this council as well as participants do not represent Yemeni tribes, tribe sheiks or any other constituency of the Yemeni community. They only represent themselves and their party.

The statement also accused Arab countries involved in the council with supporting terrorism and interfering in country and citizen affairs. “Those countries had provided well-known parties in Yemen with money and weapons to practice such barbaric acts. Today we hear about establishing the so-called National Solidarity Assembly whose sponsors received financial support from Arab countries.

All people know that those countries’ regimes practice subversion and interference in other countries’ affairs in order to incite feuds and troubles.”

The statement also invited all Yemeni citizens along with their respective tribes to foil the destructive objectives of the National Solidarity Council and stand against all conspiracies against the values and principles of Yemeni people.

Last month the National Solidarity Council was formed, with membership including sheiks, academic and social figures as well as politicians and members of Parliament. Sheik Hussein Al-Ahmar was nominated chairman of the council. The council is not directed against any party or entity. It is a national and popular assembly, aiming at deepening and strengthening revolution, republic and unification among citizens and tribes.

During the Solidarity Council conference, Al-Ahmar urged people to fight corruption and maintain national unity.

அரபுகளுக்கிடையான சாதி சண்டையில் 140 பேர் மரணத்துக்குபிறகு ஒப்பந்தம்

டார்பரில் கருப்பினத்தவர்களள துரத்திவிட்டு காலியாக்கிய நிலத்தை யார் ஆக்கிரமிப்பது என்ற சண்டையில் இரண்டு அரபு சாதியினர் கடுமையாக ஒருவரை ஒருவர் தாக்கிக்கொண்டனர். இதில் 140 பேர்கள் கொல்லப்பட்டபின்னால், சூடான் அரசு இந்த இரண்டு அரபு ஜாதிகளுக்குள் மத்தியஸ்தம் செய்து வைத்திருக்கிறது.

Darfur Arab tribes sign pact after clashes kill 140
Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:10AM EDT
By Simon Apiku

KHARTOUM, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Rival Darfur Arab tribes have signed a truce after more than 140 people died in clashes, an official and tribal leaders said on Sunday.

"It's an agreement to cease hostilities," Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, a Terjem tribal leader, told Reuters of the deal his tribe signed with the Rizeigat on Saturday.

"If the Rizeigat adhere to and respect the agreement, the Terjem will not violate it," he said.

Both are Arab tribes in South Darfur state. Fighting has continued on and off for months between them, but a reconciliation deal signed in February fell apart in July.

Ali Hassan, a Rizeigat tribal leader, said his group was committed to the truce. "We are going around trying to explain it to our people," he said.

Most of the casualties of the fighting were Terjem.

"Around 145 of our people were killed between July 30 and August 8," said Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, adding that 40 people with serious injuries were still in hospital in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State.

"We have buried them in mass graves," he added. He said the Rizeigat had superior firepower.

South Darfur's Labour Minister Abdul Rahman al-Zein has previously said three Rizeigat were killed in the clashes.

Each tribe blamed the other for starting the fighting.

The Terjem are a sedentary farming tribe while the Rizeigat are nomadic cattle herders. The latest problems began as the Rizeigat moved north in their seasonal migration, passing close to Terjem territory. The Terjem say the cattle eat their crops.

"The Terjem tell them you cannot pass through here," said Zein. "The government will deploy forces in the trouble spots to ensure compliance."

Ali Hassan declined to comment on the numbers killed.

Fighting over land and resources had been going on in Darfur for decades, before the region's revolt broke out in early 2003. The conflict has led to a proliferation of weapons, making tribal clashes even deadlier.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in the fighting in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their arid region.

Khartoum says only 9,000 people have died in the violence.