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MUSLIM CLERICS- IMAMS AND SEX SCANDAL

Guru · Guru

ஓரின பாலுறவு போர்னோகிராபி செய்ததற்காக மாலத்தீவுகளில் இஸ்லாமிய இமாம் கைது செய்யப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்.

இந்த இமாம் பெரியார் மாதிரியே நிர்வாணமாக கடற்கரையில் ஓடிக்கொண்டிருப்பாராம்.

ஒரே குஷிதான் பெரியார்தாசர்களுக்கு.

Imam among seven men arrested for homosexual activity
By Ahmed Naish | December 7th, 2009 | Category: Society | 42 comments

A group of men, including an imam, were arrested in Alif Alif atoll Maalhos on Thursday after photos and videos emerged of the seven engaged in homosexual activity.

An islander who spoke on condition of anonymity told Minivan News a group of teenagers from the island came upon the video CDs in the house of one of the suspects. When the CDs began to be circulated in public, the “island elders” alerted police.

“It came as a big shock to everyone on the island to see that [the imam] was one of them. He gives the Friday sermons at the mosque every week,” he said. “He is a well respected person on the island and we saw him as our religious leader.”

Besides the imam, the pornographic videos featured a mosque caretaker, a carpenter and another man the islanders believe to be mentally unstable, the islander claimed.

“He is a deranged person. We have always seen him running around the island naked,” he said.

Of the three men not featured in the video, two were incriminated in photos found along with the videos, he continued, while the third was believed to have filmed the pornography.

Three of the suspects were married with children, the islander said, while one of them included a second, retired imam. The youngest of the seven men was aged 27, while the rest were over 45 years of age, he said.

Miadhu reported other islanders as claiming that two of the seven men consider themselves “as husband and wife.”

Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam from the Maldives Police Service confirmed the arrests were made on Thursday following a report from the islanders. The seven men are currently in police custody. All were residents of Maalhos.

A spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry said they were not yet aware of the case and could not speculate on any measures that could be taken. Meanwhile Abdullah bin Mohamed Ibrahim, President of Islamic NGO Salaf Jamiya, also said he was unable to comment as they did not have complete information on the case.

Under the existing penal provisions, the punishment for sodomy is 19 to 39 lashes, banishment or imprisonment of up to three years.

Another islander from Maalhos who spoke to Minivan News said a group of people had become suspicious of the seven men before the videos came out.

“They have been following them around for a long time now,” he said. “They were suspicious before, and the videos just confirmed it.”

Guru · Guru

Imam accused of child sex offences
Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 09:20
THE imam of a Stoke-on-Trent mosque has appeared before a court accused of committing serious sexual offences with two young boys.

Mohammed Hanif Khan, aged 41, is a leader at the Capper Street Mosque, in Tunstall. Yesterday he appeared before North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court, sitting in Fenton, to be charged with five offences.

The defendant is accused of the attempted rape and sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy in Meir last year.

He is further accused of three counts of rape on a boy under the age of 13 last year in Tunstall.

Prior to outlining the prosecution case to the magistrates, prosecutor Paul Moore said: "This is a very sensitive case.

"He is an imam at the Capper Street, Mosque, in Tunstall. He commands enormous power and respect in the community.

"Not only is he a figure of respect in this area, but he is a figure of respect outside this area because of his teachings."

As the charges were read and a brief outline of the facts given to the court, Khan, who wore a white shirt and black suit, listened intently from the dock in court one.

Mr Moore asked the court to remand the defendant, who gave his address as Bardsley Close, Ellesmere Port, in custody.

Emma Wiseman, defending, told the magistrates that the allegations against her client were denied.

She said Khan had been on bail for some considerable time while the matters had been investigated.

Miss Wiseman said the defendant had co-operated with the police and complied with bail conditions.

The case lasted for 35 minutes and Khan was remanded in custody to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court for a preliminary hearing there on February 15.

According to his website, Khan became the first ever full-time Islamic Minister in the history of the British prison service in 2001.

He further progressed in introducing and setting up religious initiatives by becoming the first Muslim and non-Christian multi-faith co-ordinator of the British prison service in 2003.

In 2004 he visited Buckingham Palace to receive a Butlers' Trust Award from Princess Anne for his work in multi-faith and diversity.

He is patron and founder of Hizb ur Rasool (HUR), a charity dealing with youth issues and the propagation of Islam.

In 2008, the imam was among a group of business and community leaders drawn together to transform politics in Stoke-on-Trent.

He was appointed to the Governance Transition Board, a body tasked with making radical changes to the way the city is run.

Guru · Guru

ஏன் முஸ்லீம்கள் தங்கள் திருமணத்தை அரசாங்கத்தில் பதிவு செய்ய மாட்டேனென்கிறார்கள்?

ஏமனைச் சேர்ந்த 13 வயது சிறுமியை 23 வயதான ஆளுக்கு திருமணம் செய்துவைத்திருக்கிறார்கள்.
அந்த சிறுமியை கணவன் பலாத்காரம் செய்ததால் அந்த சிறுமி சில மணி நேரங்களில் இறந்துவிட்டாள்.

இஸ்லாமில் சிறு குழந்தைகளை திருமணம் செய்து வைப்பது வழக்கமாம்.

சிறுபான்மை உரிமை!

Dead Yemeni child bride tied up, raped, says mom

SHUEBA, Yemen (AP): The mother of a Yemeni child bride who bled to death after her marriage says her daughter was tied down and raped by her husband.

Nijma Ahmed, 50, says just before her daughter lost consciousness she described how her husband had tied her up and forced himself on her. The 13-year-old died hours later.

Elham Assi bled to death on April 2, four days after she was married to a 23-year-old man. A forensic report said her vagina and rectum were deeply ripped, causing her to hemorrhage.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in impoverished Yemen.

Traditional families prefer young brides and poor families can be lured with hundreds of dollars in gifts.

Legislation to ban child brides has been stalled by opposition from religious leaders.

Guru · Guru

ஐந்து வயது குழந்தையை பாலியல் பலாத்காரம் செய்த 65 வயது இஸ்லாமிய இமாம் அப்துல் கரீம்

ஐந்து வயது குழந்தையை பாலியல் பலாத்காரம் செய்திருக்கிறார் இந்த 65 வயது இஸ்லாமிய இமாம் அப்துல் கரீம்

இந்தியாவில் முஜாபர்நகரில் நடந்துள்ளது.

வாழ்க சிறுபான்மையினர் உரிமை

5-yr-old girl raped by cleric
Zopag News Network
Updated Mon 12th Apr 2010 12:49:14 / Published Mon 12th Apr 2010 12:19:59E-mail | Print | Comment | Feedback | TextMuzaffarnagar, April 12: A 5-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a cleric at Minranpur town in Muzaffarnagar and was later arrested, police said.

65-year-old Abdul Karim was arrested for raping the minor following an FIR lodged by the victim's father Noshad in this regard, they said, adding the girl had been sent for medical examination.

(with PTI inputs)

Guru · Guru

ஏமனில் குழந்தை திருமண தடை சட்டத்தை எதிர்த்து முல்லாக்கள் போர்க்கொடி

குழந்தை திருமணம் முஸ்லீம்களின் மத உரிமையாம். அதனால் முஸ்லீம் பெண்கள் குழந்தை திருமண தடைச்சட்டத்துக்கு எதிராக போராட்டம் நடத்தினார்கள்.
இந்த புர்காக்களுக்குள் எத்தனை ஆண்கள் இருக்கிறார்கள் என்று தெரியவில்லை.

Islamic clerics in Yemen oppose child bride banPublished On Mon Mar 22 2010Email Print Republish Add to Favourites Report an error Share Share7 Article
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Yemeni women hold up the Quran and Arabic placard reading "yes to the legal rights of the Muslim woman" as they take part in a protest outside the parliament in San'a, Sunday, March 21, 2010.

AP PHOTO
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Ahmed Al-Haj,Hadeel Al-Shalchi
The Associated Press
SAN’A, YEMEN—Some of Yemen's most influential Islamic leaders, including one the U.S. says mentored Osama bin Laden, have declared supporters of a ban on child brides to be apostates.

The religious decree, issued Sunday, deeply imperils efforts to salvage legislation that would make it illegal for those under the age of 17 to marry.

The practice is widespread in Yemen and has been particularly hard to discourage in part because of the country's gripping poverty — bride-prices in the hundreds of dollars are especially difficult for poor families to pass up.

More than a quarter of Yemen's females marry before age 15, according to a report last year by the Social Affairs Ministry. Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.

A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed and sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review after some lawmakers called it un-Islamic. The committee is expected to make a final decision on the legislation next month.

Some of the clerics who signed Sunday's decree sit on the committee.

The group behind the declaration also includes Yemen's most influential cleric, Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, whom the United States has branded a spiritual mentor of bin Laden. Al-Zindani denies being a member of al-Qaida.

In a further challenge to the rights groups pushing for a ban, government officials are reluctant to challenge al-Zindani and other conservative tribal and religious figures whose support they need to hold onto power in the fragile nation.

The religious leaders organized a protest against the legislation on Sunday by a group of women. Hidden behind black face veils and robes, the women carried signs that read "Yes to the Islamic rights of women."

"I was married at 15 and have many children now," said one of the women, Umm Abdul-Rahman. "And I will marry my daughter at the same age if I decide she is ready for it."

The issue of Yemen's child brides vaulted into the headlines three years ago when an 8-year-old girl boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice.

In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labour to give birth, a local human rights organization said.

A rights group pushing for a ban planned a protest for Tuesday.

"The government has two options: to give girls in Yemen a chance at life or to condemn them to a death sentence," said Amal Basha, chairwoman of the group, Sisters Arab Forum in Yemen.

Yemen once set 15 as the minimum age for marriage, but parliament annulled that law in the 1990s, saying parents should decide when a daughter marries.

Guru · Guru

இஸ்லாமிய குழந்தை திருமணத்துக்கு ஆதரவாக மலேசிய அமைச்சர் உறுதி

வயதானவர்கள் குழந்தைகளை திருமணம் செய்யும் குழந்தை திருமணம் மலேசியாவில் தடை செய்யப்படாது. அது இஸ்லாமிய முறை என்று உறுதி கூறியுள்ளார்.

ஏன் பெரியார்தாசர்கள் இஸ்லாமுக்கு ஆதரவாக இருக்கிறார்கள் என்று தெரிகிறது.

Malaysian minister rejects child marriage reform
(AFP) – 13 hours ago

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia's religion minister on Tuesday defended Islamic laws that allow girls under 16 to marry, amid a controversy over two youngsters who were married off to middle-aged men.

The issue has flared in Malaysia after reports that two girls aged 10 and 11 were wed in the conservative northern state of Kelantan last month. They have now been removed from their husbands.

Rights groups have called for the reform of Islamic laws that allow marriage under the age of 16 if religious officials give their consent. Sharia law runs in parallel with civil law in multi-ethnic Malaysia.

"There is no need to amend the law," Jamil Khir Baharom, a cabinet minister in charge of religious affairs, told reporters.

"The law already exists... marrying someone aged 16 and below requires the consent of the court. The court does not simply grant the consent," he said.

"Maturity is a subjective question. It depends on the development of the person. Maturity is not based on age solely."

Pressure group Sisters in Islam has called for an end to child marriages, saying the practice was "unacceptable" but continued in Malaysia because of a "belief that Muslim girls can be married off once they reach puberty".

"The minimum age of marriage for Muslim girls must be raised to 18 to be in compliance with the Child Act which defines children as those below the age of 18," it said in a statement.

Other citizens in the multicultural country -- where the population is dominated by Muslim Malays -- are not permitted to marry before the age of 18.

Malaysian authorities are investigating the case of the two girls in Kelantan, both linked to a man who is accused of leading an Islamic cult.

He is accused of marrying the 11-year-old girl and giving away his 10-year-old daughter to a family friend.

Sharia court officials told the New Straits Times Tuesday the 11-year-old's marriage was not approved in court.

The girl was found outside a mosque in the nation's capital over the weekend and is now being treated in hospital.

Women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has spoken out against the practice.

"A child of that age does not have the choice or capacity to give her full consent and, as such, child marriage is viewed within the context of force and coercion," she said in a statement to AFP.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Guru · Guru

11 வயது சி்றுமியை திருமணம் செய்து விவாகரத்து செய்த 41 வயது முஸ்லீம் தலைவர்

‘Sect leader practised witchcraft to marry daughter’
By ZALINAH NOORDIN

zalinah@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The mother of the 11-year-old Kelantanese girl who was “married” to a 41-year-old man has claimed that he could have used black magic to fulfil his wish of marrying children.

Siti Sarnan Mat Ail, 42, whose daughter Siti Nur Zubaidah ended up being “married” to the religious sect leader after being abducted by him last month, alleged that he had also used religion to convince his followers that he had an agenda to expand the Prophet’s teachings.

Upset mum: Siti Sarnan talking to the press at the Sungai Buloh Hospital yesterday. Looking on is Shahrizat.

On Saturday, a Malay daily reported that the girl was found in a dazed state outside a mosque in Kepong on Friday, after being abandoned by her “husband”.

The daily reported that the sect leader had also married off his daughter to a middle-aged man.

Siti Sarnan, who met reporters after visiting her daughter with Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil at the Sungai Buloh hospital here yesterday, said her husband was initially talked into signing up their daughter at a religious school by the man.

She said the man, who already has four wives and six children, approached her husband on Feb 19 and convinced him that it would be good to send their daughter to a religious school in Machang.

“He also asked for our daughter to be married to him as she would be put under his care while attending religious school.

“All my husband could do was agree, even though he was not fully aware of what was happening,” claimed Siti Sarnan.

“My husband came back that night and told me to cook lunch the next day as there would be visitors coming to our house in Pasir Mas, Kelantan.

“Nine men came to our house with the man. My daughter was devastated when she learnt that her father had agreed to send her away. She refused to go but relented after my husband persuaded her,” Siti Sarnan said.

She said a police report was lodged on Feb 21 after the man failed to return the girl as promised.

Asked if she knew if the “marriage” was “consummated,” Siti Sarnan declined to comment. She, however, said her daughter was in a state of shock and traumatised by the ordeal.

“My daughter has now expressed her wish to be taken care of by her uncle in Tanah Merah and not by us,” Siti Sarnan said.

Meanwhile, Shahrizat urged the relevant authorities to take action against the man and those involved in the “reckless and irresponsible act”.

Such an act, said Shahrizat, was a contravention of Section 8 of the Kelantan Muslim Family Law Enactment 2002, which stated that any female below 16 was not allowed to enter into marriage, except with written permission from the Syariah Court.

Guru · Guru

ஐந்து வயது குழந்தையை பாலியல் பலாத்காரம் செய்த 65 வயது இஸ்லாமிய இமாம் அப்துல் கரீம்

ஐந்து வயது குழந்தையை பாலியல் பலாத்காரம் செய்திருக்கிறார் இந்த 65 வயது இஸ்லாமிய இமாம் அப்துல் கரீம்

இந்தியாவில் முஜாபர்நகரில் நடந்துள்ளது.

வாழ்க சிறுபான்மையினர் உரிமை

5-yr-old girl raped by cleric
Zopag News Network
Updated Mon 12th Apr 2010 12:49:14 / Published Mon 12th Apr 2010 12:19:59E-mail | Print | Comment | Feedback | TextMuzaffarnagar, April 12: A 5-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a cleric at Minranpur town in Muzaffarnagar and was later arrested, police said.

65-year-old Abdul Karim was arrested for raping the minor following an FIR lodged by the victim's father Noshad in this regard, they said, adding the girl had been sent for medical examination.

(with PTI inputs)

Guru · Guru

இந்தியாவுக்குள் 9000 மதரஸாக்களை பகிச்தான் நடத்துகிறது

இணைய ஜிகாதிகள் எங்கிருந்து வருகிறார்கள் என்று தெரிகிறது

Illegal madrassas: A breeding ground of terror
Last updated on: April 01, 2010 16:17 IST
Tags: IB, India, Wakf Board, Inter Services Intelligence, Anwar al-Awlaki
Email
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CommentIntelligence agencies are worried about nearly 9,000 illegal madrassas which have mushroomed across India [ Images ] without requisite approval by the authorities.

India has over 21,000 registered madrassas approved by the respective state governments and the Wakf Board.

IB sources say efforts are on to shut down illegal madrassas and the state authorities have been warned about their operations. Intelligence officials suspect Pakistan-based outfits may be using these illegal madrassas to carry out their operations in India, after the crackdown on terror modules and sleeper cells.

IB officials say nearly 3,000 illegal madrassas have been set up in the last year, with Maharashtra [ Images ] and Kerala [ Images ] having the maximum concentration. They claim that Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence has managed to pump in nearly Rs 20 crore to fund these illegal institutions.

These institutions do not report to the Wakf Board and their syllabus is the same as the one followed in madrassas in Pakistan, say IB sources. The syllabus is based on the Anwar al-Awlaki school of thought, which has been adopted by Lashkar-e-Tayiba's [ Images ] front organisation Jamat-ud-Dawa, and speaks of 44 different ways to perform jihad

At class V level in these madrassas, students are taught that Hindus helped the British set up their empire in India. In class 6 and class 7, the students are clearly told that there is no way in which they should reconcile with India, since the only way to attain total freedom is by fighting and becoming martyrs.

Earlier, the various terror outfits concentrated on recruiting people for sleeper cells and modules, but soon realised that the concept of jihad needed to be introduced at an younger age to encourage fundamentalism. The illegal madrasas want to ensure that the students learn to internalise the jihadi school of thought.

Tracking such madrassas poses a problem for intelligence agencies, as they keep shifting base, and the fact that most of their students are children invariably shields them from any kind of suspicion

Guru · Guru

Senegal Criticized for Abusive Islamic Schools

Todd Pitman

18 April 2010

Powerful religious leaders known as "marabouts" hold enormous political influence in this mostly Muslim West African nation. Parents often send their children to traditional Quranic schools run by marabouts, both because they hope their children will receive a religious education and because they are free.Lagos — A leading international rights group called on Senegal's government Thursday to clamp down on Islamic schools whose leaders are subjecting tens of thousands of children to forced begging and daily beatings in conditions it says are "akin to slavery."

But some marabouts have turned the schools into an exploitative, unregulated private industry, banking tens of thousands of dollars in annual profits by forcing droves of children as young as four into the streets to beg for change, according to a new report released by New York-based Human Rights Watch. Children who return without enough money are often brutally beaten, the group said.

The tiny boys can often be seen wandering barefoot in the capital, Dakar, in small groups without adult supervision, swarming cars and passers-by. Often dressed in ragged, torn clothes, they beg long after midnight, returning to sleep 30 to a room in abandoned or half-constructed buildings that offer little protection from the elements, Human Rights Watch said.

One of them, 11-year-old Abdou Sow, told The Associated Press he had been sent by his parents in northern Senegal to a Quranic school in Dakar three years ago. He has spent most of his time since begging, and his marabout expects him to bring back at least 250 West African francs per day - about 50 U.S. cents - and "hits us a lot harder when we don't give him enough."

"He has a black whip that he dips into a bucket of water," said a clearly terrified Sow. "Every time he uses it, the blows scar us."

Of the estimated 50,000 child beggars like Sow in Senegal, some 1,000 run away each year. Sow, however, said he was too afraid to flee. Several children who fled his Quranic school were recaptured, he said, and then beaten even harder than before.

Presidential spokesman and Religious Affairs Minister Bamba Ndiaye acknowledged children are being "exposed to danger," but said a law passed in 2005 banning the practice could not make the phenomenon disappear on its own.

"You can never forget that this is a social phenomenon and, above all, a religious phenomenon ... the change has to come from the religious communities first," Ndiaye said. He added that parents also bear responsibility for sending their children to the schools and need to be educated on the risks children face.

Some children have been beaten to death or tortured by their marabouts, while some have been killed by cars in traffic. A handful of marabouts have been prosecuted for unlawful killings, but no marabout has been charged or tried solely for the crime of forced begging and the practice continues unabated.

The government is hesitant to try religious leaders because they wield enormous social, political, and economic power across the country, according to Human Rights Watch. One government official who pushed for the prosecution of a marabout who had severely beaten a three-year-old child received death threats.

"Senegal should not stand by while tens of thousands of ... children are subjected every day to beatings, gross neglect, and, in fact, conditions akin to slavery," said Georgette Gagnon, the group's Africa director.

Human Rights Watch says most of the children are between the ages of four and 12, and many are from neighboring countries, especially Guinea-Bissau.

In its report, the rights group documented myriad beatings, including incidents in which children were "chained, bound, and forced into stress positions as they were beaten."

The children suffer from skin diseases, malaria, stomach parasites and malnutrition, the report said. And when they get sick, they are often forced to beg overtime to pay for medicine.

Those who buy new clothes have had them confiscated by their marabouts - who give them to their own children instead.

"Instead of marabouts ensuring that the boys in their care have food, education, and proper shelter, all too often the young boys become the means to provide for the marabout and his family," Gagnon said. "This is unconscionable."The religious leaders, meanwhile, collect between $20,000 [3,000,000 naira] to $60,000 [9,000,000 naira] per year from their child beggars, and some gain as much as $100,000 [15 million naira], the rights group said.

More than 1,000 of the boys run away from the schools every year. Human Rights Watch said none of the religious schools - apart from a few sponsored by the state - are regulated by government.

"The rampant abuse of these children will only be eradicated when the government stands up to religious authorities and brings offending marabouts to book," Gagnon said.

Guru · Guru

Senegal: Koranic Students Kept in 'Slave-Like' Conditions - HRW

15 April 2010

The governments of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, Islamic leaders and parents are failing to stop the practice and protect children from such exploitation and abuse, it says.Dakar — Hundreds of religious leaders running Koranic schools in Senegal are keeping their students in "slave-like" conditions, forcing them into exploitative labour through begging on the streets and depriving them of food or medicines, says US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a new report.

"As the forced begging is done with a view towards exploitation, it is a practice akin to slavery," says HRW. "For at least 50,000 children in Senegal, economic exploitation is masquerading as religious education, as children are forced to beg for long hours to benefit the teacher, and are subjected to severe physical abuse for failing to meet his quota," Matthew Wells, report author, told IRIN.

These children, who live with a 'marabout' (religious leader) and attend his school or 'daara' are known as 'talibés' in Senegal. Over half of them are under age 10 and some as young as four. They spend over seven hours each day pacing the streets to reach their quota - on average 87 US cents - and the "overwhelming majority" HRW spoke to, are regularly beaten if they do not bring back the full amount.

Some 99 percent of the 'talibés' HRW spoke to must beg for their own food and medicines.

"When I could not bring the quota, the 'marabout' beat me - even if I lacked five CFA [francs], he beat me. It was always the 'marabout' himself," a 13-year-old former 'talibé' told HRW. "He took out the electric cable and... I stood there and... he hit me over and over, generally on the back but at times he missed and hit my head."

Punishment also includes chaining and stress positions, which could constitute torture, the report said.

Each year hundreds flee the 'daara' to return home, live on the streets, or find one of a dozen rehabilitation houses run by NGOs.

Most of the children come from poor families in rural Senegal or Guinea-Bissau, who are convinced that their children face a better future under a 'marabout"s care. A minority hail from Guinea, Gambia and Mali.

Profit

According to HRW, 'marabouts' keep most of the money raised by 'talibés' and can reap significant profits: a 'marabout' in the Dakar suburb of Guédiawaye with 150 'talibés' in his 'daara' earns US$116,000 per year.

Begging is vital to the existence of a 'daara', 'marabouts' told HRW, to cover food, rent and other related costs.

Ousamane Diamanka, a 'marabout' in Grand Yoff, a Dakar suburb, with 20 'talibés' in his charge, told IRIN: "Some 'marabouts' exploit children and keep the money for themselves, but the majority do not - we take good care of the children, take them to hospital when they are sick, and allow them to visit their families regularly."

Solutions

Improving living conditions by regulating 'daaras' and setting minimum standards for them is one way forward, says HRW. The government is currently modernizing and improving conditions in 100 of these schools. This is an improvement, Wells told IRIN, "but since the number of talibés forced to beg continues to rise, the government's action is clearly insufficient."

There is currently no official monitoring and reporting system in place for abuses in 'daaras', and only one NGO - SamuSocial - systematically reports all abuses it comes across to the authorities.

Too often, said HRW, the generosity of aid agencies, which provide medicines and materials to 'marabouts', just further inflates their profits.

Another way forward is to enforce existing laws.

Forcing children to beg for economic gain is illegal under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the child; while trafficking children goes against anti-trafficking legislation; and Senegal's penal code criminalizes physical abuse of children.

But the authorities still do not prosecute 'marabouts' who force 'talibés' to beg, says HRW. The organization is also critical of NGOs that pushed the government to pass the 2005 anti-trafficking law, but have not denounced the government's failure to implement it, says Wells.

Martin Dawes, spokesperson for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN: "As an agency we advocate on a regular basis with governments, and are working to improve child protection systems. Abuse of children is against the law. We welcome this report and renew our call to the relevant authorities to protect children and respect their rights."

Failure to enforce the law emboldens child traffickers and 'marabouts', said HRW, and caused the number of 'daaras' to double between 2002 and 2009, according an official in the Ministry of Family.

"If you touch any of the 'marabouts', you touch the brotherhoods, and that is very difficult here. You lose votes; maybe you lose office; and you face trouble," said an official in the Family Ministry.Politicians are often too intimidated by the significant social, political and economic power of 'marabouts', to crack down on them.

However, a number of religious leaders and prominent Islamic scholars in Senegal would be allied with the government in stopping enforced begging, said Wells. "The government could more proactively reach out to these leaders to ensure regulation and accountability are not interpreted as a threat to Koranic education, but merely to those who corrupt it."

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

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Senegal: Boys in Many Quranic Schools Suffer Severe Abuse

15 April 2010

Dakar — Tens of thousands of children at residential Quranic schools in Senegal are subjected to slavery-like conditions and severely abused, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the Senegalese authorities to regulate all Quranic schools and take immediate and concerted action to hold accountable teachers who violate Senegalese laws against forced begging and child abuse.press release

The 114-page report, "'Off the Backs of the Children': Forced Begging and Other Abuses against Talibés in Senegal," documents the system of exploitation and abuse in which at least 50,000 boys known as talibés - the vast majority under age 12 and many as young as four - are forced to beg on Senegal's streets for long hours, seven days a week, by often brutally abusive teachers, known as marabouts. The report says that the boys often suffer extreme abuse, neglect, and exploitation by the teachers. It is based on interviews with 175 current and former talibés, as well as some 120 other people, including marabouts, families who sent their children to these schools, Islamic scholars, government officials, and humanitarian officials.

"Senegal should not stand by while tens of thousands of talibé children are subjected every day to beatings, gross neglect, and, in fact, conditions akin to slavery," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The government should take the occasion of National Talibé Day, April 20, to commit to regulate all Quranic schools and hold abusive marabouts accountable."

In Senegal's predominantly Muslim society, where religious leaders wield immense social and political power, children have long been entrusted to marabouts who educate them in these residential Quranic schools, called daaras. Many marabouts, who serve as de facto guardians, conscientiously carry out the important tradition of providing young boys with a religious and moral education.

But research by Human Rights Watch shows that in many urban residential daaras today, other marabouts are using education as a cover for economic exploitation of the children in their charge. Many marabouts in urban daaras demand a daily quota from the children's begging and inflict severe physical and psychological abuse on those who fail to meet it. Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of beatings, and several cases in which children had been chained, bound, and forced into stress positions as they were beaten.

In the more than 100 daaras from which Human Rights Watch interviewed current or former talibés, the marabout typically collects between US$20,000 and $60,000 a year from the boys' begging - a substantial sum in a country where most people live on less than $2 a day. Interviews suggest that some marabouts amass upward of $100,000 a year through exploiting children in their care.

A Widespread Pattern of Abuse

An 11-year-old boy sent by his parents to a marabout in Dakar, Senegal's capital, at age seven told Human Rights Watch:

Every day I had to bring the marabout 600 CFA ($1.30), rice, and sugar. Every time I couldn't, the marabout would beat me with an electric cord. He would strike me so many times on the back and the neck; too many to count.... Each time I was beaten, I would think of my family, who never laid a hand on me. I would remember being at home. Eventually I ran away, I couldn't handle it anymore.

Human Rights Watch further documented the extremely precarious condition in which these boys live. The substantial sums of money, rice, and sugar collectively brought in by begging talibés are not used to feed, clothe, shelter, or otherwise provide for the children. Many of the children suffer severe malnutrition, while the long hours on the street put them at risk of harm from car accidents, physical and sexual abuse, and diseases.

A typical daara is an abandoned or partially constructed building that offers little protection from rain, heat, or cold. The children sleep as many as 30 to a small room. Disease spreads quickly and the children often fall ill - from skin diseases, malaria, and stomach parasites - but are rarely cared for by the marabouts. Instead, many children are forced to beg overtime to pay for their own medicines.

Most talibés interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had only one change of clothes, and over 40 percent did not have a single pair of shoes, leaving them to beg barefoot. Some talibés said that when they saved up money from extra hours of begging and bought a new shirt or pair of pants, their marabout took the clothing and gave it to his own children.

"Instead of marabouts ensuring that the boys in their care have food, education, and proper shelter, all too often the young boys become the means to provide for the marabout and his family," Gagnon said. "This is unconscionable."

Exhausted by continuous abuse and near-total deprivation, more than 1,000 boys run away from daaras each year. Hundreds of children living on the streets in Senegal's major cities represent one of the defining legacies of the most exploitative residential Quranic schools.

A Catalog of Inaction

The Senegalese government enacted legislation in 2005 that criminalized forcing others into begging for personal financial gain. But the authorities have failed to take concrete steps to implement the law and end the exploitation and abuse of the talibés. Not one marabout has been charged or tried solely for the crime of forced begging, although large numbers of these children can be seen on the streets on any given day. In all but a few cases, severe physical abuse of the talibés has gone similarly unpunished.

With the exception of a few state-sponsored "modern" daaras - which combine Quranic and state school curricula - none of the Quranic schools in Senegal are subject to government regulation. This has in part led to the proliferation of unscrupulous marabouts who have little interest in educating or providing for children in their care.

Although many of the children in Senegal's daaras come from neighboring Guinea-Bissau, its government has failed to hold marabouts accountable even in clear cases of child trafficking. Guinea-Bissau also risks the practice of forced begging taking root domestically should it fail to learn the lessons of Senegal's decades of inaction.

Parents send their children to residential daaras largely out of a desire that they receive a religious education; many are also influenced by lack of financial means to support them at home. Most parents fail to provide any financial or emotional support when sending the child to a marabout. While some lack knowledge about the abuse - in part due to deliberate obfuscation by the marabout - others willingly send or return their children to a situation they know to be abusive.

Humanitarian aid agencies, trying nobly to fill the protection gap left by the government, sometimes find themselves caught up in the abuses. By focusing assistance on urban daaras and neglecting rural schools, many national and international humanitarian organizations provide the incentive to daaras to move from rural to urban areas, where forced begging is rampant. In some cases, the efforts of these organizations increase the profit margins of unscrupulous marabouts by giving aid directly to them and failing to monitor how the money is used. Such agencies often fail to report abuse or challenge state inaction, in part to maintain good relations with the marabout and the authorities.

The government's failure is a breach of its responsibilities under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in addition to under conventions on trafficking, slavery-like conditions, and the worst forms of child labor."Millions of dollars are pouring in to humanitarian and government programs to help the talibés and prevent abuse, yet the prevalence of forced child begging in daaras continues to rise," Gagnon said. "The rampant abuse of these children will only be eradicated when the government brings offending marabouts to book."

Human Rights Watch also called on the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to denounce the practice of forced begging as contrary to human rights obligations under the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, and asked the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery to undertake an investigation into the situation of the talibés.

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Senegal: Killing Babies to Hide Indiscretion

31 March 2010

Husbands' absence is one of many factors contributing to infanticide in Senegal, where many young women with unwanted pregnancies see eliminating the child as their only option, authorities and researchers say. Abortion is illegal in Senegal and clandestine abortion is also common.Louga — In Senegal women who become pregnant outside of marriage - their husbands living abroad - commonly kill their babies out of fear and shame.

Poverty, sexual promiscuity and ignorance about contraception are other factors, but the common thread is severe shame around unplanned pregnancy particularly by extramarital relations, according to sociologist Aly Khoudia Diao in the capital Dakar.

"Infanticide has become the antidote to illicit affairs [that result in pregnancy] - to avoid gossip and shame to the family and to hide infidelity, especially when the woman is bound by marriage," Diao told IRIN.

In the city of Louga, capital of Louga region 200km north of Dakar, at least two babies are known to have been killed by their mothers since October 2009, with five cases of infanticide registered in 2008, according to Moustapha Ndour, gendarmerie commander.

"These infanticides are linked to emigration," he told IRIN. "The men leave their wives - who are very young - for two, five, 10 years."

One Louga woman recently charged with the crime is married to a man living abroad, Ndour said. "She did not want anyone to ever see the child, which is why she threw the body into a well." Infants' bodies have turned up in wells and in the streets; some are buried.

More than 20,000 men from Louga city - or 10 percent of the population - live in Europe or the United States, Amadou Fall, deputy mayor, told IRIN. Six in 10 youths remaining are unemployed, and women make up 80 percent of the population, according to Fall.

Diao estimates from his research that 30 to 40 percent of women with unwanted pregnancies commit infanticide. "It is a worrying statistic, and it's growing," he said. No national statistics are available, Justice Ministry spokesperson Cheikh Bamba Niang told IRIN.

"Five to 10 percent of these are linked to emigration," Diao said. "Sex is a physiological need. Some of these women marry quite young and sooner or later they will be pursued by other men. And in a moment of weakness they commit adultery."

Women with unplanned pregnancies often have no one to turn to, according to Fatou Sarr Sow, gender director at Dakar's Cheikh Anta Diop University.

Diao said many young women start wearing ample clothing and withdraw from friends and family once the pregnancy starts to show. Some move to another locality, where at least one relative is aware of the situation."These girls submit to the social pressure, the fear of shaming the family," she said. "They have no place to go to talk about their situation; they are alone in their misfortune." She said infanticide is common in rural zones, where illiteracy is high.

Senegalese women who emigrate also have extramarital sexual relations, he noted. "But [if they get pregnant] they have abortions because they are no longer restricted by the country's socio-cultural constraints."

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12-yr-old bride wins divorce from 80-yr-old husband

By: ANI

Date: 2010-04-22

Place: Dubai

In what could become a prelude to introduction of a minimum age for marriage in Saudi Arabia, a 12-year-old girl has won a divorce from her 80-year-old husband

According to local reports, the girl was married to her father's cousin last year against her wishes and those of her mother. The marriage was sealed with a dowry of 85,000 riyals and consummated.

The 12-year-old, with the help of Saudi Government legal assistance, fought her case in a court in Buraidah, near Riyadh.

The unusual legal challenge had generated international media attention and scrutiny of Saudi Arabia's record of child marriages, and prompted the state-run Human Rights Commission to appoint a lawyer to represent her.

Based on the ruling, the commission has assembled three committees to examine the possibility of pushing for a legal minimum age for marriage of at least 16.

"The main aim is to not allow cases like this to happen again," The Times Online quoted Alanoud alHejailan, a lawyer for the commission, as saying.

"There will be some opposition, of course, but we feel that public opinion has changed on this issue. We want to gather all the public support we can for a minimum age for marriage," he added.

The case had sparked debate in Saudi Arabia, with some judges and clerics using Prophet Muhammad's marriage to a nine-year-old girl as justification of child marriage.

However, in January Sheikh Abdullah al-Manie, a senior Saudi cleric, spoke out in defence of the girl, declaring that the Prophet's marriage 14 centuries ago could not be used to justify child marriages today.

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Muslim Cleric accused of child rape

14th April 2010. Based on article from zopag.com, thanks to Alan
A 5-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a cleric at Minranpur town and was later arrested, police said.
65-year-old Abdul Karim was arrested for raping the minor following an FIR lodged by the victim’s father Noshad in this regard, they said, adding the girl had been sent for medical examination.

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குழந்தையை கற்பழித்ததற்காக இஸ்லாமிய இமாம் கைது

Imam charged with sex offences
Published: 6 May 10 08:41 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/26484/20100506/

Dictionary tool Double click on a word to get a translation

A 48-year-old imam who teaches children about the Koran has been charged with sexually molesting an 11-year-old female student.

•Minister: Catholic Church should investigate (30 Apr 10)
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•'Catholics in Sweden must challenge Rome' (14 Apr 10)
According to the charge sheet the incidents are alleged to have occurred in August and September 2009 in the girl's family home south of Stockholm. The 48-year-old was a regular visitor to the apartment and taught the girl and her 14-year-old elder brother about the Koran and the Arabic language.

When the girl finally revealed what she had been subjected to her parents immediately called the police.

"The mother was scared that more children could be exposed," district prosecutor Eva Kokkonen told news agency TT.

The sexual molestation involved the man groping the girl, including her breasts.

"It is always serious when a child is exposed to sexual acts. Especially when it takes place in her home and with a person she should be able to have confidence in. I consider that the man abused his authority and the punishment should be prison," Kokkonen said.

The prosecutor argues that the evidence against the imam is strong.

"The girl's story is reliable and her reaction when she told her parents is typical of abused children. She was very sad and so ashamed that she could barely talk about what had happened. Her big brother who arrived at the lesson later supported her story by testifying to the man's exaggerated indiscretion towards the girl," Kokkonen said.

"He presented himself to me as an imam, I think that makes the crime worse. I am shocked over what he has done," the girl's mother told news agency TT.

The trial will be held in Södertörn district court before the summer. The man denies all charges.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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இஸ்லாமை விட்டு வெளியேறிய 15 வயது எகிப்திய சிறுமி மீது ஆசிட் அட்டாக்

இஸ்லாமை விட்டு வெளியேறிய 15 வயது எகிப்திய சிறுமி மீது ஆசிட் அட்டாக்

Muslim Egyptian Girl Who Converted to Christianity Subjected to Acid Attack
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Posted GMT 4-17-2010 1:10:43
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(AINA) -- Dina el-Gowhary, the 15-year-old Egyptian Muslim-born girl who converted to Christianity, was subjected to an acid attack, the latest in a string of failed attempts by Muslim fanatics against her and her father, 57-year-old Peter Athanasius (Maher el-Gowhary), who converted to Christianity 35 years ago. Several Fatwa's were issued calling for the "spilling of his blood," which makes their lives in constant danger in the face of the reactionaries and advocates for the enforcement of Islamic apostasy laws, which call for the death of a convert.

Dina said that three weeks ago as she ventured out from their hiding place in Alexandria with her father to get some bottled water, her jacket was set on fire due to acid being thrown at her. "My father quickly took my jacket off before the fire reached my arms. Ever since then I am terrorized to go out in the street, with or without my father."

Through an aired interview with Freecopts advocacy Dina addressed an open letter to President Mubarak of Egypt begging him to save her and her father and allow them to leave Egypt.

She said that she had written previously to President Obama, who got her message and responded to it (AINA 11-17-2009). It was reported that the el-Gowharys met with the US Committee on International Religious Freedom on their last visit to Egypt in January 2010, and that they have asked for asylum in the United States (Fox News video).

Dina wonders whether she will get the same attention from President Mubarak as she did from President Obama. "Will he listen and lend us a helping hand, if, as they claim, he truly does not differentiate between Muslim and Christian citizens?" She asked the Egyptian President, who newly became grandfather to a baby girl "Do you accept that your granddaughter would live under the same conditions like mine? I have no home, I am always afraid when I go to church or even go out in the street, I have no friends and no education."

In her letter to President Mubarak, Dina expressed her deep distress at the mistreatment and continuous troubles she finds everywhere she goes, including being beaten and humiliated. She tells of how "because of her love for Jesus" she left her Muslim mother and went to live with her Christian father, abandoning school where she was persecuted by teachers and students. "I was threatened many times before. Once coming back from school, a bearded young man stepped out of a car, lifted me through my clothes from the ground and warned me that if my father and myself do not go back to Islam, both of us will be killed."

Dina, now living with her father for the last two years, has to move with him from one place to another in search of personal safety for both, in the face of the many threats that they experienced since her father declared his conversion to Christianity and his desire to his change religious designation in official documents.

In June 2009 a Court refused his request to order the Civil Registry to alter his religious designation on his ID to reflect his Christian religion and his Christian name, Peter Athanasius. The Court ruling said that the religious conversion of a Muslim is against Islamic Sharia law and poses a threat to the "Public Order" in Egypt. He appealed the Court ruling (AINA 6-16-2009).

In the Freecopts interview, Dina says that she hopes that President Mubarak will help them to leave Egypt in order for them to live normally and for her to continue her education.

The el-Gowhary family was barred from leaving Egypt on September 17, 2009 without any legal reason. They were told, however, that the order came from a higher authority. To this today, says Maher, he does not know why he is barred from travel and which authority exactly is barring him (AINA 9-26-2009).

He explained, in a interview with Freecopts this week, the extremely difficult circumstances they are living under, being hunted the whole time and with many attempts on their lives. "It is only due to the Grace and Protection of God, that we are still alive until today," he adds.

"Why did they confiscate our passports? What have we done wrong?" said Dina. "The only thing we did is that we loved Jesus with all their hearts and converted to Christianity." The teenage girl stressed that whatever the government does or will to them to force them to abandon Christianity is in vain. "We will never leave Christianity and we will never ever revert back to Islam. Jesus is simply etched in our hearts," she said.

By Mary Abdelmassih

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Friday, 15 March, 2002, 12:19 GMT

Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue

Mecca city governor, Prince Abdulmajeed bin Abdul Aziz, visits the fire-damaged girls school

The Mecca city governor visited the fire-damaged school

Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.

In a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful "mutaween" police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday.

About 800 pupils were inside the school in the holy city of Mecca when the tragedy occurred.

Saudi hospital staff carry a victim of the girl school fire to an ambulance in Mecca

15 girls died in the blaze and more than 50 others were injured

According to the al-Eqtisadiah daily, firemen confronted police after they tried to keep the girls inside because they were not wearing the headscarves and abayas (black robes) required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam.

One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".

The Saudi Gazette quoted witnesses as saying that the police - known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - had stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is a sinful to approach them".

The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out.

"Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the newspaper concluded.

Relatives' anger

Families of the victims have been incensed over the deaths.

Most of the victims were crushed in a stampede as they tried to flee the blaze.

The school was locked at the time of the fire - a usual practice to ensure full segregation of the sexes.

The religious police are widely feared in Saudi Arabia. They roam the streets enforcing dress codes and sex segregation, and ensuring prayers are performed on time.

Those who refuse to obey their orders are often beaten and sometimes put in jail.