Category Archives: human rights

Nigeria local authorities say most of abducted schoolgirls still missing – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

It is unclear exactly how many of the girls were snatched from their school at Chibok in Borno state by the anti-education Islamist movement Boko Haram.

An earlier statement from the military had put the total number of students kidnapped at 129.

A spokesman for Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, Reuben Aabati, said he had been informed some of the kidnapped girls had been freed but could not specify how many.

There was no immediate explanation for the contradictory versions regarding the kidnapped female students.

The mass abduction of the schoolgirls aged between 15 and 18 has shocked Nigeria and showed how the Boko Haram insurgency has brought lawlessness to swathes of the arid, poor north-east, killing hundreds of people in recent months.

via Nigeria local authorities say most of abducted schoolgirls still missing – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Why are veiled women denied entry to bars in Egypt? | Egyptian Streets

Ultimately, it should not matter what a woman wears. Her piety is not sewn into her hijab, nor is her worth. No aspect of her external person defines her character. Fashion trends always carry some message, it’s true, but trends are far more fickle than human characters, and so are their connotations. To limit a person’s access because of their appearance is both ineffectual and short-sighted.

The truth is, I am not a Muslim woman and I did have a drink that night I wore a scarf to Cairo Jazz Club. Neither of those truths had any influence on what was ultimately an aesthetic decision. Covering my head makes me feel a little more enigmatic, a little safer. Mostly, I just like how I look in a scarf. Take it off and I am the same woman with the same morals. The same is true of any woman who does or does not wear a scarf, because a woman is never defined by her appearance. The significance of our look – or our moralities – no bouncer has the right to decide.

via Why are veiled women denied entry to bars in Egypt? | Egyptian Streets.

IRIN Africa | Fears in Cameroon of Boko Haram recruitment | Cameroon | Conflict | Economy | Security

{Boko Haram – just another criminal for-profit extremist militia? – seems so}

Nigeria’s extremist Islamist group Boko Haram are believed to be actively recruiting fighters across the border in Cameroon’s Far North Region, according to residents and local government officials.

More than 100 suspected Boko Haram fighters and preachers (the latter presumed to have links with the group), have been arrested in Far North Region since 2012, but many have been released due to lack of evidence, according to a local security official.

via IRIN Africa | Fears in Cameroon of Boko Haram recruitment | Cameroon | Conflict | Economy | Security.

Retro-“Plantations” and Chain-gangs… A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables | TakePart

Lodge’s bill is one of many similar measures introduced across the country in the last 10 years. From Vidalia onions in Georgia to watermelons in Arizona to apples in Washington to the potatoes of southern Idaho, prisoners are increasingly called on to harvest the food Americans eat.

via A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables | TakePart.

Israeli forces clash with worshipers in Aqsa compound, dozens hurt | Maan News Agency

Dozens of worshipers were hurt Wednesday morning in fierce clashes with Israeli forces who stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound via the Moroccan and Chain gates.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers and police officers broke into the compound and deployed in the southern quarter firing stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets at worshipers.

Director of al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Azam al-Kahtib told Ma’an that “about 1,000 Israeli officers stormed the compound.” He highlighted that Israeli officers used live ammunition.

Special forces deployed at the main gates since dawn prayer, witnesses said, denying Palestinian worshipers entry to the compound.

Employees of the ministry of endowment and students who attend schools inside the compound were also denied entry. Only security guards were allowed in addition to men over 65 years old. Several people performed dawn prayer in the alleys near the gates.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that Palestinians threw “stones and firecrackers” at police when they opened the walled compound’s gates.

Police responded with stun grenades, Rosenfeld said, and closed the complex to Jewish visitors after a small number had toured the site.

via Israeli forces clash with worshipers in Aqsa compound, dozens hurt | Maan News Agency.

Scores of girls abducted from Nigerian school by suspected Islamist rebels | News | DW.DE | 15.04.2014

Sick!

Suspected Islamist rebels have abducted at least 100 girls from a secondary school in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state, according to local officials. The assailants are believed to be members of Boko Haram.

The attackers arrived early in the morning on Tuesday with a large truck at the girls’ college in the village of Chibok, approximately 70 miles (113 km) southwest of Maiduguri, according to local police spokesman Gideon Jibrin. He added that the girls were forced into the vehicle, though some were able to escape.

via Scores of girls abducted from Nigerian school by suspected Islamist rebels | News | DW.DE | 15.04.2014.

Apparent Hate Crime Aimed at Jews Instead Strikes Christians Who Gave to Others – NYTimes.com

William L. Corporon was a longtime family doctor, but to his family, he was Popeye, a nickname bestowed by a grandson, Reat Underwood.

{Haters are not all that smart and remember all those innocents killed over the years by racist haters}

On Sunday, it was Popeye who was drafted to take Reat to audition for KC SuperStar, a singing competition for high school students in the Kansas City area. A member of church and school choirs and an actor in summer theater productions in the park, Reat had wanted to try out for years. Now, as a 14-year-old high school freshman, he was finally old enough.

Dressed in a coat and tie, he had prepared a song called “You’re Going to Miss Me When I’m Gone,” which he sang for his mother on Sunday. She kissed him goodbye. Then he jumped into his grandfather’s truck.

But in early afternoon, the authorities say, Reat and his grandfather were both fatally shot in the parking lot outside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kan., where the audition was being held.

via Apparent Hate Crime Aimed at Jews Instead Strikes Christians Who Gave to Others – NYTimes.com.

Syria rebels get US-made missiles: source | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

{Not supposed to happen unless, US says OK – part of every agreement to sell or supply them. So, US is saying OK or this it is simply not true and is spin to try and get it to happen. Interesting that the information is released just after Assad claims government will win in a year.}

“Moderate, well-organised fighters from the Hazm movement have for the first time received more than 20 TOW anti-tank missiles from a Western source,” the source said on condition of anonymity, and without specifying who had supplied the rockets.

via Syria rebels get US-made missiles: source | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Caught on video – Gunmen terrorize Brazilian Indians – Survival International

A violent gang of gunmen who have been terrorizing a community of Brazilian Indians since they returned to their ancestral land has been caught on video. The gang is believed to be employed by the rancher occupying the Guarani Indians’ land, which was seized from them in the 1970s, and cleared for ranching.

Last Monday one of the members of the community of Pyelito Kuê managed to film the gunmen driving past their village and firing shots at them in broad daylight.

via Caught on video – Gunmen terrorize Brazilian Indians – Survival International.

Watch: Christian groups decry Israeli restrictions ahead of Easter | Maan News Agency

“There is no more freedom for Christians in reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” Benayot added, stressing how the combination of checkpoints and police violence had deterred many Christians from coming during the holy week leading up to Easter.

Every year, millions of Christians — including tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians — converge upon the holy city to mark the holiest days of the Christian calendar.

In recent years, however, these celebrations have been marred by violence, and at times Israeli authorities have even banned Palestinian Christians from entering the city to celebrate their holidays, even while allowing foreign pilgrims in.

Benayot said that last year when he tried to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he was assaulted at a checkpoint Israeli forces had erected.

via Watch: Christian groups decry Israeli restrictions ahead of Easter | Maan News Agency.