http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/500-women-fatwa-victims-in-bangladesh-in-past-10-years-85380
Dhaka: A demand to prohibit the Muslim clergy from issuing fatwa is gathering momentum in Bangladesh as 503 women have been subjected to public flogging since the year 2000.
The issuing of religious edicts has not yet been banned. The high court declared it illegal in 2001; speakers said at a roundtable titled "No more fatwa" here Sunday.
Speakers urged the government to make issuance of fatwa a punishable offence since 503 women have fallen victim to it.
"Fatwa means legal opinion. Only court can give legal opinions. The man who announces fatwa has no legal authority to do it," Justice Mohammad Gholam Rabbani said referring to the judgment he passed in 2001.
"Fatwa should be made punishable as it goes against the existing law of our country," he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.
Largest selling Bengali language daily Prothom Alo arranged the roundtable following last month's death of a teenage girl from Shariatpur near here, who was raped by a neighbour and then whipped a 100 times after a fatwa was issued.
She could not take more than about 80 lashes and fell unconscious, eyewitnesses told media. She died a day later in hospital.
The case caused a national outcry after it was found that the police and the hospital colluded with the family of the alleged rapist to deny that there was any wrongdoing.
The Dhaka High Court has ordered reopening of the case and multiple probes against the police and the hospital authorities.
Judges Mohammad Gholam Rabbani and Nazmun Ara Sultana in the landmark 2001 judgment declared that the "legal system of Bangladesh empowers only the courts to decide all questions relating to the legal opinions on the Muslim and other laws as in force in Bangladesh".
However, the 2001 judgment was stayed following a Supreme Court order, said Gholam Rabbani.
The apex court passed the stay order against the backdrop of killing of seven people in violent clashes between police and demonstrators, who took to the street following the verdict.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad President Ayesha Khanam said the incident of the teenager who was whipped to death brings the social system, state machinery and performance of law enforcers into question.
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what kind of a country declares this as "illegal" at its high court but yet allows it performed publicly?
AntwortenLöschenObviously it is a F*CKED Up regime which does not have a defined character. There are a few "schooled" judges who say one thing, and then there are those in administration who don;t give a hoot to them.
On the other hand, if we allow for the difference in wealth and historical lead of the USA, I wonder if we cannot compare the "inaction" of our governments towards illegal aliens, while all the US legislature declares it "ILLEGAL".
In a way, our own administrations do not give a hoot to the legislation either.
Again, this is not to compare and EXCUSE them, but rather to help us notice our own deficiencies as well.
Another comment would be what the F*CK is the UN doing about that. The UN, which is so ACTIVE in shunning election results in some obscure African country, even threatening it with military action(!), yet not saying a word towards these kind of grotesque human rights violations.
Bangladesh gets a substantial amount of aid via UN and other countries. It is one of the POOREST countries in the world. Hence, it's administration would be most responsive to meaningful pressures from, outside.
Of course I do know the REAL answer: Such a pressure does not help anyone fill their pockets. And in the world of politics, nobody works for BENEVOLENCE.
It really is unbelievable. It's 2011 for heavens sake.
AntwortenLöschenAs people in middle eastern countries rise up against oppressive regimes, I would like to see similar protests for women's rights. And uprising against such barbaric punishments.
AntwortenLöschenThe fate of people do not shape up in a year or two. The European Imperialism has been trying to keep all those countries in the dark for over 300 years.
AntwortenLöschenAsk any Indian (Hindustani). The British did everything possible to keep them illiterate and incapable to sustain themselves.
Same with the French in Africa and Indochina, the Belgians in Africa, the Spanish in Americas, the Portuguese in South America and the far east....
So, these people (not just the Arabs or the Muslims, but also the "Latin" Americans, the Indians, Pakistanis, Indo-chinese, the Chinese, Vietnamese.... have been systematically kept in the dark ages and illiteracy.
Any oppressive regime in those countries have been backed up by the imperialists, outright supported by military power, money and otherwise as long as the dark regime served the profitability of the imperialism.
And now the westerners wonder how come they are so BACKWARDS?
DUH!
Take the two examples of Australia and New Zealand.
AntwortenLöschenWhen the white man came, bot have had their own "primitive" tribes: the Maori of New Zealand and the Aborigines of Australia...
Australians decided to keep them "segregated and primitive"
New Zealanders decided to accept them as people.
Today, the Aborigines are still "backwards, primitive, criminal, etc". Once n a while, a politician pays lip-service there "apologizing" for the mistreatment of the Aborigines.
In New Zealand, the Maori are proud people totally integrated to the society. So much so that world renowned sopranos are of Maori origin (Kiri Te Kawana), or the NZ rugby team is proud to have Maori players, even using their warrior chants.
Tell em then why that gap between the AU and the NZ if iot is not due to the way the "white man" has treated them.
There is also a HUGE difference in how the USA has treated his native Indian population (locked them up in the worst parts of the land) versus the Canadians.
Of course a "nation" cannot shake up and shed all the baggage of the past 300 years.
Now, the west is paying the price.
Instead of trying to further treat them as "Indians who need to be locked up in reservations", the west better recognizes that it is going to be CHEAPER and MORE effective to help them.
This whole comment is spot on.
AntwortenLöschenIslamic BDSM public party ??
AntwortenLöschenWhat about Ottoman imperialism ??
AntwortenLöschensure that can be said, too. But the Ottomans have never made through the enlightenment and they themselves fell below and behind the west.
AntwortenLöschenThe history of the Ottoman Empire is its repeated shrinkage against the west, simply because they have remained in dark ages.
Example: When the Russian fleet took off from the Baltic Sea, entered the Mediterranean and destroyed the Ottoman Armada in one surprise attack, the ones in the Palace could not understand how Russians possibly could have gotten there. Why? Because they had no idea about the Baltic Sea. All their knowledge about the Russian Navy was that in the Black Sea.
In that sense, Ottomans themselves were out of step with the west.
also:
AntwortenLöschenbad+bad =/= good