Converted at gunpoint

The New York Times reports today on two reporters converted to Islam at gunpoint:

Two journalists kidnapped in Gaza were released unharmed on Sunday after
being forced at gunpoint to say on a videotape that they had converted to
Islam.

The two journalists for Fox News — Steve Centanni, 60, an American
correspondent, and Olaf Wiig, 36, a freelance cameraman from New Zealand — were
held for 13 days in an abandoned garage in the Gaza Strip as hostages of a
previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades.

“I’m really fine, healthy in good shape and so happy to be free,” Mr.
Centanni told Fox News. He said the two had been forced at gunpoint to say that
they were converting to Islam and had taken Muslim names. “I have the highest
respect for Islam,” he said. “But it was something we felt we had to do because
they had the guns, and we didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

Earlier on Sunday, their captors delivered a video showing the two men in
Arab robes reading from the Koran to indicate their conversion.

Beware Ipod toteing terrorists...

Is this Man a Terrorist?

CNN is reporting that Islamic terrorists "were in the 'final stages' of a plot to simultaneously blow up as many as 10 jets leaving Britain for the U.S., sending the planes and thousands of passengers into the Atlantic Ocean."

According to CNN, the the terrorists were planning to disguise their bombs as British sports drinks and Ipods.

Mad at politicans in Israel, he decided to murder senior citizens in Seattle, Washinton...

Islam poses problems for the world today, and one of them is this: many Muslims believe their religion justifies, even commands them to kill people on the flimsiest of pretexts. Even Muslims in otherwise tranquil cities like Seattle, Washington aren't immune to this madness. MSNBC is now reporting that a Muslim in Seattle decided to express his disapproval of the Israeli government by killing folks at a local Jewish center:

A man walked into a Jewish organization Friday afternoon and opened
fire, killing one woman and injuring at least five others before he was
arrested, officials said.

The gunman, who employees said claimed to be a Muslim angry at Israel,
forced his way through the security door at the Jewish Federation after an
employee had punched in her security code, said Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a
co-worker who was not at the building at the time.

Staff members said they overheard him saying “‘I am a Muslim American,
angry at Israel,’ before opening fire on everyone,” Meislin-Dietrich said. “He
was randomly shooting at everyone.”

Unfortunately, this fanatic will undoubtedly be heralded as a hero by many of his coreligionists.

BBC reports 16 year old Muslim girl hanged for "crimes against chastity"

The BBC is reporting that an 16 year old girl has been hanged by Iran's Islamic government. Tried under Islamic Sharia law, she was found guilty of "crimes against chastity" and sentenced to death. What did this actually girl do? She was unfortunate enough to be raped by a man three times her age:

On 15 August, 2004, Atefah Sahaaleh was hanged in a public square in the Iranian city of Neka.

Her death sentence was imposed for "crimes against chastity".

The state-run newspaper accused her of adultery and described her as 22 years old.

But she was not married - and she was just 16.

...Atefah became involved in an abusive relationship with a man three times her age.

Former revolutionary guard, 51-year-old Ali Darabi - a married man with children - raped her several times.

She kept the relationship a secret from both her family and the authorities.

Atefah was soon caught in a downward spiral of arrest and abuse.

...Three days after her arrest, Atefah was in a court and tried under Sharia law.

The judge was the powerful Haji Rezai, head of the judiciary in Neka.

No court transcript is available from Atefah's trial, but it is known that for the
first time, Atefah confessed to the secret of her sexual abuse by Ali Darabi.

However, the age of sexual consent for girls under Sharia law - within
the confines of marriage - is nine, and furthermore, rape is very hard to prove
in an Iranian court.

"Men's word is accepted much more clearly and much more easily than women," according to Iranian lawyer and exile Mohammad Hoshi.

"They can say: 'You know she encouraged me' or 'She didn't wear proper dress'."

When Atefah realised her case was hopeless, she shouted back at the judge and threw off her veil in protest.

It was a fatal outburst.

She was sentenced to execution by hanging, while Darabi got just 95 lashes.

In Iran, under Islamic Sharia law, sex outside of marriage is a capital offense -- for women.

What is honorable about killing your own daughter?

Some Muslims feel their religion calls on them to kill their own children. In the New York Times, Dan Bilesky writes about Turkish Muslims attempts to murder their daughters while staying out of trouble with the law:

For Derya, a waiflike girl of 17, the order to kill herself came from an uncle
and was delivered in a text message to her cellphone. “You have blackened our
name,” it read. “Kill yourself and clean our shame or we will kill you first.”

Derya said her crime was to fall for a boy she had met at school last
spring. She knew the risks: her aunt had been killed by her grandfather for
seeing a boy. But after being cloistered and veiled for most of her life, she
said, she felt free for the first time and wanted to express her independence.

...Every few weeks in Batman and the surrounding area in southeast
Anatolia, which is poor, rural and deeply influenced by conservative Islam, a
young woman tries to take her life. Others have been stoned to death, strangled,
shot or buried alive. Their offenses ranged from stealing a glance at a boy to
wearing a short skirt, wanting to go to the movies, being raped by a stranger or
relative or having consensual sex.

Hoping to join the European Union, Turkey has tightened the punishment for attacks on women and girls who have had such experiences. But the violence has continued, if by different means: parents are trying to spare their sons from the harsh punishments associated with killing their sisters by pressing the daughters to take their own lives instead.

“Families of disgraced girls are choosing between sacrificing a son to a
life in prison by designating him to kill his sister or forcing their daughters
to kill themselves,” said Yilmaz Akinci, who works for a rural development
group. “Rather than losing two children, most opt for the latter option.”

Women’s groups here say the evidence suggests that a growing number of
girls considered to be dishonored are being locked in a room for days with rat
poison, a pistol or a rope, and told by their families that the only thing
resting between their disgrace and redemption is death.

Is it any wonder some Europeans don't want Turkey admitted into the European Union and/or feel uncomfortable with Muslims immigrating into their communities? Islam as a faith needs to be reformed so that young girls are no longer killed by their own families.