Archive for August 13th, 2008
Alleged man “honor killing”: he was a Christian dating a Muslim woman
Local Pakistani police declared the death of a young Christian man in May to be a suicide requiring no investigation, but a high inspector has reopened the case and taken two Muslim suspects into custody.
Adeel Masih, 19, was found dead on May 4 in Hafizabad, Pakistan. His family and human rights lawyers believe the relatives of a 19-year-old Muslim woman, Kiran Irfan, with whom Masih had a one-year relationship, tortured and killed him. His family has dubbed his death an “honor killing.”
Marriage between Christian men and Muslim women is forbidden according to a strict interpretation of sharia(Islamic Law), and even social contacts such as these can incite violent reactions in Pakistan, a majority-Muslim nation of 170 million.
Local police in Gujranwala, in Punjab province, did not charge Irfan’s family with any crimes and effectively declared them innocent when Masih’s family first came to the station in May, according to the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), a Lahore-based Christian legal advocacy group.
More here.
Technorati Tags: Adeel+Masih, Hafizabad, honor+killing, Islam, Islamism, Kiran+Irfan, Pakistan
The loss of Al-Masri has reduced capability of Al-Qaeda’s WMD capability
Abu Khabab al-Masri was dubbed by terrorism analysts as al-Qaida’s “mad scientist.” His most notorious work, recorded on videotape, showed dogs being killed in poison gas experiments in Afghanistan when the Taliban ruled.
“If he is out of the picture, al-Qaida’s weapons of mass destruction capability has been set back, which would make this one of the more effective strikes in recent years,” Arthur Keller, an ex-CIA case officer in Pakistan, told The Associated Press. Keller led the hunt for al-Masri in 2006.
The U.S offered a $5 million bounty for the 55-year old Egyptian, and the CIA had been hunting him for years. Al-Qaida confirmed his death days after the July 28 attack by unmanned drones on a tribesman’s compound in the village of Azam Warsak in South Waziristan.
Al-Qaida said to lose key WMD operative – Yahoo! News.
Related: Al-Qaeda Chemical expert killed.
Technorati Tags: Abu+Khabab+al-Masri, Al-Qaeda, Al+Qaeda+chemical+expert, Pakistan, South+Waziristan, Taliban
Sri Lankan PM: Terrorism must be eradicated before having talks
The Sri Lankan government is steadfast in eliminating terrorism before having talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said on Saturday.
Addressing an election rally at Medirigiriya in the North Central Province, Wickramanayake said “terrorism must be eliminated before anything. Only after that we could talk of talks.”
Wickramanayake said government troops currently engaging Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north have sent the rebels reeling.
Sri Lankan PM: Terrorism must be eradicated before having talks_English_Xinhua.
Luckily someone has this clear enough to say it…
Technorati Tags: Liberation+Tigers+of+Tamil+Eelam, Medirigiriya, Sri+Lanka, Tamil+Tigers, terrorism, Wickramanayake
