Honor killings — in which a family member murders another member of the family for ostensibly disgracing the family — are justified, according to 10 percent of young British Asians. The BBC’s Asian Network reported that in its survey of 500 British Asians, aged 16 to 34 and including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, and Muslims, 10 percent of the respondents said that they would condone an honor killing in their family.

Although there are officially only 13 honor killings in the UK per year, there are undoubtedly other successful or failed attempts that go unreported. The gory case of 25-year-old Samaira Nazir’s murder at the hands of her brother and his cousin brought to light the phenomenon of honor killings in Britain. Azhar Nazir and his cousin Imran Mohammed took four knives to Samaira Nazir’s throat and body and stabbed her to death with her father’s complicity. Azhar Nazir’s two daughters, aged 2 and 4, were forced to watch and were covered in blood when the police arrived. Samaira Nazir was murdered for asking to marry an Afghani asylum seeker.

Mimi Hanaoka

I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen. But I’m shocked that they happened to me here, in the U.S.

—Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi architect, speaking yesterday about being asked to remove his shirt, which had the slogan “We will not be silent,” written on it in Arabic and English, when he was flying on August 12th on a JetBlue flight from New York back home to California. Although he had successfully cleared the security checkpoint at the airport, Mr. Jarrar was later approached and asked to remove and change his shirt, on the basis that several passengers — who were jittery because they could not read the Arabic on his t-shirt, regardless of the fact that the slogan was written in English and in Arabic — had asked that he change his t-shirt. Mr. Jarrar eventually wore another t-shirt, which was purchased for him at a store within JFK airport. What was  JetBlue’s response? “We’re not clear exactly what happened.”

Compounding the sheer racism and ignorance of this incident is the origin and use of the slogan, which was written bilingually on Mr. Jarrar’s t-shirt: opponents of the war and occupation in Iraq and other conflicts in the region have rallied behind the slogan “We will not be silent.” The slogan may have originated with the student resistance White Rose group, which opposed the Nazi regime in Germany and allegedly used the phrase in 1942, claiming “We will not be silent, we are your bad conscience; the White Rose will not leave you in peace!”

Mimi Hanaoka

While the release of Bishop An is a good sign, there are six more bishops in jail… We hope that this release is not an isolated case.

— Joseph Kung, head of the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, referring to the recent release of Bishop An Shuxin, 57, who languished for more than a decade in the Chinese prison system.

Bishop An Shuxin is an underground bishop who led some of China’s eight million Catholics, according to the Vatican’s estimate (or, by the Chinese government’s significantly more conservative count, five million believers).  In 1951 China severed ties with the Holy See, which recognizes Taiwan, to China’s great annoyance. Chinese Catholics must be members of the state-sponsored Catholic church that functions independently of the Vatican and the Pope. Bishop An Shuxin now has a permit to serve as a bishop, but he nevertheless continues to be under observation.  

Mimi Hanaoka

$419 billion: Requested budget allocation in 2006 for the Department of Defense.  This figure excludes funds requested for Homeland Security and other operations.

$230 million: Sum pledged by President Bush for aid to Lebanon, which was devastated during the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. The newly promised aid, which will be used to reconstruct Lebanese infrastructure and homes, bolsters America’s previous meager offer of $50 million.

$50 billion: Money spent on rebuilding Lebanon — particularly its roads, power lines, medical facilities, airports, and sports locations — during the past ten years.  Lebanese infrastructure lay in ruins after the brutal 15-year-long civil war, which began in 1975, destroyed the former banking and mercantile hub of the Middle East. Lebanon is now again in ruins.

$2.5 billion: Lebanese government’s estimate of the cost of damage to the nation’s infrastructure after Israel’s most recent war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Mimi Hanaoka

Some of the more curious sites on the Internet are the websites and blogs of world leaders. Kim Jong-il, my favorite despot and premier of North Korea, has a website that is essentially devoted to him, and Iraq’s top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has a website, complete with a Q & A section with the cleric himself.  

The latest leader to jump on the bandwagon, despite the fact that his country attempts to ruthlessly censors its citizens’ access to the Internet (with not entirely successful results), is Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has started his own blog.  With solicitations to email the president and posts by Ahmadinejad, the blog appears to be an attempt to reach out to younger and more distant audiences that are prone to political dissent, particularly since such dissent often finds its way into the Internet, which is less successfully censored than the country’s print and broadcast media. However, given the president’s first post — a lengthy homage to himself — the blog might amount to little more than a transparent piece of propaganda.

Mimi Hanaoka

…Deportations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender asylum-seekers to Iran would violate Dutch government’s obligations to people facing torture or execution in their country of origin. We are particularly concerned that Human Rights Watch’s findings in a particular case appear to have been used to make a sweeping, and inaccurate, analysis of the legal penalties for homosexual conduct in Iran in general…

—Scott Long of Human Rights Watch (HRW), writing to Minister Verdonk, Minister of Alien Affairs and Integration of the Netherlands, requesting that the Netherlands not deport Iranian homosexuals back to Iran.  HRW argues that the Dutch goverment is obligated, according to Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to grant such people asylum on the basis that such individuals face torture or the death penalty in Iran.    

What, if anything, HRW’s letter had to do with a recent case in Stuttgart is unclear, but a 27-year-old Iranian lesbian has been granted asylum in Germany. She successfully argued that a forced return would sentence her to the death penalty, which is the punishment for certain homosexual acts in Iran.

The letter from HRW outlines Iranian policies on homosexuality.

Within the region, Iran is distinguished by the overt severity of the penalties it imposes on consensual, adult homosexual conduct. “Sodomy” or lavat—consummated sexual activity between males, whether penetrative or not—is punishable by execution, regardless of whether the partner is passive or active. (Article 111 of the Code of Islamic Punishments or Penal Code states that “Lavat is punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will.”) Tafkhiz (the rubbing together of thighs or buttocks or other forms of non-penetrative “foreplay” between men) is punishable by one hundred lashes for each partner, according to Articles 121-122 of the Penal Code. Recidivism is punishable by death on the fourth conviction. In addition, Article 123 of the Penal Code further provides that “If two men who are not related by blood lie naked under the same cover without any necessity,” each one will receive ninety-nine lashes. Articles 127 to 134 stipulate that the punishment for sexual intercourse between women is one hundred lashes and if the offence is repeated three times, the punishment is execution.

Mimi Hanaoka

Just because the Israeli military warned the civilians of Qana to leave does not give it carte blanche to blindly attack.

—Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, speaking about the recent Israeli attack against the Lebanese in Qana, in which more than 54 Lebanese civilians were slaughtered, including at least 34 children.  Human Rights Watch warned that “consistent failure to distinguish combatants and civilians is a war crime.”  Although Israel suggested that there would be a temporary cessation of air raids after the bloody debacle at Qana, Israeli strikes continue to hail down upon Lebanon.
  
The Lebanese health minister puts the nation’s death toll at around 750 people, most of whom were civilians. 55 Israelis, including 19 civilians, have died in the mounting war.  Israel attacked Lebanon after Hezbollah — backed by Iran and Syria and based in Lebanon — captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12th.  

Mimi Hanaoka

It’s very difficult to understand the kind of military tactics used by Israel. These are not surgical strikes but have caused death and misery to many innocent civilians.

— Jack Straw, former British foreign secretary and current Leader of the House, speaking on Saturday, July 29th, about the Israeli massacres in Lebanon.

I think it needs to be clear that Israel is not in a hurry to have a cease-fire before we reach a situation in which we can say that we achieved the central goals that we set down for ourselves.

— Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking on Sunday, July 30th, and defending Israeli attacks in the escalating war in Lebanon.

Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control.

— Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, condemning the most recent Israeli attack against the Lebanese in Qana, in which more than 54 Lebanese civilians were slaughtered, including at least 34 children. Annan implored the Security Council to condemn the Israeli attack on Qana. The U.S., a staunch Israeli ally and member of the Security Council, has defended Israel’s actions in the continuing 19-day war in Lebanon.  

The Lebanese health minister puts the nation’s death toll at around 750 people, most of whom were civilians. Fifty-one Israelis, including 18 civilians, have died in the mounting war.  Israel attacked Lebanon after Hezbollah — backed by Iran and Syria and based in Lebanon — captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12th.

Mimi Hanaoka

For those interested in following the escalating war between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, Seige of Lebanon provides commentary, photographs, and local accounts of the situation.  

Israeli firepower far outweighs that of Hezbollah, and the death toll is telling: 203 Lebanese and 24 Israelis have died. Israeli attacks, including air strikes that are reaching further north into Lebanon, have killed 190 civilians; Hezbollah rocket attacks have killed 12 Israeli civilians.

Mimi Hanaoka

We have an immense problem…of development…If we do not develop Africa, if we do not make available the necessary resources to bring about this development, these people will flood the world.

— French President Jacques Chirac, addressing TV audiences on Bastille Day.  Chirac warned against the international ramifications of poverty in African nations and implored — however inarticulately — developed nations to contribute to the economic development of the African continent.  Chirac underscored the potential economic impact of the continent and its 950 million residents, half of whom are under the age of 17; the population of the continent is expected to reach approximately 2 billion by 2050.  

Mimi Hanaoka

We need to talk about the taboos, and we need to cancel the word “taboos” from our lives — we need to talk about everything to become better. If we don’t, if we hide everything in denial, how are we going to become better?

— Marwan Hamed, director of the film adaptation of Cairene dentist Alaa al-Aswani’s best-selling novel, The Yacoubian Building, speaking about the recent commotion that his film caused. Alaa al-Aswani’s novel portrays a changing Cairo through the inhabitants of the Yacoubian Building (which really exists in downtown Cairo) and features a cross-section of Cairene society: a corrupt and wealthy politician, a sexually harassed woman, an intelligent but poor youth who is lured into mosques and militant Islam when he is rejected from the police force for being poor, as well as a gay and urbane newspaper editor.  The novel rocketed onto the charts as a bestseller in the Arabic-speaking world when it was first published in 2002, and it has subsequently retained its popularity.

One hundred and twelve MPs who have been frothily debating the film since it opened in Egypt over two weeks ago have registered their complaints about The Yacoubian Building. Mustafa Bakri, the MP spearheading the campaign against the film, stated that it is “spreading obscenity and debauchery.” The committee established by Parliament must now review the film, take the editorial machete to it, and produce a less “profane” version of the film, which would effectively amount to etching out the scenes explicitly featuring a gay relationship.  

Egypt is no stranger to either suppression or denial.  Accused with importing “perverse ideas” from Europe, scores of gay men who were on the Queen Boat — a nightclub housed in a boat that floats on the Nile — were arrested, tried, and no doubt violated in 2001 when police raided the nightclub; the men where portrayed as “satanists.”

Mimi Hanaoka

China plans to use the railway to transport Chinese migrants directly into the heart of Tibet in order to overwhelm the Tibetan population and tighten its stranglehold over our people…. (The railway is) engineered to destroy the very fabric of Tibetan identity.

— Lhadon Tethong, a Tibetan living in exile, decrying China’s new Qinghai-Tibet railway as an opportunistic colonialist ploy. The railway runs from the Chinese capital of Beijing to the traditional Tibetan capital of Lhasa for 4,000 kilometers, the final 1,110 kilometers of which links what was until July 3rd the final frontier of the Chinese rail system to the Qinghai-Tibet railway and into Lhasa. The final 1,110-kilometer segment of the railway takes passengers through the ether of Tanggula Pass, which stands at 5,072 meters (16,640 feet) and makes the railway the world’s highest, complete with oxygen tubes and controlled oxygen levels, windows with UV filters to deflect the sun, and a budget of $4.2 billion to build.

While China touts the railway as a lifeline that will bring opportunities and accessibility to the region, some Tibetans condemn the project as an attempt to import ethnic Han Chinese immigrants into the region to further obliterate the Tibetan culture.  The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan community, has been living in exile in India since 1959, nine years after the People’s Liberation Army marched into Tibet to occupy the nation in 1950.

Mimi Hanaoka