Sunday 26 October 2008

Muslims Ban Lesbians In Malaysia

11:54am UK, Friday October 24, 2008
Lesbianism has been banned under an edict issued by clerics in Malaysia who ruled that "tomboy" behaviour was against Islam.

The clerics believe lesbian behaviour goes against their religion
The National Fatwa Council also forbade the practice of girls behaving or dressing like boys.
Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the council, said many young women admire the way men dress and behave - and branded it a denial of their femininity and a violation of human nature.
He said: "It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle including dressing in the clothes men wear.
"It becomes clearer when they start to have sex with someone of the same gender, that is woman and woman.
"In view of this, the National Fatwa Council have decided and taken the stand that such acts are forbidden and banned."
They must respect God. God created them as boys, they must behave like boys. God created them as girls, they must act like girls.Harussani Idris Zakaria, member of Malaysia's National Fatwa Council
Under the edict, girls are forbidden to sport short hair and dress, walk and act like boys.
Male homosexuality - specifically sodomy - is illegal in Malaysia and punishable with up to 20 years in jail.
Accusations of sodomy have twice been levelled against the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in what he says are politically motivated attempts to destroy him.
But lawyers say there is no provision banning lesbian sex in Malaysia's civil code.
The latest fatwa appears to be an attempt to push lesbianism towards illegality.
Harussani Idris Zakaria, the mufti of northern Perak state, said the council's ruling was not legally binding because it has not been passed into law, but that tomboys should be banned because their actions are "immoral".
He said: "It doesn't matter if it's a law or not. When it's wrong, it's wrong. It is a sin."

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Hitchhiking is the way to go...

An IC Arts & Life writer, Nathan Elias hitchhiked from Pennsylvania to New Jersey with the bare minimum, and survived. Hitchhiking is definitely I'll have to consider long and hard before doing. Elias did a good job at painting the picture of what it's like... forget the horror movies....

I love the way he ended the article.


Click on the quote to read more about his journey.

Monday 13 October 2008

Death penalty over Mary Jane

Death Penalty: Malaysia to Hang Three for Marijuana Trafficking, Executions Continue in Middle East
from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #555, 10/10/08
Twice in the past two weeks, courts in Malaysia have condemned people to death for marijuana trafficking offenses. Meanwhile, both Iran and Yemen have executed drug offenders in the past three weeks. Except where otherwise linked, information in this article comes from the global anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain.
In Malaysia, the High Court Wednesday handed down death sentences to two men, Kairil Anuar Abdul Rahman, 34, and Afendi Adam, 28, for trafficking a little under two pounds of pot six years ago. The pair, a restaurant worker and a painter, respectively, were arrested in March 2002 for selling 971 grams of marijuana. Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim said the court had no choice but to impose the death sentences after the men were found guilty. Attorneys for the pair are expected to appeal both the convictions and the sentences.
Two weeks earlier, the Shah Alam Higher Court imposed the death sentence on an Indonesian immigrant, Junaidi Nurdin, 32, for selling 979 grams of pot. Junaidi was arrested in April 2004 after he sold the stuff to an undercover policeman at a restaurant in Shah Alam. He, too, is expected to appeal.
Meanwhile, the execution of drug offenders continued apace in the Middle East. In Yemen, convicted Pakistani drug trafficker Birkhan Afridibar Hussein, 50, was executed at the Central Prison in Sanaa on September 17 after his death sentence was approved by the president of the republic. And in Iran, a man known only as Taher H. was hanged Tuesday in the northern city of Hamedan. Taher H. had been imprisoned on drug charges there, but escaped, only to be caught again with 530 pounds of heroin.
The executions of nonviolent drug offenders, almost exclusively in Southeast Asia and the Middle East has added momentum to calls for a global moratorium on the death penalty and particularly against using the death penalty for drug offenses.

Saturday 11 October 2008

Saturday 4 October 2008