News related to religious fanaticism
The [Iraqi] government did not reject the casualty figure but said the U.N. Assistance Mission report was “not professional or neutral as we would expect from the missions of the international organization. The report was superficial in dealing with several points,†spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said. […]
When asked what the government didn’t accept about the report, al-Dabbagh said “I am not talking about figures. I am talking about details in the report.â€
The U.N. report, which was released Tuesday in Baghdad, also was critical about the government’s performance on human rights violations, raising concerns about homosexuals and other vulnerable groups.
“The current environment of impunity and lawlessness invites a heightened level of insecurity for homosexuals in Iraq. Armed Islamic groups and militias have been known to be particularly hostile toward homosexuals frequently and openly engaging in violent campaigns against them,†the U.N. report read. “There has been a number of assassinations of homosexuals in Iraq.â€
Such a topic is widely frowned at in this predominantly Muslim country and gays usually keep their sexual orientation a secret.
“There was information in the report that we cannot accept here in Iraq. The report, for example, spoke about the phenomenon of homosexuality and giving them their rights,†al-Dabbagh said. “Such statements are not suitable to the Iraqi society. This is rejected.â€
“They should respect the values and traditions here in Iraq,†he said.
Christopher Hitchens, where are you now?
The Iranian regime tightened up the law enforcement, the punishment of crime and the public moral: the crimes linked to pornography will be punished with the death penalty. This measure was taken by a law that was just passed by Majlis, the Iranian one-chamber parliament that is dominated by radical Islamists. The law received 148 votes in favour of it five noes and four abstentions. According to Irna state press agency the law must be approved by the Council of Guardians before coming into force. The council is the body that must control the legitimacy of the laws basing on the Koran ethics. Whoever will be involved in the production of pornographic material will be considered a ‘corrupted person of the earth’ the law reads. This statement is taken from the ‘sharia’ the body of rules based on the Koran. It is linked to the application of the capital punishment in the Iranian legislation. The death penalty is largely inflicted in Iran for a wide series of crimes and not all of them are considered serious in the western legislations. Directors, operators, actors and technicians who will make a pornographic movie or pictures will be considered ‘corrupt people of the earth’.Â
Again. Paging Christopher Hitchens…