Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Afghan and Iranian women prefer to be dead than muslim

When can we start calling evil, evil? What kind of religion condemns women to such living hell that they increasingly choose suicide by burning to death over being alive?

From the BBC:
Increasing numbers of Afghan women are committing suicide by setting
fire to themselves to escape difficult lives,
according to NGOs based in the country.
They say women forced into marriage or suffering chronic abuse are killing themselves out of desperation.
...
Cases are said to be reported every day in the western city of Herat.
In Kabul, some 36 cases of self-immolation have been recorded this year.
"These are young girls at their most productive ages - between nine and 40 years of age," Ancil Adrian-Paul, a spokeswoman for NGO Medica Mondiale, told the BBC.
"These young girls are killing themselves from frustration and because they feel that there is no way out of them."
She said the choice of self-immolation may be influenced by the fact that many of the women sought shelter in Iran, where the practise is more common.
...

A nine-year old girl, choosing to set herself ablaze, because of how miserable the followers of islam are making her life. When I was nine years old I played baseball and climbed trees and caught frogs; I simply am not equipped with the imagination to understand how a child can choose to set herself on fire, and see it as the lesser of two evils. What can be done, to stop this, and bring hope to women imprisoned by the religion of islam?

Here is one thing that is being done. One small step, yet a hopeful one, in treating women as human beings... have western leaders start stating the obvious:

A senior Vatican cardinal has expressed concern over the use of some Muslim veils by Islamic immigrants in Europe.
...
Cardinal Renato Martino said immigrants must respect the traditions, culture and religion of the nations they go to.
They ought to abide by local laws banning the wearing of certain types of Muslim veils, he added.

"It seems elementary to me and it is quite right that the authorities demand it," said Cardinal Martino, who heads the Vatican department dealing with migration issues.
...
Here in Italy, a law was passed during the attacks of the Red Brigades urban guerrillas three decades ago which still makes it an offence to cover your face in public if your identity is challenged by a policeman.
...
The Italian government is trying to draw up what it calls a Charter of Common Values to get local Muslim leaders to help integrate Italy's fast-growing population.
But it is hard going.
At one recent meeting, a radical Muslim delegate proposed separate charters for men and for women, and favoured the death penalty.

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