Child brides

In India, the girls will typically be attached to boys four or five years older, an investigation in the June issue of National Geographic magazine has found. But in Yemen, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and other countries with even higher rates of marriage at an early age, the husbands may be young men, middle-aged widowers or even abductors who rape first and claim their victims as wives afterwards.

'Whenever I saw him, I hid. I hated to see him': Tahani (in pink) was just six years old when she she married Majed, 25 (standing next to her). The young wife posed for this portrait with former classmate Ghada, also a child bride, outside their mountain home in Hajjah, Yemen

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Terrorism: Al-Zawahiri speaks about Bin Laden’s death

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The number two of Al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahiri, had not spoken on the death of Osama bin Laden so far. This week, he has broken his silence to threaten U.S. with a Muslim rebellion through a video recording posted on the YouTube website and monitoredWednesday by the U.S. central site monitoring Islamist SITE.

The Egyptian terrorist spends much of the 28 minutes of the recording to honor the leader of AlQaeda, killed last May 1 in an operation by U.S. special forces in Pakistan, after 10years of searching.

“Today, thank God, (United States) of America does not face an individual or a group… but a rebellious nation that has awakened from its sleep and gets up in the jihadist revival that challenge is wherever you are, “said Al Zawahiri.

Interpol believes that Al-Qaeda remains the most important global threat.

UK: Mumbay terror-style plotter, allowed to return and live in London

Fury erupted today over plans to allow a terror suspect believed to have been plotting a Mumbai-style attack in London to return here to live.

MPs demanded that Home Secretary Theresa May immediately reconsider the decision to allow the Nigerian-British national to come back to the capital.

The terror suspect CD – whose identity cannot be revealed – trained alongside the 21/7 attempted bombers who targeted public transport in London.

He was banned from London in February after MI5 warned he was a leading figure in a “close group of Islamic extremists in north London”. The security services believe that CD’s group was involved in planning attacks, probably using firearms.

More here.

Nigeria: 16 killed, Catholic Cathedral destroyed by Boko Haram’s followers

An extremist Islamic group is being held responsible for a series of recent attacks in Nigeria, which have left 16 dead and destroyed the Catholic Cathedral of St. Patrick in the northern capital city of Maiduguri.

“St. Patrick’s Cathedral was seriously damaged, windows and doors destroyed, the whole building was shaken to its foundations by the violence of the explosion,” said Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri.

Found here.

Spanish journalist Ángela Rodicio: “Iran is a diabolical experiment”

You emphasized throughout the book that the riots that took place in Iran in 2009 was the germ of the massive protests that have taken place in the Arab world in recent months …

More than the germ of all the revolutions that have taken place in Arab countries, what I’m saying is that these states have the same characteristics: a huge youth population (in the case of Iran, 70 % of the people under 30 years), high unemployment and a considerable degree of desperation. All this tension germinated in the protests of 2009 that have subsequently led to the revolt of the Arab world.

Do not forget that Iran is a diabolical experiment in vacuum given all the social elements of other countries, but with the added difficulty that it’s a closed, tight dictatorship.

Why those claims have not borne fruit in Iran?

Because the regime is so repressive that it would need a counterrevolution. We must remember that the actual players are those who revolted in 1979 against the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Thus, the old revolutionaries, the current representative,heard it all.

The pressure faced by the dissidents and the opposition is huge. Thus, I think it will take longer to materialize change. Although I am not a prophet, yes I am of the view that Iran is going to draw a similar path to that of other Arab countries.

Interview found here.

Egypt: another journalist sexually molested

Found here.

Iran: Christian convert detained in Evin prison, whose fate remains unresolved and unclear

According to reports obtained by the Iranian Christian News Agency, Mohabat News, this 32 years old new Christian man, Farshid Fathi, who resides in Tehran, pursuant to a pre-planned series of home invasions by the security forces, was arrested on September 26, 2010. Now, after more than 5 months from his arrest and remaining in custody at the 209th wing of Evin prison, his fate remains unresolved and unclear.

Mohabat News has reports indicating that this Christian prisoner has been held in solitary confinement for months and has been given permission to speak to his family once a week only and despite the conclusion of all interrogations there has been no court orders or instructions issued in his case.

The security forces and the interrogators have been using psychological torture methods to force Farshid to confess and provide a full list of all individuals he has evangelized and who and where are the domestic and foreign contacts.

More here.

Pakistan: Muslim think-tank denounces persecution against Christians

It also calls for the abolition of the Blasphemy Law.

In Pakistan there has been a steady increase in violence against religious minorities and Christians “are the first victims of persecution” is an issue that the government must address in order to guarantee freedom, democracy and the rule of law. E ‘, according to a new report entitled “A question of faith”(A Question of Faith), published in recent days by “Jinnah Institute, a prestigious center for research and analysis of Pakistan, based on the principles of the founder of the country, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. The Study Centre is now chaired by the Parliamentary Muslim Sherry Rehman, Pakistan People’s Party, the party currently in power in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistani people want more Islamization and recently the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Samiul Haq) leader Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooqi and others called for banning the Bible because it contains “blasphemous material”.