Justice is traditionally portrayed as being blindfolded. The implications in this imagery is that whatever decision is found will be impartial and not influenced by identity or power.
An interesting story in an Aussie paper about a recent case in which a burka-wearing individual who had previously been given six months in jail was freed on appeal – because the judge couldn’t be sure they were the person who had committed the original offence, since the person who did so was wearing a burka at the time (as was the person before the judge now). Catch up on the story here.
How Barack Obama must long for the glory days when he first walked on to the world stage, for the adulation he received from crowds everywhere from Berlin in the West, to Cairo in the East. When he travelled to the heart of the Muslim world so that, as Dalia Mogahed (2009), a Muslim who helped to put together Obama’s Cairo speech has put it, he could ‘heal a deep wound that Muslims have’ (p. 1) and open a dialogue with the Muslim world based on empathy, co-operation and equal partnership (Spiegel Online, 2009).
Now we read about UN members from civilised countries standing up and walking out in protest after the Iranian President suggested that America orchestrated the Islamic terrorist attacks on 9/11 so that it could save Israel (save Israel from what, one can’t help wondering?). Presciedent Obama (2010) cited by RTE News (2010) has called the Iranian President’s remarks ‘inexcusable, hateful and offensive’.
What a difference Obama’s speechifying and kowtowing to the ummah has made, eh? They’ve obviously changed their thinking totally since the days when Ahmadinejad (2005) cited by The New York Times (2005) said that the ‘disgraceful stain’ of Israel would be eliminated from the Islamic world.
References
Spiegel Online. (6th Aug 09) Obama’s Cairo Speech: The Beginning of a Dialogue with Muslims. [Online] Available from: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,629205,00.html [Accessed 25th Sep 10].
The New York Times. (30th Oct 05) Text of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Speech [Online] Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/weekinreview/30iran.html [Accessed 25th Sep 10].
Check out the video from 0.51 – 0.54. What’s that in his hand? The weapon of choice for anyone engaged in “state terrorism” of course – a paintball gun!
There are as many as 85 sharia courts operating in Britain, according to a new report.
Academic Denis MacEoin, the report’s author, said the existence of the courts practising Islamic law could lead to different legal standards being applied to Muslim and non-Muslim citizens.
He said many of the courts operate out of mosques and their rulings are closed off to non-Muslims.
In previous reports it was claimed there were only five sharia courts in the UK, working in London, Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham and Nuneaton.
He said: “This is not a matter of eating halal meat or seeking God’s blessing on one’s marriage. It is a challenge to what we believe to be the rights and freedoms of the individual, to our concept of a legal system based on what parliament enacts, and to the right of all of us to live in a society as free as possible from ethnic-religious division or communal claims to superiority and a special status that puts them in some respects above the law to which we are all bound.”
His report, published by the think-tank Civitas, includes a list of previous sharia judgements which he believes give an indication of the type of ruling being handed down by the courts working in the UK.
Among the examples quoted are laws banning a Muslim woman from marrying a non-Muslim unless he converts to Islam and the removal of a wife’s property rights in the event of divorce.
The report states: “Among the rulings … we find some that advise illegal actions and others that transgress human rights standards as they are applied by British courts.”
It’s being reported that the Iranian authorities have reduced Roxana Saberi’s eight year sentence to a two year suspended sentence, which means that she is effectively free to return to America. Her father has said that she is in “good condition” and that they will be leaving Iran “pretty soon.”
The Times ran a full page story about Roxana Saberi today. They put the story in a political context, arguing that so long as Saberi is in custody in Evin prison, it will be difficult, if not “politically impossible“, for Obama to improve relations between America and Iran.
Toby Harnden, writing in The Telegraph, claims that Ahmadinejad has told the chief prosecutor to make sure that Saberi is able to defend herself properly at her appeal. In Harnden’s opinion, if Saberi is released, then it would be “a coup” for Obama.
There you have it: Saberi being jailed in Iran could be bad for Obama, or it could be good for Obama. Take your pick. At least Obama has finally spoken up about Saberi’s case. He says that “we are going to be in contact” with Iran via the Swiss, and that it is “appropriate” that Saberi is released. (Tough talk, eh?) It’s not clear why Saberi being released should be seen as ”a coup” for Obama. If Saberi is innocent, and Iran is playing political games here, then forcing an American president to go on bended knee to them, via the Swiss, would be something of “a coup” for Iran, not for America.
Update on Sunday, 26th April: Miss Saberi is now on hunger strike.
Roxana Saberi, recently charged with espionage (see previous posts here,here,here and here), has faced her first trial session in Iran’s Revolutionary Court. Saberi is accused of “spying for foreigners … for America.” Saberi, who holds dual citizenship, had previously worked for several news agencies in the West, including NPR and the BBC. Hassan Haddad, the chief deputy prosecutor involved in Saberi’s case, has said that she had been “carrying out spying activities under the guise of being a reporter.” Saberi faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.
It’s being reported that the Iranian authorities have reduced Roxana Saberi’s eight year sentence to a two year suspended sentence, which means that she is effectively free to return to America. Her father has said that she is in “good condition” and that they will be leaving Iran “pretty soon.”
