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Resources updated between Monday, May 26, 2014 and Sunday, June 1, 2014

May 30, 2014

Muhammad Iqbal strangled first wife and escaped jail term using legal provisions he says should not be open to second wife’s killers

"A Pakistani man demanding justice after his pregnant wife was murdered outside Lahore's high court this week admitted yesterday to strangling his first wife...
Muhammad Iqbal, the 45-year-old husband of Farzana Parveen, who was beaten to death by 20 male relatives on Tuesday, said he strangled his first wife in order to marry Parveen. He avoided a prison sentence after his family used Islamic provisions of Pakistan's legal system to forgive him – precisely those he has insisted should not be available to his second wife's killers...Police confirmed the killing happened six years ago and he was released after a 'compromise' with his family."

Pakistan: "Not so important when one woman is killed by one husband." Document

May 29, 2014

Sam Kutesa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda

Uganda's foreign minister Sam Kutesa is currently running unopposed for the post of UN General Assembly President. Not only does Kutesa have close professional and personal ties to Uganda's brutal 28-year dictator Yoweri Museveni, but he is directly linked to numerous corruption scandals.

Kutesa, Museveni's "top advisor and spokesperson," is reputed to be one of "the most corrupt and wealthiest Ugandan politicians". He has so far survived trial and conviction due to his close ties with Museveni. His daughter is married to Museveni's son, Brigadier Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who commands the feared Presidential Guard.

The Huffington Post reports:

    "Gen. Museveni's domestic repression in Uganda and multiple invasions of neighboring countries such as Rwanda, DR Congo and South Sudan have caused the deaths of millions of innocent African civilians and has been well documented by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch...Congo has been turned into the "rape" capital of the world by the marauding militias he's trained and financed including M23...
    [M]ost recently Gen. Museveni on Feb. 24, 2014, defied the international community by signing a law that incites violence against Uganda's sexual minorities, the LGBT community, purely for political purposes, as he's desperate to retain power in the 2016 elections. Gen. Museveni knows rural voters who form the majority are conservative and not educated on issues of LGBT people -- by demonizing them Gen. Museveni hopes to translate fears into votes. In the process he does not care about the consequences on the safety and lives of LGBT community and referred to them as "disgusting" in a CNN interview...
    Gen. Museveni's family and his ministers have embezzled so many public funds, including monies designated for development assistance through the years that in 2012 the UK cut off all foreign aid...In 2005 the International Court of Justice found Uganda liable for what amounts to war crimes in Congo (massacres and plunder) as a result of the invasions and occupation of Congo. Uganda was ordered to pay $10 billion in reparations; not a dime has yet been paid...
    [O]n June 8, 2006, The Wall Street Journal reported that the International Criminal Court (ICC) also launched it's own criminal investigation linking Gen. Museveni to Congo war crimes and that the Ugandan ruler urged Kofi Annan, then UN Secretary General, to block the investigation. Might Kutesa not try to hinder possible investigations in connection to alleged crimes by M23 and by Uganda's army in South Sudan?...
    [O]n a personal level Mr. Kutesa should be disqualified even from consideration as candidate for the General Assembly presidency. He has been linked in numerous corruption scandals in Uganda dating back to 1999. More recently, his name was mentioned in a 2009 cable to the U.S. Department of State by former U.S. ambassador to Uganda Jerry Lanier in which he discussed officials who were alleged to have received millions of dollars in bribes from foreign oil companies. The cables were published on Wikileaks."

One of the "most corrupt" men in Uganda slated to become next UN General Assembly President Article

Muhammad Iqbal holds photo of his wife Farzana Parveen

"A pregnant Pakistani woman beaten and stoned to death by her own family for marrying against their wishes was buried before dawn Wednesday as police pressed a manhunt for those who took part in the so-called 'honor killing' outside a courthouse in downtown Lahore. Her father was arrested shortly after the killing on Tuesday, and confessed to having killed his daughter because she had married a man of her choice, defying the family's wishes and conservative norms in the Muslim-majority country. Farzana Parveen, 25, was buried in the presence of some 100 mourners from her husband's family at around 2 a.m. in a village graveyard in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, her husband Mohammad Iqbal said. He said his family had chosen to bury her at night because of the gruesome state of her remains.

Iqbal, 45, said they had gone to the high court in Lahore on Tuesday to contest a criminal complaint filed against him by his father-in-law, Mohammad Azeem, who accused him of abducting his daughter. The couple was attacked as they approached the courthouse. Authorities say the father described the attack as an 'honor killing,' a term used for the murder of women accused of violating the sexual mores of conservative societies. 'We loved each other. We got married on January 7, 2014 and my wife was three months' pregnant,' Iqbal told The Associated Press. 'My wife wanted to tell the court that I had not kidnapped her. We were going to the court with our lawyer Mustafa Kharal, and we were near the court when three dozen people suddenly attacked us,' he said in a telephone interview from his village. '... I tried to save my wife's life, but I failed,' he said."

Pakistani husband buries wife at 2 am. because of "gruesome state of remains." Stoned to death for family's "honor." Document

May 28, 2014

Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht (left) who was arrested pictured alongside her husband Daryoush Taghipoor

"The Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced eight Facebook users to a total of 123 years in prison on charges of 'propaganda against the state' and 'insulting the Supreme Leader.' The ruling by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, which is harsher than what the law allows, is clearly intended to spread fear among Internet users in Iran, and dissuade Iranians from stepping outside strict state controls on cyberspace. According to the Kaleme website , the eight accused had been arrested during the late summer and late fall of 2013 by the cyber crime intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Their names and sentences are as follows:

Roya Saberinejad Nobakht, 20 years in prison.
Amir Golestani, 20 years and one day.
Masoud Ghasemkhani, 19 years, 91 days.
Fariborz Kardarfar, 18 years, 91 days.
Seyed Masoud Seyed Talebi, 15 years, one day.
Amin (Farid) Akramipour, 13 years.
Mehdi Reyshahri, 11 years.
Naghmeh Shahsavandi Shirazi, 7 years and 91 days.

In addition to the above-mentioned charges, the individuals were also charged with 'assembly and collusion against national security,' 'blasphemy,' 'creating public anxiety,' and 'spreading falsehoods.'"

Eight Facebook Users Sentenced in Iranian court to Decades in Prison Document

"Qatar has issued a decree advising tourists that leggings are not considered pants and are not modest enough to wear in public.

Leggings have been singled out in pamphlets distributed by the Gulf state as inappropriate attire for tourists in the notoriously strict Islamic country.

The Reflect Your Respect campaign, launched by the Qatar Islamic Cultural Center, has listed some advice and tips for tourists on how to dress modestly in preparation for the 2022 Football World Cup it is hosting."

'Leggings are NOT pants': Qatar launches advertising campaign reminding female tourists what not to wear Document

While the European Union artificially distinguishes between a good and bad Hezbollah, and refuses to designate the Hezbollah that is part of Lebanon's government as a terror organization, it turns out that Hezbollah may have been responsible for the recent murders at the Jewish Museum in Brussels - heart of the European Union.

On May 27, 2014 Israel National News reported the following:

    "According to Channel 10, Belgian authorities are seriously investigating the possibility that Islamist terrorists perpetrated the attack, based on a link between Hezbollah and the date of the shooting. On May 24, 2000, the IDF officially withdrew from Lebanon - and established a date significant for the terror organization.
    As such, authorities believe the killer may have been linked to a Hezbollah cell in Brussels, and carried out the attack as an ideological point designed to either press a point about Islamists in Europe on the eve of the European parliamentary elections, or take revenge for attacks on prominent Hezbollah terrorists killed in 2000.
    Experts believe the spontaneous appearance of the attack is designed to conceal the shooting's premeditation and/or the shooter's link to the terrorist organization.
    Hezbollah has terror cells as far-flung as Thailand; in April two terror suspects linked to the group were arrested by Thai police and admitted plans to attack Israeli tourists. Police stated at least nine Hezbollah terrorists were believed to be in Thailand at the time."

Hezbollah may be behind Brussels's Jewish Museum attack, while EU insists is a good & bad Hezbollah Article

Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran

United Nations Expert to Investigate Human Rights Abuses in Iran by Going to Sweden, Austria, and Italy

The UN expert on human rights abuses in Iran has announced that he is going to investigate human rights abuses in Iran by going to three countries none of which is Iran. That's because the Iranian government will not let him into the country. In fact, no UN Special Rapporteur on human rights abuses in Iran has been admitted into Iran since 1996.

On May 26, 2014 UN rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed, issued a press release stating that he will "undertake his latest fact-finding mission in Sweden, Austria, and Italy."

Perhaps in a last ditch effort to obtain an invitation, Shaheed also praised Iran for its "recent progress." He said: "I am encouraged by recent conversations, statements, and overtures by Iranian officials...The mission, therefore, will provide an opportunity to accurately evaluate and analyze recent progress.

Shaheed also pointed to a forthcoming review of Iran's human rights record by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, called a Universal Periodic Review (UPR). He called the UPR "a potential major opportunity" to evaluate Iran's human rights situation.

On the contrary, the UPR is a UN procedure in which the worst violators of human rights are commended and rights abusers present themselves as human rights champions. In addition, the final product of each UPR is a report which contains no findings, no conclusions, and no decisions to take action on any of the world's appalling human rights situations.

United Nations expert to investigate human rights abuses in Iran by going to Sweden, Austria, and Italy Development

May 27, 2014

Farzana Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was killed before a crowd of onlookers in front of the high court of Lahore

"A pregnant woman was stoned to death by her own family in front of a Pakistani high court on Tuesday for marrying the man she loved.

Nearly 20 members of the woman's family, including her father and brothers, attacked her and her husband with batons and bricks in broad daylight before a crowd of onlookers in front of the high court of Lahore, police investigator Rana Mujahid said.

Hundreds of women are murdered every year in Muslim-majority Pakistan in so-called 'honor killings' carried out by husbands or relatives as a punishment for alleged adultery or other illicit sexual behavior, but public stoning is extremely rare."

Pregnant Pakistani woman stoned to death by family Document

Refugee camp for Syrians in Jordan

"A new study revealed that the United Nations rejected the requests for cancer treatment of over 50 percent of refugees who escaped wars in Iran and Syria.

Researchers found out that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees turned down applications in Jordan from 2010 to 2012...

There were 1,989 requests for treatment from 2010 to 2012, with 26 percent for cancer, and the rest for cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and war wounds. The study revealed that only around 48 percent of the treatment requests for cancer were approved. Per application, the averaged approved amount was $4,626 in 2011 and $3,501 in 2012.

The High Commissioner requested $4.26 billion for 2014 to manage 2.8 million refugees from the three-year civil war in Syria. However, they only received $1 billion."

UN Rejects Over 50 Percent of Cancer Treatment Requests of Refugees but Spends a Billion on Palestinian Refugees Document

The slain Israeli couple, Miriam and Emmanuel Riva

"The two Israeli tourists killed in a shooting attack at the Brussels Jewish Museum were named on Sunday as Tel Aviv residents Emanuel (54) and Miriam (53) Riva.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed Sunday that two of the four fatalities from the shooting were an Israeli couple from Tel Aviv...

European Jewish leaders are already comparing the shooting to 2012's massacre at the Ozar HaTorah school in Toulouse, France.

The attack is being approached as racially motivated by Belgian authorities, who posited that it was motivated by anti-Semitism."

Two Israelis Among Victims of Shooting at Brussels Jewish Museum Document

Slain Mehdi Ali Qamar

Gunmen in Pakistan shot dead a visiting American cardiologist from the minority Ahmadi sect in front of his wife and toddler son on Monday as they left a cemetery after visiting relatives' graves, police said. The two gunmen riding a motorcycle shot Mehdi Ali Qamar 10 times at close range in the central town of Chanab Nagar, police officer Shaukat Ali said, adding that Qamar's wife and son were not harmed. He is survived by two other sons. The officer said the family arrived two days ago from their home in Ohio, for a visit and that the cardiologist had planned to treat patients at the nearby Tahir Heart Institute. Ali said the killers' motive is not yet known. Jason Elsea, from the Ahmadiyaa Muslim Community in Columbus, Ohio, said Qamar was from Pickerington and had a practice in Lancaster. Qamar had recently taken a sabbatical to volunteer at the heart hospital. 'Many doctors from the U.S. have visited this hospital to help those in need,' Elsea said in a statement. He said Qamar's sons were ages 2, 6 and 16. Dr. Abdus Malik, Qamar's friend and hospital colleague in Ohio, said he had made summertime trips over the past several years to do work at the institute. 'And this time they wouldn't let him come back,' he said. 'Just because the difference in our faith, they want to kill us.'"

U.S. Doctor Killed In Pakistan In Front Of Family Document