This is what institutionalized fathers rights looks like. YEMEN is a country where mothers--and women in general--are treated like dirt. The only reason custodial dad NOUH ALI SALEH AL-YEMENI might even be held accountable for the torture-murder of his daughter is that THOUSANDS have protested and DEMANDED that he get the death penalty. Normally, daddies get a slap on the wrist for killing their wives and children--if that. All you have to do is call it a matter of "honor" and you can do whatever the hell you want How convenient for a DIRTBAG like this guy.
http://www.yementimes.com/en/1854/report/4838/Trial-ongoing-for-man-who-killed-his-daughter-Public-outrage-could-lead-this-to-be-the-first-time-a-father-is-executed-for-killing-his-daugh.htm
Trial ongoing for man who killed his daughter Public outrage could lead this to be the first time a father is executed for killing his daughter
Published on 26 January 2015 in Report
Ali Ibrahim Al-Moshki (author)
The murder of Maab on Dec. 26 caused public outrage, leading to an ongoing campaign to expedite the case against her father and introduce a legal precedent by sentencing the father to death.
After torturing his ten-year-old daughter Maab for several days, Nouh Ali Saleh Al-Yemeni, a 30-year-old onyx salesman and resident of Dhamar governorate, drove to Ibb’s Naqil Sumara Mountain on Dec. 26 where he held his pistol to his daughter’s back and pulled the trigger.
The reason: He believed his daughter was no longer a virgin.
Daughters being killed for so-called “dishonorable” behavior—whether it actually happened or not—is not unheard of in Yemen. According to the deputy director of the Public Relations Department at the Ministry of Interior, Mohammad Hizam, “Girls being killed by their families comes as a result of rape, online messaging, befriending boys, being sexually harassed by their own fathers, or as a result of grudges between the parents after they are divorced.”
While the Interior Ministry does not have statistics regarding such incidents, Hizam said he knows of “dozens of similar cases.” Furthermore, the head of the Family Protection Department in the Ministry of Interior, Brigadier Suad Al-Qa’tabi, told the Yemen Times that no father has been sentenced to death for killing his daughter so far. The reason, she said, is fathers’ alleged defense of honor which usually results in the lesser penalty of imprisonment.
“The coordinating authority for NGOs working in the field of child rights held, in cooperation with the civil society organizations of Dhamar, a seminar entitled: ‘Advocating Maab Al-Yemeni’s Case.’”
“The coordinating authority for NGOs working in the field of child rights held, in cooperation with the civil society organizations of Dhamar, a seminar entitled: ‘Advocating Maab Al-Yemeni’s Case.’”
Public pressure for a swift trial
#The murder of Maab by her father is unique, according to Hezam, in that it was unusually cruel and grabbed the attention—and captured the anger—of the public.
Similar cases of children being killed by their families usually proceed slowly, if at all. And if they do not get lost somewhere along the way in the country’s disorganized, if not dysfunctional, legal system, the verdict tends to be lenient.
Colonel Muhammad Ali Al-Haddi, the director of the Dhamar Criminal Investigations Bureau, told the Yemen Times that court proceedings would have taken “a very long time” had protests by local residents not expedited the case.
Demonstrations were triggered in Dhamar by photos of Maab’s mutilated corpse, which surfaced online and indicated that the girl had been severely tortured before her death. With considerable evidence implicating the girl’s father in the killing, protesters called for Nouh himself to be killed. Since the first protest on Dec. 29, thousands have been gathering every Thursday and Friday to date, demanding capital punishment for the so-called “killer of innocence.”
Nouh was arrested on the morning of Dec. 27, only hours after killing his daughter.
#“During the investigation Al-Yemeni willingly confessed to having murdered his daughter,” Al-Haddi said. “We made him think that we had him under surveillance a few days before he killed his daughter and that denying it would do him no good.”
According to Al-Haddi, the perpetrator was transferred to Ibb governorate’s Criminal Investigation Bureau following his confession. The investigation moved slowly as a result of the country’s political crisis, but, in compliance with protesters’ demands, the case was soon transferred from Ibb to the Criminal Investigation Bureau branch in Dhamar.
The undersecretary of the West Dhamar prosecution office, Ahmad Al-Qeiz, told the Yemen Times that the prosecution finished interrogating the victim’s father and referred the suspect to West Dhamar Preliminary Court on Jan. 12. Only two days later, on Jan. 14 the trial began.
According to Al-Qeiz, “In the first trial session, headed by Abdu Al-Hajuri, the prosecution accused the suspect of willfully killing his daughter Maab.” The allegations are haunting, he said. “The indictment read that the accused tortured and beat his daughter for days. He stabbed her and burned her skin using a clothes hanger and an iron. At night he took her to a vacant area in Naqil Sumara, Ibb governorate, and shot her several times with a pistol, killing her instantly. Leaving her body behind, he left.”
Al-Haddi said the court has definitive evidence proving the suspect is guilty: A video of the father conducting various methods of torture on the ten-year-old girl, which left scars all over her body. Al-Haddi also said there is evidence of careful planning by the father to carry out the killing, as demonstrated by his purchasing of a pistol and his travel plans.
Al-Haddi said the culprit is not considered criminally insane.
According to Al-Qeiz, the prosecution has submitted as evidence the murder weapon and projectiles taken from the girls body, as well as the suspect’s cellphone, which contains video clips of the victim while she was being tortured.
The prosecution is demanding the accused be executed in accordance with article 234 of the Penal Code.
Fuad Al-Khazan, who has a law firm in Sana’a, told the Yemen Times that the normal punishment for a father killing his son or daughter is ten years imprisonment. Where torture is involved, as in Maab’s case, the punishment can be life in prison. According to Al-Khazan, the penal code does not permit for a father to be executed for killing his offspring, and with this specific case there is considerable pressure from the public for the father to be punished by death.
Al-Qeiz expects a verdict will be announced within the coming few days because all evidence indicates the suspect is guilty of a “crime against humanity.” The suspect has thus far not hired a lawyer.
Nouh Al-Yemeni admitted to the torture and murder of his daughter Maab and claimed he did so because she was no longer a virgin.
What drove Nouh to kill his daughter?
According to Al-Haddi, Nouh suspected that his daughter was practicing prostitution and had her undergo virginity tests at three different hospitals, the last one being the Specialized Motherhood Hospital in Sana’a.
At all three hospitals it was determined that the ten-year-old was still a virgin. Despite these expert opinions, Nough remained unconvinced.
An interview Nouh gave to Marib Press after his arrest is telling of his unstable condition and relationship with his daughter. “I asked my daughter Maab to read the Holy Quran with her two sisters but she refused. She was sitting in the kitchen chatting with her mother on her cellphone, and then she ran into the bathroom. I told her to come out but she refused, then I threatened to kill her myself if she didn’t not come out,” he said. “When she came out I asked her to tell me the truth about whom she was speaking with otherwise I would kill her.”
Nouh is divorced and has three daughters from the marriage, including Maab. His ex-wife, who is from Ibb governorate, remarried and all three children were left in his custody.
When Maab told him she was chatting with her mother, Nouh said he became upset and hit her. “She told me her mother had forced her to stay on the phone by threatening to tell me, her father, that she was having sexual relationships with boys.” Maab went on to say, according to Nouh’s statement, that her mother made her perform sexual acts with other men with the intent of upsetting him. None of Nouh’s claims could be verified by the Yemen Times.
Brigadier Abdulkarim Al-Odaini, the general director of Dhamar governorate’s police, told the Yemen Times that the perpetrator’s accusations do not justify the murder. He said that preliminary examinations indicate the girl was not raped and did not have sexual relations before. In Al-Odaini’s view, Nouh killed his daughter to get back at his wife who divorced him and re-married someone else.
Nabil Al-Khadher, head of the Sana’a-based human rights organization Dhamanat (“Guarantees”), said the judiciary must punish the perpetrator to the full extent of the law, and agrees that capital punishment is suitable for the nature of Nouh’s crime.
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2015
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
No prison for dad who assaulted kids, wife (Ottawa, Canada)
This headline is very misleading. UNNAMED DAD wasn't just "frugal." He was a control-freak and abusive tyrant who beat his wife and kids, and deprived them of food. But Daddy is the one who has "suffered enough" so he gets no prison? More of your classic abuser Daddy Coddling.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Obsessively+frugal+Ottawa+father+spared+criminal+record/9471974/story.html
Abusively frugal father spared criminal record
By Chris Cobb, Ottawa Citizen February 5, 2014 6:00 PM
An obsessively frugal Ottawa father convicted of harassment and assault charges against his wife and children, has been punished enough and was given a conditional discharge Wednesday.
OTTAWA — An obsessively frugal Ottawa father found guilty of harassment and assault charges against his wife and children has been punished enough and should not carry the added burden of a criminal record, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The 52-year-old father, whose frugality and autocratic household rule led to the breakup of his family in the summer of 2011, left court with a conditional discharge after hearing himself described by Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland as an “outstanding citizen” who took “conservation of resources” to extremes.
Hackland had previously convicted the father on three counts of criminal harassment involving his wife and two teenage sons, and three counts of assault against his wife, and another against a third son.
At his sentencing hearing last week, the man had asked the judge to spare him a criminal record so he could travel and rebuild his life.
According to evidence, the father punished his sons with a belt and in one case a plastic toy bat when they refused to follow his dictates. His older boys were allowed to have jobs but were not allowed to keep the money and his answer to appeals that he turn the heat up in winter were allegedly met with icy response.
“No one was seriously injured from this conduct except, perhaps, emotionally,” said the judge. “However, it contributed to an atmosphere of stress and intimidation in the home.”
The father was originally arrested and released on bail, but his bail was revoked after he was accused of breaching his conditions by having someone contact his wife. He was later acquitted of those accusations, but never brought asked for his bail to be reviewed. In all, he spent 2 1/2 years in jail.
Hackland noted that the father, who represented himself during his trial, had lost more than his liberty during his jail time.
“The accused’s family was the focus of his life and, due to his conduct, he lost them,” said the judge. “The rupture is likely permanent. In addition, he has lost his employment, his reputation and most of his assets and property.”
During the 21-day trial, the court also heard that the father allowed his five children only two litres of water a day with which to wash and that he rationed their food.
Despite earning $90,000 in the information-technology sector, the man didn’t buy a car because he wanted to save for a home, which he did, paying cash for a $210,000 townhouse.
“He almost literally never spent a cent on himself,” said the judge. “He respected his religion and taught his five children to do so. He often described himself as a proud Canadian.”
The man took volunteer leadership roles in several community organizations, including parent-teacher groups, and saved money for his children’s university and college educations.
But he treated his wife harshly and expected her to follow all his rules, said the judge.
“When she resisted, she was sometimes treated abusively.”
The family became isolated, added the judge.
“I doubt if the physical discipline would have continued if the accused had appreciated it was socially and legally unacceptable,” he said. “The obsessive frugality and saving also suggests some psychological issues which might have been mitigated with appropriate interventions. Unfortunately these interventions never happened.”
Crown attorney Tim Wightman had asked for a suspended sentence, which carries a criminal record, plus three years’ probation, for the “rigid-thinking man” who controlled every aspect of his family’s life.
“They feared his temper,” Wightman told the judge at a sentencing hearing last week. “He believed in physical discipline and used it liberally.”
The family’s identity is protected by a publication ban.
Hackland said the 2 1/2 years’ jail time at Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre was significantly longer than any sentence he would have imposed.
He will serve two years’ probation with the central condition being an order not to contact or go near his wife, or children until they reach 18 years of age and express a willingness to re-connect with him.
His eldest son has already said he wishes to re-establish a relationship with his father.
The father, who said he only wanted what was best for his family, told the Citizen after Wednesday’s hearing that his time in jail was “a very concentrated piece of hell. It isn’t a very pleasant place and my advice to anyone is not to go to jail.”
He had no specific explanation as to why he had opted to stay in prison except that he had fallen into depression when his family had turned against him and he had found the court experience “humiliating and intimidating.”
He said he also thought he might get a speedier trial if he remained behind bars.
“I couldn’t make any decisions,” he said. “I got lost. I wasn’t me anymore. I thought I had a complete family. Not perfect but complete. I was in total shock.
“I am a very good human being,” he added. “I am not cheap. Money means nothing to me. I am from Yemen. We are the most generous people in the world.”
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Obsessively+frugal+Ottawa+father+spared+criminal+record/9471974/story.html
Abusively frugal father spared criminal record
By Chris Cobb, Ottawa Citizen February 5, 2014 6:00 PM
An obsessively frugal Ottawa father convicted of harassment and assault charges against his wife and children, has been punished enough and was given a conditional discharge Wednesday.
OTTAWA — An obsessively frugal Ottawa father found guilty of harassment and assault charges against his wife and children has been punished enough and should not carry the added burden of a criminal record, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The 52-year-old father, whose frugality and autocratic household rule led to the breakup of his family in the summer of 2011, left court with a conditional discharge after hearing himself described by Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland as an “outstanding citizen” who took “conservation of resources” to extremes.
Hackland had previously convicted the father on three counts of criminal harassment involving his wife and two teenage sons, and three counts of assault against his wife, and another against a third son.
At his sentencing hearing last week, the man had asked the judge to spare him a criminal record so he could travel and rebuild his life.
According to evidence, the father punished his sons with a belt and in one case a plastic toy bat when they refused to follow his dictates. His older boys were allowed to have jobs but were not allowed to keep the money and his answer to appeals that he turn the heat up in winter were allegedly met with icy response.
“No one was seriously injured from this conduct except, perhaps, emotionally,” said the judge. “However, it contributed to an atmosphere of stress and intimidation in the home.”
The father was originally arrested and released on bail, but his bail was revoked after he was accused of breaching his conditions by having someone contact his wife. He was later acquitted of those accusations, but never brought asked for his bail to be reviewed. In all, he spent 2 1/2 years in jail.
Hackland noted that the father, who represented himself during his trial, had lost more than his liberty during his jail time.
“The accused’s family was the focus of his life and, due to his conduct, he lost them,” said the judge. “The rupture is likely permanent. In addition, he has lost his employment, his reputation and most of his assets and property.”
During the 21-day trial, the court also heard that the father allowed his five children only two litres of water a day with which to wash and that he rationed their food.
Despite earning $90,000 in the information-technology sector, the man didn’t buy a car because he wanted to save for a home, which he did, paying cash for a $210,000 townhouse.
“He almost literally never spent a cent on himself,” said the judge. “He respected his religion and taught his five children to do so. He often described himself as a proud Canadian.”
The man took volunteer leadership roles in several community organizations, including parent-teacher groups, and saved money for his children’s university and college educations.
But he treated his wife harshly and expected her to follow all his rules, said the judge.
“When she resisted, she was sometimes treated abusively.”
The family became isolated, added the judge.
“I doubt if the physical discipline would have continued if the accused had appreciated it was socially and legally unacceptable,” he said. “The obsessive frugality and saving also suggests some psychological issues which might have been mitigated with appropriate interventions. Unfortunately these interventions never happened.”
Crown attorney Tim Wightman had asked for a suspended sentence, which carries a criminal record, plus three years’ probation, for the “rigid-thinking man” who controlled every aspect of his family’s life.
“They feared his temper,” Wightman told the judge at a sentencing hearing last week. “He believed in physical discipline and used it liberally.”
The family’s identity is protected by a publication ban.
Hackland said the 2 1/2 years’ jail time at Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre was significantly longer than any sentence he would have imposed.
He will serve two years’ probation with the central condition being an order not to contact or go near his wife, or children until they reach 18 years of age and express a willingness to re-connect with him.
His eldest son has already said he wishes to re-establish a relationship with his father.
The father, who said he only wanted what was best for his family, told the Citizen after Wednesday’s hearing that his time in jail was “a very concentrated piece of hell. It isn’t a very pleasant place and my advice to anyone is not to go to jail.”
He had no specific explanation as to why he had opted to stay in prison except that he had fallen into depression when his family had turned against him and he had found the court experience “humiliating and intimidating.”
He said he also thought he might get a speedier trial if he remained behind bars.
“I couldn’t make any decisions,” he said. “I got lost. I wasn’t me anymore. I thought I had a complete family. Not perfect but complete. I was in total shock.
“I am a very good human being,” he added. “I am not cheap. Money means nothing to me. I am from Yemen. We are the most generous people in the world.”
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Dad burns 15-year-old daughter to death (Yemen)
UNNAMED DAD
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/father-burned-15-year-old-daughter-death-talking-fiance-yemen-authorities-article-1.1493743
Father burned 15-year-old daughter to death for talking to fiance: Yemen authorities
The man allegedly set the teen on fire after he caught her talking on the phone with her betrothed, officials said.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2013, 9:35 AM
A man burned his 15-year-old daughter to death after he caught her talking on the phone with her fiance.
DUBAI — A father burned his 15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with her fiance, police in Yemen said.
"The father committed this heinous crime on the pretext that his daughter had been keeping contacts with her fiance," according to a statement posted on a police website Tuesday. It added that the 35-year-old man had been arrested in a remote village in the central Taiz province.
Local news websites reported that the father had caught the girl chatting on the phone with her betrothed.
Her death sparked further outrage in the country where an eight-year girl died from internal bleeding on her wedding night last month. Authorities said they would prosecute those responsible.
Traditional tribal customs in parts of Yemen prohibit contacts between men and women before marriage. Poverty and concern about "family honor" prompts many Yemenis to marry off their daughters young, often below the age of 18, a practice that has been criticized by groups like Human Rights Watch.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/father-burned-15-year-old-daughter-death-talking-fiance-yemen-authorities-article-1.1493743
Father burned 15-year-old daughter to death for talking to fiance: Yemen authorities
The man allegedly set the teen on fire after he caught her talking on the phone with her betrothed, officials said.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2013, 9:35 AM
A man burned his 15-year-old daughter to death after he caught her talking on the phone with her fiance.
DUBAI — A father burned his 15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with her fiance, police in Yemen said.
"The father committed this heinous crime on the pretext that his daughter had been keeping contacts with her fiance," according to a statement posted on a police website Tuesday. It added that the 35-year-old man had been arrested in a remote village in the central Taiz province.
Local news websites reported that the father had caught the girl chatting on the phone with her betrothed.
Her death sparked further outrage in the country where an eight-year girl died from internal bleeding on her wedding night last month. Authorities said they would prosecute those responsible.
Traditional tribal customs in parts of Yemen prohibit contacts between men and women before marriage. Poverty and concern about "family honor" prompts many Yemenis to marry off their daughters young, often below the age of 18, a practice that has been criticized by groups like Human Rights Watch.
Monday, December 20, 2010
NGO intervenes to save 2-year-old daughter tortured by father (Sana'a, Yemen)
UNNAMED DAD so abused (tortured) his 2-year-old daughter that she now has permanent disabilities. This f--ker bit this child and poked her with needles--so much so that she almost died. Notice that there is mention of a grandmother and an aunt's husband, but no mention of a mother. Is the mother dead? Or is this case of a divorced mom who lost all contact with her child? Not one word here. I almost expect this in Yemen. But you increasingly hear the same silence about mothers in the western press too.
http://www.yobserver.com/reports/10020398.html
NGO intervenes to save abused two year old girl
Posted in: Reports
Written By: Fares Anam
Article Date: Dec 20, 2010 - 4:11:30 PM
Dua’a Abdulhakeem, a two year old girl from Sana’a, was exposed to cruelty torture by her own father causing her permanent physical disabilities. The Seyaj organization for childhood protection has managed to intervene on her behalf and save her from her father.
“She was tortured all over her body where her father admitted that he beat her, bite large parts of her body with his teeth, and poked her with needles, causing her wounds and contusions and almost caused her to die,” said Ahmad al-Qurashi, Chairman of Seyaj.
Amar Al-Refa’e, who helped the girl and relieved her to the hospital said, “I was in Al-Asrah Hospital and saw here by coincidence with her grandmother and aunt’s husband waiting for the doctor,” he said, “I asked them why they didn’t treat the girl but they said they don’t have money to treat her in a good hospital,” he added.
Al-Refa’e took the girl to al-Gumhori hospital and treated her using his own money. “Then I contacted Colonel Ahmed Al-Awdi from the Criminal Investigation unit and he immediately came by in his own car and ordered the arrest of her father,” he said.
“There are many families’ problems and poor economical situations that cause the parents beat their children,” al-Qurahi mentioned. “The psychological pressure and lack of ability to deal with their problems lead to these criminal acts,” he said.
After reporting to the Criminal Investigation unit, the forces tried several times to arrest the father but he succeed to escape. “We succeed after several attempts to capture the father and he admitted what he did to his child,” said Colonel Ahmed Al-Awdi, an officer of the Criminal Investigation unit.
“He admitted that he is at fault and that he beat and tortured his child several times because he has problems with his father,” Al-Awdi said. “The man is not insane and he is in a good mental health,” he added.
Qasim appealed that the father has three sons and if he put in jail, his family and sons will be alone without any care. “He is very sorry and shamed of what he did,” he said. “We will go to try solving this problem peacefully with the Criminal Investigation unit and make strong pledges that he will not do it again.”
Seyaj called the on the courts to inflict the heaviest penalties prescribed in the Yemeni law to the father to be a lesson to others and to achieve the principle of deterrence and restraining especially in the light of high crimes of parents and relatives against children.
According to the press release that the Yemen observer received a copy of it, Seyaj thanked Mr. Ammar Al-Refae’e, the businessman Hael Abdulhaq the manager of Mercedes cars in Yemen, CID department in Sana’a governorate that led by Colonel Ahmed Al-Awdy the general manager, Al-Saeedah channel and the lawyers: Nabeel Al-Selwy, Khaled Al-Akwa’aand Nabeel Gaddr for the great humanitarian roles they have made and will make to support and advocate the child victim.
http://www.yobserver.com/reports/10020398.html
NGO intervenes to save abused two year old girl
Posted in: Reports
Written By: Fares Anam
Article Date: Dec 20, 2010 - 4:11:30 PM
Dua’a Abdulhakeem, a two year old girl from Sana’a, was exposed to cruelty torture by her own father causing her permanent physical disabilities. The Seyaj organization for childhood protection has managed to intervene on her behalf and save her from her father.
“She was tortured all over her body where her father admitted that he beat her, bite large parts of her body with his teeth, and poked her with needles, causing her wounds and contusions and almost caused her to die,” said Ahmad al-Qurashi, Chairman of Seyaj.
Amar Al-Refa’e, who helped the girl and relieved her to the hospital said, “I was in Al-Asrah Hospital and saw here by coincidence with her grandmother and aunt’s husband waiting for the doctor,” he said, “I asked them why they didn’t treat the girl but they said they don’t have money to treat her in a good hospital,” he added.
Al-Refa’e took the girl to al-Gumhori hospital and treated her using his own money. “Then I contacted Colonel Ahmed Al-Awdi from the Criminal Investigation unit and he immediately came by in his own car and ordered the arrest of her father,” he said.
“There are many families’ problems and poor economical situations that cause the parents beat their children,” al-Qurahi mentioned. “The psychological pressure and lack of ability to deal with their problems lead to these criminal acts,” he said.
After reporting to the Criminal Investigation unit, the forces tried several times to arrest the father but he succeed to escape. “We succeed after several attempts to capture the father and he admitted what he did to his child,” said Colonel Ahmed Al-Awdi, an officer of the Criminal Investigation unit.
“He admitted that he is at fault and that he beat and tortured his child several times because he has problems with his father,” Al-Awdi said. “The man is not insane and he is in a good mental health,” he added.
Qasim appealed that the father has three sons and if he put in jail, his family and sons will be alone without any care. “He is very sorry and shamed of what he did,” he said. “We will go to try solving this problem peacefully with the Criminal Investigation unit and make strong pledges that he will not do it again.”
Seyaj called the on the courts to inflict the heaviest penalties prescribed in the Yemeni law to the father to be a lesson to others and to achieve the principle of deterrence and restraining especially in the light of high crimes of parents and relatives against children.
According to the press release that the Yemen observer received a copy of it, Seyaj thanked Mr. Ammar Al-Refae’e, the businessman Hael Abdulhaq the manager of Mercedes cars in Yemen, CID department in Sana’a governorate that led by Colonel Ahmed Al-Awdy the general manager, Al-Saeedah channel and the lawyers: Nabeel Al-Selwy, Khaled Al-Akwa’aand Nabeel Gaddr for the great humanitarian roles they have made and will make to support and advocate the child victim.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Child bride escapes after months of abuse and chains (Hodeida, Yemen)
This young girl was married off by her UNNAMED DAD and three uncles for about $1,400. She then suffered horrendous abuse, not only at the hands of her elderly husband, but at the hands of her uncle, who "punished" her for trying to escape by literally chaining her.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/04/yemen-runaway-child-bride-and-fourth-child-bride-granted-divorce.html
Babylon & Beyond
Observations from Iraq, Iran,
Israel, the Arab world and beyond
YEMEN: Child bride escapes after months of abuse and chains
April 1, 2010 7:20 am
The young girl had had enough. For months the Yemeni teenager named Hind from the Red Sea town of Hodeida had allegedly been repeatedly beaten and sexually abused by her 70-something husband to whom she was married off by her father and three uncles for the equivalent of $1,400 last year, according to the Yemeni English newspaper the Yemen Times.
She tried to run away from her forced marriage and abuser several times but was caught fleeing by one of the uncles who had arranged her marriage.
Angered that she had tried to run away from the deal he had brokered, the uncle felt Hind, thought to be 13 or 14 years old, needed to be punished for her deed.
So he put a long, heavy iron chain around her neck and tied her to his house like a dog for two months. The uncle apparently made the chain long enough so that Hind could move from the yard to the kitchen and the bathroom.
During this hellish time, Hind was also allegedly beaten by her uncle and sexually abused several times by her cousins.
She finally managed to escape two weeks ago, and details of her tragic story have begun to emerge.
The oldest of five children in a poor family, Hind was living in a shack with her siblings and their elderly blind father. The family's main income was based on what she and her siblings generated from begging in the streets.
Hind was then married off to a man in his 70s during the Muslim holiday Ramadan last year. The old man did not have a house of his own, so he would take Hind to a place he shared with his friends or to the home of his ex-wife's son.
The abused child bride finally managed to flee -- still with the chain around her neck -- and was given refuge at the home of a woman and her family in the city of Taiz in the Yemeni highlands.
The woman who's giving her shelter, 55-year-old Zakya Mohammed, believes Hind is pregnant, added the report.
"I will do my best for this poor little girl. She is in need of love, food, and safety," Mohammed was quoted as saying by the Yemen Times.
Hind, meanwhile, is happy to be safe and relieved to have escaped her torturers.
“I do not want to leave here until I feel sure that my uncle can no longer harm me,” she is quoted as saying.
It was not immediately clear what the authorities plan to do in the case.According to Yemen Times, the investigator at the police station had a look at Hind's bruises and the chain around her neck. But instead of arresting the uncle, he apparently only wrote a memo and forced the uncle to sign a paper saying he wouldn't put the girl in chains again.
Hind's case is not isolated but the latest in a string of publicized cases of child brides in Yemen. Two years ago, 10-year old Nujood Ali became the face of Yemeni child brides when she turned up in a Sanaa court house and demanded a divorce from her husband, who was reportedly in his 30s.
Ali's story was covered extensively in the Western media and the book she co-wrote with the French journalist Delphine Minnoui was recently translated into English.
The now 12-year old divorcee lives in Sanaa with her family, and the royalties from her book are covering her family's new house and business, as well as schooling for both herself and her younger sister, Haifa.
But as 12-year old Sally Sabahi signed her divorce papers in Sanaa earlier this week, becoming Yemen's fourth child bride divorcee, heated debates between reformists and conservatives continue to rage in the impoverished country over whether Yemen should ban child marriages.
Earlier this month, hundreds of women demonstrated outside the Yemeni Parliament in support for the implementation of a legislation which sets the minimum age for women to marry at 17 and men at 18.
But the anti-child-bride activists have been met with fierce opposition. Two days earlier, women opposing the child-marriage ban lobbied lawmakers in an even bigger demonstration outside the Parliament, said Agence France-Presse.
Some conservative Islamic clerics are also giving a ban on child marriages a big thumbs down.
A group of them condemned the law in a statement issued earlier this month, saying those who support the ban were apostates, reported the BBC.
So there is no law protecting children against forced early marriages in Yemen as of yet.
-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/04/yemen-runaway-child-bride-and-fourth-child-bride-granted-divorce.html
Babylon & Beyond
Observations from Iraq, Iran,
Israel, the Arab world and beyond
YEMEN: Child bride escapes after months of abuse and chains
April 1, 2010 7:20 am
The young girl had had enough. For months the Yemeni teenager named Hind from the Red Sea town of Hodeida had allegedly been repeatedly beaten and sexually abused by her 70-something husband to whom she was married off by her father and three uncles for the equivalent of $1,400 last year, according to the Yemeni English newspaper the Yemen Times.
She tried to run away from her forced marriage and abuser several times but was caught fleeing by one of the uncles who had arranged her marriage.
Angered that she had tried to run away from the deal he had brokered, the uncle felt Hind, thought to be 13 or 14 years old, needed to be punished for her deed.
So he put a long, heavy iron chain around her neck and tied her to his house like a dog for two months. The uncle apparently made the chain long enough so that Hind could move from the yard to the kitchen and the bathroom.
During this hellish time, Hind was also allegedly beaten by her uncle and sexually abused several times by her cousins.
She finally managed to escape two weeks ago, and details of her tragic story have begun to emerge.
The oldest of five children in a poor family, Hind was living in a shack with her siblings and their elderly blind father. The family's main income was based on what she and her siblings generated from begging in the streets.
Hind was then married off to a man in his 70s during the Muslim holiday Ramadan last year. The old man did not have a house of his own, so he would take Hind to a place he shared with his friends or to the home of his ex-wife's son.
The abused child bride finally managed to flee -- still with the chain around her neck -- and was given refuge at the home of a woman and her family in the city of Taiz in the Yemeni highlands.
The woman who's giving her shelter, 55-year-old Zakya Mohammed, believes Hind is pregnant, added the report.
"I will do my best for this poor little girl. She is in need of love, food, and safety," Mohammed was quoted as saying by the Yemen Times.
Hind, meanwhile, is happy to be safe and relieved to have escaped her torturers.
“I do not want to leave here until I feel sure that my uncle can no longer harm me,” she is quoted as saying.
It was not immediately clear what the authorities plan to do in the case.According to Yemen Times, the investigator at the police station had a look at Hind's bruises and the chain around her neck. But instead of arresting the uncle, he apparently only wrote a memo and forced the uncle to sign a paper saying he wouldn't put the girl in chains again.
Hind's case is not isolated but the latest in a string of publicized cases of child brides in Yemen. Two years ago, 10-year old Nujood Ali became the face of Yemeni child brides when she turned up in a Sanaa court house and demanded a divorce from her husband, who was reportedly in his 30s.
Ali's story was covered extensively in the Western media and the book she co-wrote with the French journalist Delphine Minnoui was recently translated into English.
The now 12-year old divorcee lives in Sanaa with her family, and the royalties from her book are covering her family's new house and business, as well as schooling for both herself and her younger sister, Haifa.
But as 12-year old Sally Sabahi signed her divorce papers in Sanaa earlier this week, becoming Yemen's fourth child bride divorcee, heated debates between reformists and conservatives continue to rage in the impoverished country over whether Yemen should ban child marriages.
Earlier this month, hundreds of women demonstrated outside the Yemeni Parliament in support for the implementation of a legislation which sets the minimum age for women to marry at 17 and men at 18.
But the anti-child-bride activists have been met with fierce opposition. Two days earlier, women opposing the child-marriage ban lobbied lawmakers in an even bigger demonstration outside the Parliament, said Agence France-Presse.
Some conservative Islamic clerics are also giving a ban on child marriages a big thumbs down.
A group of them condemned the law in a statement issued earlier this month, saying those who support the ban were apostates, reported the BBC.
So there is no law protecting children against forced early marriages in Yemen as of yet.
-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Custodial dad locks kids in house to starve while he goes out of town (Darawan, Yemen)
Since a lot of fathers rights groups advocate for mandatory father custody--some openly, some not so openly--it's always interesting to see what happens in societies where mothers have few if any custodial rights. In this case from Yemen, the custodial dad locked his 3 kids in the house, in separate rooms no less, for 8 days with while he went out of town. These children were only 5, 3, and 7 years of age. Now the children are with an aunt. Note that the reporter doesn't even mention the non-custodial mother who lost contact with these children--that's how inconsequential a mother is considered after a divorce.
http://www.yobserver.com/culture-and-society/10017222.html
Locked-in and left to starve by their own father – the story of 3 children recently freed by SEYAJ
Posted in: Culture & Society
Written By: Observer Staff
Article Date: Sep 7, 2009 - 1:05:27 PM
A smile has returned to the cheeks of Salh and his two sisters Afnan and Kheuam after enduring 8 days of detention in their own home in Darawan, imprisoned by their father. SEYAJ, an organization for child protection, reported that the father, Abdu Abdullah al-Dhobhany had locked his three children in and traveled to Taiz. SEYAJ and local security intervened to release the three children.
YemenNews were initially informed by Mr. Anees al-Jahlanee, a local security officer, of the situation. Their editor, Hamad Dabwan, then accompanied the chairman of SAYEJ, Ahmed Al-Karshee to the house where the children had been kept captive.
Salih, Afnan, and Kheuam – 5, 3 and 7 years-old respectively – are the children of a husband divorced from his wife and a father lacking the basic human instincts of care and compassion. An elderly neighbor by the name of Fatima related the story of their confinement to YemenNews: her children had gone to play with the Al-Dhobhany's children at their home outside the village. Upon arrival however, they found their three playmates locked in separate rooms, screaming for help, food and release. Fatima's children ran back to her begging her to give food to the three helpless prisoners who had already been locked in the house for a couple of days.
Fatima herself however, is not entirely blameless in this fiasco. Having found out about the confined children and despite providing them with a few essentials in terms of food passed through tiny windows, she refused to allow carpenters from a local shop to break the locks. The reason behind this is that al-Dhobhany's house was actually her property which he rented from her.
Fatima explained to the YemenNews, “I do not know exactly how long these children remained locked in their father's house after this, all I know is that when my children came and told me of their misfortune, I at once agreed to provide them with some food."
But Fatima's husband, around 60 years of age, is disgusted with the behavior of al-Dhobhany and claims that he no longer wants him residing in his property.
However, before the authorities could catch al-Dhobhany red-handed or pre-empt his return from Taiz, he had rushed back home and restored everything to an apparently normal state. Therefore by the time that the head of SEYAJ, the editor of YemenNews, and the deputy director of Darawan security arrived, nothing suggested the previous acts of cruelty that had happened there. The only lingering suspicion was to be found with the equally-lingering smell of urine and waste which had intensified over the last 8 days.
Given a chance to explain himself and his appalling lack of compassion for his own children, al-Dhobhany claims that he had received an urgent call from his village in Taiz saying his mother was very sick in hospital and that he should visit her. He told YemenNews that he left his children some biscuits, fruits and drinks. As for locking all the house doors, al-Dhobhany explains that one day he had left his children without doing so, only to return and find his daughter Khuame injured from an accident in the street outside in which she had broken both her legs. Locking the doors was therefore merely a precaution against worse evils he said.
When pressed for the logic behind locking his children in separate rooms, al-Dhobhany alleges that his son used to beat his sisters, so he thought it best to isolate him from them.
Director of the police station in Darawan, Ali Hameed al-Hube, confirmed that all complaints and information received by his police force are shared with human rights organizations in the area and all concerned sheiks.
He added that a complaint had initially been received after six days of the children's confinement, from a source who refused to give his name but claimed that al-Dhobhany was traveling with his new wife in Taiz.
The director of security in the area, Mofathal Al-Masree, was informed, and authorities were dispatched to break the locks and free the children. Despite a veil of normalcy shrouding the house upon their arrival, al-Dhobhany was taken in for questioning, while his three children have since been staying at their aunt's.
The SEYAJ organization for child protection has spoken out against this appalling lack of respect for children, calling al-Dhobhany's actions a crime against the rights of childhood. Ahmed al-Kershee, the president of SEYAJ, issued a statement to YemenNews in which he demanded that al-Dhobhany be awarded the maximum sentence and that his punishment reflect that to which he subjected his children.
http://www.yobserver.com/culture-and-society/10017222.html
Locked-in and left to starve by their own father – the story of 3 children recently freed by SEYAJ
Posted in: Culture & Society
Written By: Observer Staff
Article Date: Sep 7, 2009 - 1:05:27 PM
A smile has returned to the cheeks of Salh and his two sisters Afnan and Kheuam after enduring 8 days of detention in their own home in Darawan, imprisoned by their father. SEYAJ, an organization for child protection, reported that the father, Abdu Abdullah al-Dhobhany had locked his three children in and traveled to Taiz. SEYAJ and local security intervened to release the three children.
YemenNews were initially informed by Mr. Anees al-Jahlanee, a local security officer, of the situation. Their editor, Hamad Dabwan, then accompanied the chairman of SAYEJ, Ahmed Al-Karshee to the house where the children had been kept captive.
Salih, Afnan, and Kheuam – 5, 3 and 7 years-old respectively – are the children of a husband divorced from his wife and a father lacking the basic human instincts of care and compassion. An elderly neighbor by the name of Fatima related the story of their confinement to YemenNews: her children had gone to play with the Al-Dhobhany's children at their home outside the village. Upon arrival however, they found their three playmates locked in separate rooms, screaming for help, food and release. Fatima's children ran back to her begging her to give food to the three helpless prisoners who had already been locked in the house for a couple of days.
Fatima herself however, is not entirely blameless in this fiasco. Having found out about the confined children and despite providing them with a few essentials in terms of food passed through tiny windows, she refused to allow carpenters from a local shop to break the locks. The reason behind this is that al-Dhobhany's house was actually her property which he rented from her.
Fatima explained to the YemenNews, “I do not know exactly how long these children remained locked in their father's house after this, all I know is that when my children came and told me of their misfortune, I at once agreed to provide them with some food."
But Fatima's husband, around 60 years of age, is disgusted with the behavior of al-Dhobhany and claims that he no longer wants him residing in his property.
However, before the authorities could catch al-Dhobhany red-handed or pre-empt his return from Taiz, he had rushed back home and restored everything to an apparently normal state. Therefore by the time that the head of SEYAJ, the editor of YemenNews, and the deputy director of Darawan security arrived, nothing suggested the previous acts of cruelty that had happened there. The only lingering suspicion was to be found with the equally-lingering smell of urine and waste which had intensified over the last 8 days.
Given a chance to explain himself and his appalling lack of compassion for his own children, al-Dhobhany claims that he had received an urgent call from his village in Taiz saying his mother was very sick in hospital and that he should visit her. He told YemenNews that he left his children some biscuits, fruits and drinks. As for locking all the house doors, al-Dhobhany explains that one day he had left his children without doing so, only to return and find his daughter Khuame injured from an accident in the street outside in which she had broken both her legs. Locking the doors was therefore merely a precaution against worse evils he said.
When pressed for the logic behind locking his children in separate rooms, al-Dhobhany alleges that his son used to beat his sisters, so he thought it best to isolate him from them.
Director of the police station in Darawan, Ali Hameed al-Hube, confirmed that all complaints and information received by his police force are shared with human rights organizations in the area and all concerned sheiks.
He added that a complaint had initially been received after six days of the children's confinement, from a source who refused to give his name but claimed that al-Dhobhany was traveling with his new wife in Taiz.
The director of security in the area, Mofathal Al-Masree, was informed, and authorities were dispatched to break the locks and free the children. Despite a veil of normalcy shrouding the house upon their arrival, al-Dhobhany was taken in for questioning, while his three children have since been staying at their aunt's.
The SEYAJ organization for child protection has spoken out against this appalling lack of respect for children, calling al-Dhobhany's actions a crime against the rights of childhood. Ahmed al-Kershee, the president of SEYAJ, issued a statement to YemenNews in which he demanded that al-Dhobhany be awarded the maximum sentence and that his punishment reflect that to which he subjected his children.
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