Jordanian Pilot Burned Alive By ISIS- Will Jordan Follow Through With Promise To Retaliate?

Up until now, all of the high profile ISIS video killings have been non-Muslims from the West, and then Japan, in the case of  47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto, and Haruna Yukawa, the man Goto went to save. Most have been innocent journalists. Beheaded. But now they've killed one of their own, Muslim Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh who was captured back in December.  No beheading this time.  The man was burned alive, in a cage, apparently on January the 3rd- which is why Jordan wanted to make sure that the pilot was still alive before they swapped 44-year-old female Iraqi terrorist Sajida al-Rishawi.

Sajida has been jailed in Jordan since 2005 after a failed suicide bombing at a hotel wedding celebration that killed at least 57 people and injured 90 more. It was a family affair, her husband managed to set his off.

Jordan had allegedly said that if al-Kaseasbeh was killed they would retaliate by killing Sajida and any other captured Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Now Jordan has reportedly stepped up its rhetoric by warning of its intent to retaliate if the negotiations end in bloodshed.

Elijah Magnier, chief international correspondent for Kuwait's Al Rai newspaper, told MailOnline: 'I have reliable contact in the Jordanian government who says a message has been passed to ISIS.

'It warns that if they kill the pilot they will implement the death sentences for Sajida and other ISIS prisoners as soon as possible.

'There are other prisoners in Jordan that ISIS would like to free.'

Okay, Jordan. Time to keep your promise.

Maybe this will propel Arab nations to finally get their butts in gear and do something about ISIS.

France 4 video coverage.

ISIS Kidnaps Downed Jordanian Pilot

Although a Jordanian military warplane was initially reported as having been downed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in northern Syria, it turns out it actually crashed.  They did, however, capture the pilot.

"During a mission Wednesday morning conducted by several Jordanian Air Force planes against hideouts of the ISIS terrorist organization in the Raqa region, one of the planes went down and the pilot was taken hostage" by ISIS, state news agency Petra quoted a source from the military's general staff as saying.

The official did not say why the plane went down, but both the militants and a monitoring group said it had been shot with an anti-aircraft missile.

“Jordan holds the group and its supporters responsible for the safety of the pilot and his life,” the statement added.

The U.S. dismissed Wednesday the claim made by ISIS that it had shot down the F-16.

“Evidence clearly indicates that ISIL did not down the aircraft as the terrorist organization is claiming,” said U.S. Central Command, the body overseeing the coalition air war over Iraq and Syria. 

The U.N.'s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the kidnapping, as if that means anything to ISIS.

“The secretary noted with concern the news of the downing of a Jordanian plane and of its pilot being taken prisoner,” a statement from the United Nations said.

“He calls on his captors to treat the pilot in accordance with international humanitarian laws.”

As if that will ever happen. More than likely, the pilot will eventually be killed, if the Jordanians don't give whatever it is ISIS might want in exchange.

ISIS has posted photos of the pilot, and his alleged identity: 1st Lt Maaz al-Kassasbeh, born May 29, 1988.

As for the jihadists' allegation that they downed the plane with a heat-seeking missile- they apparently do have some of those, taken from anti-Bashar al-Assad rebels.

Source: Al Arabiya

Jordanian Dad Tortured His Five Daughters In The UAE

Allegations of torture and abuse of 5 daughters- 10 to 16- by a Jordanian expat and his two sisters. Cigarette burns while forced to kneel naked, broken noses, beatings with ropes and sticks, pierced by needles, underfed.

Recently divorced after 18 years of marriage, the mum- who had also been abused- had moved back to Jordan and was unable to take care of the girls.  According to the mum, the dad, who is a jail warden in the UAE, hated her for not having boys, and obviously hated the girls as well.

Dad and his two wicked sisters have been arrested.

Full story here.

Not that this kind of thing doesn't happen in the West, it does, but many claim that domestic abuse is minimal in the Muslim population, which is clearly untrue.

Hate Preacher Abu Qatada To Leave UK Voluntarily?

Bye-bye Abu Qatada aka Mohammed Othman. The Brits had worried they might be stuck with the Algerian hate preacher for life, since his "rights" superseded the safety of the British people. The courts were loathe to send him over to Jordan (where he is a wanted man) because he might not receive a fair trial, and the poor terror suspect was suicidal. But it looks like the radical Muslim will be going there after all. Voluntarily. Pending some kind of deal between Jordan and the UK- assuring all parties involved that he will get that fair trial.

Britain last month announced it had signed a new treaty with Jordan aimed at addressing those concerns.

"If and when the Jordanian parliament ratifies that treaty, Mr Othman will voluntarily return to Jordan," Edward Fitzgerald, a lawyer representing him, told a special immigration tribunal on Friday.

That would be a relief to home secretary Theresa May, the British interior minister, who has faced media pressure over repeated failures to deport Abu Qatada.

"The home secretary's focus remains on seeing Abu Qatada returned to Jordan at the earliest opportunity," security minister James Brokenshire said in a statement issued by the Home Office shortly after the news from court emerged.

"We continue to pursue this case before the courts and to work with the Jordanian government to achieve this."

After eight long years of trying to boot him out of the country, they might finally be rid of him.

Jordan Man Honor Kills Sister Because She Was Seldom Home

And one more honor killing to add to April's list.

From Jordan:

A Jordanian has confessed to slitting his sister's throat and stabbing her 20 times in the face and chest because she was rarely home, apparently “to cleanse the family honor,” police said Tuesday.

“People last night found the body of a girl in her twenties. She had been stabbed 20 times in face and chest before she had her throat slit,” a police spokesman said.

“Police arrested her brother, who confessed to committing the crime because his sister spent so little time at the family home. His confession indicates that he sought to cleanse the family honor.”

[snip]

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan, but in “honor killings” courts can commute or reduce sentences, particularly if the victim's family asks for leniency.

Unbelievable.

Latest Honor Killings- April, 2013

The latest honor killings for April 2013.

In Pakistan: Father kills 16-year-old daughter Kainaat and her boyfriend because he saw them in "an objectionable state", which could mean something as simple as holding hands. No shotgun marriage for those poor teens, death was preferable. Sad thing is the boy, Bilal Khan, was able to escape- even though he was shot in the back- and ran into a neighbours house, they shoved him back out and he was shot dead.

In Afghanistan: A 25-year-old married woman was killed after she ran away from home with a stranger. Probably escaping from an abusive marriage. She was publicly executed after she was found guilty by the local council and religious clerics.

In Gilgit-Baltistan:  Yes, I had to google.  In northern Pakistan, Qasim, a 45-year-old man murdered his 40-year-old sister. He turned himself in, claiming it was an honor killing. No reason why. Punishment for honor killings isn't as severe, so he could be lying about the "honor" part to get off with a lighter sentence.

Let's not forget this one, again in Pakistan, where two sisters were killed by their brothers.

Or this pregnant Jordanian woman who was killed along with her unborn baby,

And that's just the ones we hear about.

Pregnant Jordanian Woman Honor Killed- Throat and Belly Slit Open

Pregnant women have had their stomachs horrifically sliced open and their unborn babies removed by crazed strangers who wanted a child of their own but couldn't.  In Jordan, the same thing happened to a young woman, but it wasn't a stranger who murdered her, it was possibly family members who slit her throat and belly in what is thought to be an "honor" killing. At least the police believe so.  After she was butchered, she was thrown into a garbage bin like trash and set on fire in a town near Amman.

According to a police spokesman:

"The belly of the woman, in her twenties, was cut open and we could see her four-month-old unborn child, who was dead too. Investigations are still under way."

There are witnesses:

Witnesses said they saw two men, driving a truck, pull up to the dumpster before throwing in the body and setting it on fire with a flammable liquid.

How sad.

Source: NY Daily News

Video- Syrian UN Rep Talks About Rape of Women and Jordanian Cleric's Fatwa Encouraging It

The following video has two separate clips, the first is a speech by a Syrian envoy, Bashar al-Jaafri, at the United Nation  accusing the Islamist rebel forces in Syria of killing, raping, sexually assaulting and using these women and girls as sex slaves because of fatwas issued by Gulf state clerics. He also condemns the U.N. for standing by and doing nothing.

The second clip is of Jordanian Salafi cleric Yasir al-Ajlouni (who lived in Syria for 17 years) explaining one of those "sexual jihad" or "intercourse marriage" fatwas encouraging the Free Syrian Army rebels and Jihadist co-fighters to capture and enslave non-Sunni women in what he terms "Right Hand Property." He would like us to think that the goal of the "Right Hand Property" is to protect the honor of the woman who is forced into sexual slavery.  No matter how they sugarcoat it, it's still Islam-sanctioned rape.

He goes on to ask: "How do we deal with the woman that was made captive by the "Free Syrian Army" or by the Mujahideen?"  Islam has the answer with the "Right Hand Property" ruling that allows for sexual slavery during wars with the enemies of Islam. And the Syrian Alawites are considered just that- enemies.

How civilized. Capture and rape the women of your enemy, but their honor will remain intact because Islam says it's permitted through "Right Hand Property."

Democracy "Forbidden In Islam"- Says Jordan's Abed Shehadeh

It's quite obvious that democracy and Islam are incompatible, at least with Islamists, and now the head of Salafis in Jordan has actually verbalized it.

Gatestone Institute's Khaled Abu Toameh discusses that notion:

Why are radical Muslims opposed to the upcoming parliamentary election in Jordan?

Because they believe that democracy is in contradiction with Islam's concept of the sovereignty of Allah's law. They argue that Islam and democracy cannot go together, and they are obviously right, especially if one considers the experiences of people living under Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Thanks to the "Arab Spring," which has seen the rise of Islamists to power in a number of countries, Muslim extremists today feel free to express their opinion on political and religious issues.

One of them, Abed Shehadeh, leader of the Salafi Jihadi movement in Jordan, ruled this week that democracy in its concept as "ruling of the people by the people" and "should be forbidden in Islam."

Shehadeh, who is also known as Abu Mohammad Tahawi, explained that sovereignty and government belong to Allah alone and not to the people.

He said that the upcoming parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for January 23, were forbidden and contradictory to Islamic Shariah "because the parliament legislates laws and regulations that contradict Allah's law."

Shehadeh also criticized electoral programs presented by the candidates and lists. He said that the "the electoral slogans used by the candidates were "impossible to implement on the ground."

He urged Jordanians to boycott the elections because "choosing legislators other than Allah is forbidden."

The Salafi Jihadi leader's call for boycotting the election does not seem to have fallen on deaf ears in Jordan, where many voters seem determined to boycott the vote.

Although it is banned in Jordan, the Salafi Jihadi movement has managed to recruit several thousand supporters over the past few years.

Read the rest here.

Jordanian Professor Fired Over Sexual Harassment Video

Sexual harassment is rampant in Middle Eastern culture. In Egypt women deal with it on a daily basis, in spite of the fact most women there now wear the Islamic veil. Perhaps much of that has to do with women being considered objects in those male-dominated, chauvinistic societies. Yes, it exists in the West but nowhere to the extent it does over there. In the U.S. it can occur in the workplace- I have worked on enough industrial films dealing with that subject to know it does happen- but you don't usually encounter harassment on the street.

So some female students at the University of Jordan Khleif al-Tawarneh, under the supervision of their Feminist Theory professor Rula Quawas produced a video dealing with the subject of sexual harassment on university campuses. The pretty innocuous video posted on Youtube, and the subsequent furor it created, led to the firing of Quawas, the much loved dean of  the School of Foreign Languages.

Critics accused the film makers of “promoting vice and stripping the society of its values.”

Not surprising that they would fry the messenger, since the males obviously don't consider their actions to be offensive.

President Ikhleif Tarawneh said she was fired because the video tarnished the reputation of the university, others believe it was "an act of vengeance."

Dismissal of the Feminist Theory’s professor angered activists, journalists, writers, and students. Several campaigns were launched to express solidarity with her and in which she was praised for making a film that raises awareness about sexual harassment. 

Tawarneh claims it had nothing to do with the video, but rather  an administrative prerogative. Others disagree:

But the Committee for Academic Freedoms at the University of Middle East Studies in Jordan rejected Tawarneh’s claims and said there were no documents proving Qawas’s negligence or weak performance, the decision could not have been administrative. The timing showed that the film was the reason for her dismissal, the committee added. 

The Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said Qawas’s dismissal constituted “a flagrant violation of freedom of expression and academic research,” and accused Tawarneh of persecuting her.

Rather than deal with what is evidently a chronic problem on his campus, Tawarneh fired the one person inspiring others to fight it. This will only encourage the bad boys to continue their harassment. Typical.

3 Jordanians With The Paralympic Team Charged With Sexual Assault in Northern Ireland

Well, isn't this interesting. Three men from Jordan- associated in some way with the Jordanian Paralympic team- have been arrested and charged by Northern Irish authorities "in relation to allegations of indecent assault." In some cases with a child. Teams are in training for the Paralympics which are scheduled to take place in London from August 29 through September 9. The Jordanian team happens to be training in Antrim, Northern Ireland.

No details yet whether they were athletes or just part of the delegation, but a man in his 20s and two men in their 30s have been charged.

"...a 23-year-old, was charged with two counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of sexual assault on a woman and voyeurism.

A second man, aged 35, was charged with two counts of sexual activity with a child, and the third, aged 36, was charged with one count of sexual assault on a woman.

Not much else is known.

 Do they really think they can get away with in the West what might be acceptable in their own country? If the allegations are true, throw the book at them.

UPDATE 8/23/12:

The three have been identified as powerlifters and their trainer.

In Northern Ireland, police said a 14-year-old girl claimed that she posed for photographs with Omar Sami Qaradhi, 31, before he groped her between the legs in the town center of Antrim on Aug. 18.

That same day, a 16-year-old girl said she and a friend were walking along the river near the sports center where the men were training when they blocked their path. Police allege that one of the men pushed the girl towards Qaradhi, who wrapped his arm around her waist and tightened his grip before she ran away.

Qaradhi is facing three charges of sexual assault, two of which are against a child. He also is charged with one count of voyeurism after allegedly entering a women’s changing room at the local sports center.

The two other men were identified as Motaz Al Junaidi, 45, and trainer Faisal Hammash, 35, who also appeared at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

They are heading home, but have promised to return for the October 18 hearing. Good luck getting them back to Ireland once they're safely home in Jordan.

Honor Killings, the latest rash of Muslim Misogyny

Al Arabiya reported that a 33-year-old woman was murdered in an alleged "honor" crime. Although it later claimed she was only 22, the Jordanian woman, who apparently had been divorced about a year, was stabbed by her older brother in the chest. Brother wasn't too happy about his sister's new found freedom:

“It seems that the suspect was constantly arguing with his sister about her movements and was attempting to restrict her mobility because she was a divorced woman,” a source told The Jordan Times.

Police official Col. Khatib An, however, claims the "honor motive is ruled out" and it was just plain old domestic violence. Because brothers always get so pissed off at their divorced sisters for disobeying them, they plunge knives into their chests. Al Arabiya goes on to say that the brother is being held for 15 days until the case is investigated, which means brother will more than likely walk free. They always do. Because, dang, that hussy should have just stayed home.

Al Arabiya goes on to say:

“Honor killings” occasionally happen in some parts of the Middle East.

Occasionally? Really?

The article goes on to describe the murder of another Jordanian woman who was stabbed to death by her brother in October 2011 after he saw her photo on a friend's cell phone. I would venture to say the friend was not harmed.

Then it mentions the recent murder of a Palestinian woman, Nancy Zaboun, whose husband slit her throat after her divorce hearing. The woman had been abused for the 10 years of her marriage.

But no mention of three honor killings, in a matter of a week, back in Jordon in mid July:

Police on Wednesday were questioning a man who reportedly killed his divorced sister in Jerash in a so-called honour murder earlier in the day.

The suspect, who was not identified by officials, reportedly stabbed his sister then threw her in the street and ran over her with his vehicle until he made sure she was dead.

“The suspect then headed to the nearest police station and turned himself in to the police and informed them that he had murdered his sister to cleanse his family’s honour,” a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The suspect claimed that he had murdered his sister after learning that she had delivered a child out of wedlock, according to the source.

The victim was the third woman in Jordan to be murdered in the name of “family honour” this week and the second in less than 48 hours.

On Monday, a 28-year-old man in Zarqa reportedly murdered his divorced sister with a brick and a knife at their home in Zarqa for reasons related to family honour.

On July 18, a 60-year-old man allegedly stabbed his 25-year-old divorced daughter seven times at his home in an Amman suburb, claiming family honour as a motive because she had delivered a baby girl out of wedlock.

Wednesday’s victim was the seventh woman to be murdered in the Kingdom for reasons related to family honour this year.

Or the mother who murdered her three-year-old child because she had been born out of wedlock, and the family who she had been given to didn't want her. The woman supposedly murdered her own flesh and blood because she feared a scandal- read, she wanted to spare her own hide.  We all know (including the woman) that someone in her family would have snuffed her out. That's how it works.

Oh, and what about this Jordanian brother who killed his sister after her husband accused her of adultery.  Who knows if that was even true. He killed her in 2010 and was just sentenced to life this year.

And how about the Egyptian brothers,  Ahmed Mukhtar, 35, and Abd al-Basit, 24,who "slaughtered" their sister along with their mother and aunt, in June,

after discovering their sister's actions were contrary to morality."

After chaos erupted in the house, including gunfire, local police surrounded and broke into the home, only to find the aunt, Saida Muhammad Mukhtar, 55-years-old and a housewife, "with her head sliced off"; the mother, Amina Ahmed Muhammad, also 55 and a housewife, found "drowned in blood by the entrance of the house"; and the sister, Sana Mukhtar, 39-years-old and a widow, found butchered in a room.

Of course no mention  of the rash of honor killings in that other region, Afghanistan, including the woman and her two children who were beheaded. She too had divorced her husband after being battered during their 10 years of marriage.

And that's just a very, very small sampling of Muslim misogyny. The bulk of honor killings are female, and the few males that might happen to be the subject of an honor killing are usually gay.

So, occasionally, Al Arabiya?  Wishful thinking and the typical denial.

In fact, Chechnya's leader Kadyrov actually condones honor killings.

Honor killings are a major problem not only in the Middle East, but anywhere in the world where Muslim immigrants congregate with no desire to integrate and evolve.

Christian Woman Fired From Jordan Bank For Refusing To Wear Headscarf

Here's an interesting situation. A Christian bank worker was fired from her job at the Jordan Dubai Islamic Bank for refusing to wear a headscarf. Vivian Salameh claims that she

“refused to wear the partial head cover because it is against my principles.”

Apparently, the headscarf is now an approved (in January) part of the women's dress code at the bank, and Salameh had been warned, at least so says the bank's rep Iman Afaneh. According to Afaneh,

“Five other Christian women are working at the bank, and they are committed to wearing full uniform, including the headscarf.”

So what? Because 5 others have no problem with that doesn't make it okay for the one who does have issues. Besides, Salameh says that's not so:

“The bank uniform registered at the trade and industry ministry does not include wearing anything to cover my hair.”

But here's the deal, if you are working for an Islamic bank (or any other company that has a specific dress code) then, sorry, you need to abide by those rules. If you have a problem with that and refuse to comply, then they have a right to fire you or you need to quit. Perhaps she was hired when the headscarf was not mandatory, but if it is now, she needs to wear it or find another job.
Now this is where it gets interesting. This same kind of situation happens in the West all the time, only it's Muslims who want to wear their hijabs in companies or venues that have certain dress codes, and when they refuse to follow company rules and are fired, they enlist the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)  to intervene on their behalf, or file complaints and sue.  More often than not those companies cave. There were several cases that Disney had to deal with recently, one of which CAIR bullied its way into winning.  An intern who never mentioned during the phone interview that she wore a hijab was eventually accommodated, and she accepted the compromise.  In another case, a themed restaurant hostess Imane Boudlal, who initially was hired sans hijab and suddenly got religious on the job, filed a complaint and sued Disney for refusing to allow her to wear her scarf, even though they also bent over backwards trying to  accommodate her. I wasn't able to find any updates on that case, but hopefully it was thrown out.

Bottom line, if you are going to work at a company that requires a strict dress code, then be prepared to follow the rules, if not, find alternate employment.