Rape for Chatting
Also from today’s Arab Times – rape is every big as horrifying when it happens to a man. I am glad this young man had the courage to report it to the police, and to prosecute his attackers.
I wonder how they found out their sister was chatting with this man?
Brothers kidnap, rape man in revenge for ‘chatting’ with their sister
KUWAIT CITY : The Criminal Court Monday dismissed an objection latter submitted by a bedoun identified only as Ali A., requesting the court to cancel a five-year jail sentence which has been issued against him in absentia in a case filed against him and his brother for kidnapping and molesting a Kuwaiti man.
During a previous session the defense lawyer had told the court there was no evidence to prove his client had committed the crime.
He added the victim’s testimony was contradictory and requested the court to cancel the verdict of the Court of First Instance and acquit his client.
Case papers indicate the victim filed the case against two brothers accusing them of kidnapping and molesting him after learning about his relationship with their sister via the Internet.
The victim explained he chatted with the sister of two men on the Internet and they exchanged messages on their cell phones. When the girl’s brothers learnt about this relationship, one of them called him and said he wanted to meet him.
When the victim met one of them, identified only as Essa, the latter asked him to get into his car and drove off. On the way, Essa stopped the car and his brother Ali got in.
The two men took the victim to a building under construction and ordered him to take off his clothes and molested him. They threatened to kill him if he talked to anybody about the incident.
On April 2, 2005, the Court of First Instance sentenced Essa to five years in jail to be followed by deportation and Ali to five years in absentia because he was not arrested or interrogated.
The session was presided over by Judge Abdullah Al-Sane.
By Moamen Al-Masri
Special to the Arab Times
Age Limits Differ in Illicit Relationships
I have read this news item from the Arab Times several times. I don’t understand what it means. I don’t understand the goals of the lawsuit. I don’t understand the ramifications of the court’s decision.
Court upholds law on age limit in illicit relationship
KUWAIT CITY : The Constitutional Court Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Attorney Mohamed Menwir Al-Mutairi requesting the court to declare item number 188/1 of the Kuwaiti Criminal Law unconstitutional. During a previous session, Al-Mutairi argued it is illogical to consider a teenage boy guilty and a young woman not guilty when they have sex if the boy is 18 years old while the woman is a few days less than 21 years. Al-Mutairi pointed out the Kuwaiti society has always considered a woman more aware of sexual matters than a man even if she is younger.
“However, the Criminal Procedures Law ruled otherwise in this case and declared a young boy guilty of the crime, without considering he can be forced to do it,” said Al-Mutairi. According to item number 188/1 of the Criminal Procedures Law, a man is responsible for his acts as soon as he reaches 18 years old while a woman is responsible only when she is 21. “This item is illogical as it contradicts our traditions and Sharia laws,” said Al-Mutairi. He submitted memos on the experts’ views on the issue to the court.
According to Sharia laws, there is no difference in penalty between a man and a woman who committed adultery, hence, the same principle should be applied on our laws,” Al-Mutairi explained. Item number 188/1 states that a woman is considered a victim in adultery cases if she is below 21 and a man is considered guilty in such cases if he is 18 years old. The session was presided over by Judge Rashid Al-Hammad.
By Moamen Al-Masri
Special to the Arab Times
Night and Day, Doha, The Pearl
Visiting Doha, AdventureMan took me out to see the new Pearl going up. AdventureMan cracks up – “It’s NOT reclaimed land” he cackles, “they are demolishing old buildings at an incredible rate, and using all that rubble to build this new crop of hotels and residences!”
We watched it when it was just cranes and sandbars.
They’ve come a long way in an amazingly short time. This is the Doha Pearl (they are having the same kind of dusty weather that we are having in Kuwait)
The window is a little cloudy, but you can see it is all lights, camera, action at the building of The Pearl, even at night:
Good News For People Who Like Oily Fish
I love articles like this one, from BBC Health News that give me hope I am doing something right. I think the fish with the right stuff are tuna, and mackeral . . . what Kuwait fish have these valuable Omega-3 oils?
Is there much macular degeneration in Kuwait?
Oily fish ‘cuts eye disease risk’
Eating food rich in omega-3, such as oily fish, could help some people avoid one of the most common causes of vision loss, a research review suggests.
The Annals of Ophthalmology review suggests omega-3 may cut the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by a third. . . .
Studies have already linked omega-3 fatty acids with a variety of health benefits, the most significant being suggestions that it can help people with heart disease.
You can read the entire article HERE.
Separate and Unequal
To read this is to weep – from today’s Arab Times:
KUWAIT CITY : The parliamentary Health Committee has proposed the separation of expatriates and citizens in accident wards and outpatient departments to regulate procedures in public hospitals, said Committee Chairman MP Dr Hussein Quwaian Al-Mutairi Sunday. Clarifying the proposal is not aimed at discriminating between expatriates and citizens, Al-Mutairi explained this is just a move to improve work procedures in public hospitals as seen in the success of other GCC nations which had earlier adopted this mechanism. He said this is one of the numerous proposals to improve local health services discussed by the committee in its recently-concluded meeting. He added the committee will submit the proposals to the Parliament and Cabinet for approval.
With an aim to facilitate procedures for laying down a general and feasible government development strategy, Al-Mutairi confirmed the committee will cooperate with the Cabinet to improve health services in Kuwait. He said these proposals were culled from discussions with the people, who voiced their needs, aspirations and expectations with regards to public hospitals and clinics. Other proposals include increasing bed capacities in hospitals, constructing health insurance hospitals to serve foreign laborers and establishing Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Hospital with state-of-the-art medical equipment and facilities. Al-Mutairi also urged the Cabinet to pay more attention to different sectors of the community who are in dire need of medical insurance, such as senior citizens and mothers.
Al-Mutairi affirmed the panel will investigate cases which, he described, as a “national crises” — such as the rising number of Kuwaitis suffering from cancer and leukemia. He also criticized the Cabinet for the absence of accurate figures on these cases which, he said, will greatly contribute in finding means to curb the spread of such diseases, particularly early detection and identifying age categories more prone to these illnesses. Convener of the Committee MP Saleh Ashour said the panel discussed its priorities for the upcoming session and referred a draft bill for laborers in the private sector to National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi for inclusion in the Parliament’s schedule. He added the panel requested the presence of Health Minister Ali Al-Barrak in its meeting on Sunday to discuss the committee’s visions and suggestions for the upcoming period.
There is more. To read more of the issues the newly elected ministers are choosing to confront, click HERE.
Even the Dogs
Today’s Gospel reading is one of my very favorites; Jesus was infinitely kind to women.
Here is a desperate woman, shouting for Jesus’ help. She is not a Jew, she is not even one of his followers. She is a mother with a very sick daughter. She will not be put aside. Jesus’ closest followers tell him to “make her go away.” She argues with Jesus, telling him even his smallest crumb of mercy will be enough, and he has mercy on her.
Matthew 15:21-28
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24 He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26 He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27 She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28 Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.
Cormac McCarthy and No Country For Old Men
“Did you get a chance to watch the DVD?” I asked my friend, “because I have the book, and the book is SO much better. You understand so much more.”
“No! No! I started, but I could not watch it,” said my friend, “It was too violent!”
No Country For Old Men was a very violent movie, done by the Coen Brothers. I reviewed it HERE. When we finished watching the movie, I called our son and said “what happened? I’m not sure I understood what happened!” and indeed, there was a lot I missed. My son didn’t tell me anything – he bought me the book. On one of those long Seattle – Amsterdam – Kuwait flights I read it, and at the end – WOW.
My friend hit the nail on the head – the movie was violent, because the book is about violence, about violence in our societies, about increasing violence, violence without conscience, violence with no understanding of suffering of the victims, violence for no purpose, violence with no meaning, no goal, violence, literally, at the flip of a coin.
The movie is an indictment of violence, taking a circumstantial event and building an entire plot around it, a drug trade gone bad. There are a lot of deaths in this movie, most of them just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and tangling with people who have no morals, no scruples, no compass by which they live. Even money matters less to the drug dealers, and their employees, than an arbitrary code that takes tribalism to the limit – us or them.
The main character, a sheriff and grandson of a sheriff, takes on a case that leads him to wonder more and more if his service to his community and fellow human beings is even making a difference. He ponders on the changing character of Texas, of youth, and how we are raising our children. It is thought-provoking and unforgettable.
I understand someone, not the Coens, are currently making a movie of an earlier book I read by Cormac McCarthy, The Road which is another bleak story. There is an elemental relationship between the father and son, the father is all goodness and protection in a world driven to brutality and unimaginable behavior by an apocalyptic event.
In No Country for Old Men there are decent, moral, sweet relationships, faithful marriages, men of honor who serve their fellow-man as law enforcement officers, men who have served their country as soldiers, etc. but the point McCarthy seems to be making is that the decent people in the world have little hope of surviving against those who band together in gangs using brute force to get what they want.
No country For Old Men is available from Amazon.com for $11.20 + shipping or from $6.00 used. Yes, I own stock in Amazon.com. 🙂
Antibacterial Wipes Help Spread MRSA
From BBC Health News:
Hospital wipes ‘spreading MRSA’
Some types of anti-bacterial wipes used by hospital staff to clean surfaces could be helping to spread bacteria, researchers say.
The Welsh School of Pharmacy found that MRSA survived on the wipe, and then contaminated everything it touched.
The team said staff should throw away wipes after cleaning just one surface.
You can read the entire article HERE.
In the last year of his life, my father acquired the MRSA infection in a hospital. Through the following months, and several courses of Vancomycin, they never knocked the MRSA out of his system, and I am convinced it was the major contributing cause to his death.
MRSA, and other antibacterial resistant infections, are increasing in hospitals, prisons, schools, health clubs – anywhere people come into contact with one another. One of the best things we can all do to avoid infection and spreading infection? Frequent hand washing. It isn’t infallible, but it helps.
“You are Looking A Little Different, Madame”
On a recent visit to Doha, I dropped in to say hello to my old tailor, who works in a tiny little shop in an obscure little area and does great work – in his own good time.
After exchanging greetings and asking about family members, etc. he looked at me and said “You are looking a little different, madame.”
I can see where this is going, and I try to head him off . .
“Yes, yes” I hurriedly reply, heading toward the door, “I am a couple years older, ha ha ha, it’s so nice seeing you!”
“Yes madame,” he says beaming at me, “You are a little bit FAT!”
“Bye!” I holler over my shoulder, as I grab AdventureMan and push him out the door; I can’t get out the door fast enough. NO! I am not fat! But who has a better eye than a tailor?
AdventureMan isn’t easy to push, especially when he is weak from laughing too hard. He is very kind to me for the rest of the day, knowing my feelings are fragile, and damaged.
Follow Up on Honor Killing Prevented
This is from today’s Arab Times, and is a follow up to Saved By a Scream.
Bail in honour killing
Kuwait : Citing lack of evidence the Public Prosecution has released on KD 200 bail each the two people who had been detained for interrogation for allegedly attempting to kill their daughter in Saudi Arabia, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.
The daily added the daughter will be referred to the Psychiatric Hospital.
Earlier it was reported the Saudi immigration officers manning the Al-Riqei border had foiled an attempt by an unidentified GCC family to kill their daughter to save their honor.
According to a security source the parents with their daughter and another sibling traveled to Salmi post and to prevent the ‘victim’ from screaming for help the family’s relative who allegedly works at the post hurried through the process of stamping the passports to help the family cross into Saudi Arabia as the family waited in their car.
When the girl reached the Saudi border post she screamed for help and told the immigration officers that her father planned to kill her.
The family was temporarily detained at the post until the Saudi authorities contacted the authorities in Kuwait. After the family was returned to Kuwait under guard, the relative who helped them at the Salmi post was arrested and detained for interrogation.
The girl was reportedly involved in an affair with an unidentified youth inside an apartment in Salmiya and became pregnant.
Maybe the psychiatric hospital is the only place where she can be safely held against attack from her family?
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