Rape in Kuwait – the flip side
By now you know a lot about who I am – what I laugh at, what I treasure, and what makes me break out in a storm of fury. Rape is one of those issues; the sheer entitlement that goes with stripping another human of choice and violating flesh as if the victim were nothing more than a piece of meat, it energizes me to a white rage, whether the victim is man, woman or child.
And then . . . and then . . . there are very strange cases of reported rapes in Kuwait that I have a hard time imagining exactly what happened here. I am not being flip, in a flippant sense; I am perplexed. We sometimes get so little of the story, and once you have a key piece of information – which we often never have – things make sense.
This is from today’s Kuwait Times:
Minor Raped
Police said a minor girl told Salhiya police that while she was sitting on the beach, a young man approached her and told her that he belonged to a well-known family. He then took her to an apartment in Sharq where he raped her before returning her to the same area. Later, another man approached her and took her to another apartment and raped her as well. She provided police with their mobile phone numbers. The case is under investigation.
Does this not sound peculiar to you? For one thing, is she sitting alone on the beach? Does she know these men? She goes with them – alone? By choice? Twice, with two different men? They give her their phone numbers?? To me, there is a lot of information missing in this report. It sounds like a very strange case of rape. I almost wonder if the minor has a mental incapacity, but it doesn’t say that.
Man, Woman arrested
A police patrol traveling in Sulaibiya recently suspected a young man and woman as they were driving. (Note to self: remind Kuwait Times that you do not use “Police suspected. . ” without specifying which behavior they found suspicious) Police asked to see their civil IDs and discovered that the young woman had run away from home one month ago. During interrogation, she confessed that the man and his three friends had raped her several times in a flat. The case is under investigation.
The following one is not about rape (nor am I sure the above cases are about rape) but is a case that makes you go “hmm. . .. what??”
Runaway Woman
A Filipina woman recently told Sulaibikhat police that she abandoned her sponsor’s home in Bneid Al-Gar before going to her Pakistani friend’s flat in Doha. Two months later, the woman became pregnant. She then reported the matter to the police.
She went to the police and said “I am a runaway, and I am pregnant” knowing she will be charged with absconding AND with immorality, maybe adultery? Knowing she will go to jail? What, exactly, is she hoping to gain? What is she reporting?
The crime news is full of mysterious glimpses, and we rarely know the rest of the story.
William Dalrymple: The Age of Kali
Having read and loved In Xanadu: A Quest by William Dalrymple, and having received recommendations by friends who say they read ALL of William Dalrymple, I started on this second book, The Age of Kali. I didn’t like it, not one bit. I am proud to say I read it all the way to the end, because often if I don’t like a book, I will say to myself “I don’t need this!” and toss it, but I didn’t, I stuck with it. I am proud because it isn’t easy to stick with a book you don’t like, and I didn’t like this book.
In Xanadu, Dalrymple was wryly funny, hilariously funny, and most of the humor was directed at himself. In The Age of Kali, there is nothing funny.
The Age of Kali is a series of interviews and adventures in India and Pakistan. The author did these interviews and took notes (some are published in slightly different forms as magazine articles) over a period of ten years and then strung them all together to form this book. There is little or no linkage from one to the other. They are grouped geographically.
Here is what I like and admire – this man achieves the most amazing interviews, many times just by asking the right person at the right time. He insinuates himself, asks easy questions, and then sticks in a hard question. He doesn’t seem to flinch from putting himself in danger, and he doesn’t stand on respect when asking his questions. I admire that he went difficult places, interviewed difficult people, and wrote the interviews up without fawning over the celebrity status of his interviewee.
What I don’t like is that he doesn’t seem to like anybody very much. There are no funny anecdotes. By the end of the first interview, I began to get an impression that he doesn’t like India very much (and I believe that is NOT true, as he lives part-time in Delhi) and that India is not a place I want to visit. He interviews corrupt politicians, descendants of the moghuls, Benazir Bhutto – and her mother, Imran Khan (the cricket player) and many others. In each and every interview, he maintains a distance that tells us he doesn’t like these characters very much.
Here are some quotes from early in the book:
These days Bihar was much more famous for its violence, corruption and endemic caste-warfare. Indeed, things were now so bad that the criminals and the politicians of the state were said to be virtually interchangeable: no fewer than thirty-three of Bihar’s State Assembly MLAs had criminal records, and a figure like Dular Chand Yadav, who had a hundred cases of dacoity and fifty murder cases pending against him, could also be addressed as the Honorable Member for Barth.
As he interviews Bihar politician Laloo Prasad Yadav:
I asked Laloo about his childhood. He proved only too willing to talk about it. He lolled back against the side of the plane, his legs stretched over two seats.
‘My father was a small farmer,’ he began, scratching his balls with the unembarrassed thoroughness of a true yokel.
OK, that was funny. I had to read it aloud to AdventureMan. One of the things that still unnerves me living here is that the men are always touching themselves – something so totally forbidden in my culture as to be simply unthinkable.
In his section about Pakistan:
These people – the Pathans – have never been conquered, at least not since the time of Alexander the Great. They have seen off centuries of invaders – Persians, Arabs, Turks, Moghuls, Sikhs, British, Russians – and they retain the mixture of arrogance and suspicion that this history has produced in their character. History has also left them with a curious political status. Although most Pathans are technically within Pakistan, the writ of Pakistan law does not carry in to the heartland of their territories.
These segregated areas are in effect private tribal states, out of the control of the Pakistan government. They are an inheritance from the days of the Raj: the British were quite happy to let the Pathans act as a buffer zone on the edge of the Empire, and they did not try to extend their authority in to the hills. Where the British led, the modern Pakistani authorities have followed. Beyond the checkpoints on the edge of the Peshawar, tribal law – based on the institutions of the tribal council and the blood feud – rules unchallenged and unchanged since its origins long before the birth of Christ.
When I read this, I think of recent headlines about the problems Pakistan is having maintaining order, fighting the status of “failed-nation”, and the chaotic administration of tribal “justice.” The old ways have endured – but as we learned in Three Cups of Tea, there are villages where villagers are eager to have modern schools, eager to educate their daughters, and they, too, are victims of the fanatics who burn the schools and throw acid on women attending school.
The author is told, time and time again by Indian citizens, that India has entered The Age of Kali, “the lowest possible throw, an epoch of strife, corruption, darkness and disintegration.” The book reflects the darkness, corruption and disintegration the author found. I only wish there were some moments of relief, of lightness, hope or humor to encourage the reader on his/her way, but the documentation of this lowest throw was relentless.
Cursing Around the Neighborhood
Staff writer Al Watan Law and Order:
KUWAIT: A police patrol car is reported to have been badly damaged in Shuwaikh’s residential area while security forces were chasing an unidentified man believed to be a drug addict. It has been gathered that the chase was prompted by a tipـoff received by police that an unruly person was cursing around the area.
Reportedly, as police officers approached the man’s vehicle he was asked to pull over, but he failed to comply. The security forces accordingly engaged him in a chase which caused the patrol car to crash. The chase is reported to have ended in Jiwan area where the suspect was eventually arrested. He has been since referred to the concerned authorities for further action.
This is Kuwait. I honestly have no idea whether this man was believed to be a drug addict because he was “cursing” around the neighborhood, or “cruising” around the neighborhood. This is Kuwait – it could be either!
56,660 Kuwait Car Accidents: 2008
This is a totally breathtaking statistic. Kuwait just isn’t that big. That is more than one thousand car accidents, every week, in Kuwait.
We had three accidents in front of my house this morning. One included a school bus. Thank God, there were no children on board.
I would love to see a statistical breakdown on age groups, nationality, whether speed was involved, and whether the person was using a mobilephone while driving when the accident occurred.
One of my readers reported she had been in a car accident shortly after her arrival in country. A car going too fast rear-ended them. In almost every country in the world, if someone hits you from behind, they are charged, immediately, with following too closely and inattentive driving. You are supposed to be driving carefully enough to anticipate the car in front of you slowing down. Here, after six months, and several trips to the police station, it was determined that her husband was at fault. Unbelievable.
She adds that thanks be to God, no harm came to the infant traveling in the front seat of the car that hit them, on his mother’s lap, or they would have been liable for that, too. Unbelievable.
56,660 car accidents in 2008 alone
Staff Writer Al Watan
KUWAIT: Head of the Traffic Safety Department Bader AlـMatar has warned that the number of annual traffic accidents is on the rise. An estimated 56,660 car accidents and 410 cases of accident related fatalities occurred in 2008. AlـMatar added that the United Nations reports that car accidents claim more than 1,300,000 fatalities around the world each year, most of whom are young men.
Dumbest Thief of the Month
from today’s BBC News. I don’t think anyone will ever beat the Kuwait idiot who ended up in the bed next to the cop who had been chasing him, and told him he broke his leg running from a cop! That still makes me laugh every time I think about it.
‘Dumb’ thief picks police summit
A man in the US state of Pennsylvania accused of a robbery at a narcotics police convention has been described as probably the state’s dumbest criminal.
Retired police chief John Comparetto was attending the meeting of 300 officers when he was allegedly held up at gunpoint in the men’s toilets.
He handed over money and a phone but then he and some colleagues gave chase as the suspect tried to flee in a taxi.
They arrested a 19-year-old man over the incident near Harrisburg.
‘Retired police chief John Comparetto says he was held up at gunpoint
Mr Comparetto was wearing an ankle holster with a gun, and when told to drop his trousers, he managed to conceal his weapon.
He described the suspect as “probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania”.
The Associated Press news agency reported that when a journalist asked the suspect for comment as he was led from court, he said: “I’m smooth.”
Driver – and His Father – Obstruct Police
Don’t you wonder what happens next? Do they ever find out who the people are who are blocking them? I can see the whole thing happening in my mind – blocking the police!!
Driver arrested after obstructing onـduty police
Staff Writer Al Watan
KUWAIT: While police were organizing traffic at the second crossـsection in Jahra, they spotted two juveniles joyـriding nearby. They reported the incident to another police patrol which went to investigate the case. The two cars, upon being flagged down by the police patrol, immediately drove off and a police chase ensued.
The police patrol initially found it difficult to corner them due to wedding party, but as they were closing in a car of a German make impeded them.
Police repeatedly instructed him to clear from the route but the driver persistently blocked them. The officers approached the man to investigate the matter, but he refused to cooperate. Police asked for his identification, but the driver and the passenger, who was the driver”s father, refused to present identification. The two were arrested in place of the joyـriders and taken into police custody.
Record Traffic Violations Recorded
Cameras capture record traffic violations
Staff Writer – From today’s Al Watan
Wooo HOOOO! Cameras are impartial; they catch the violators, no matter who. I love it.
KUWAIT: The relocation of radar cameras on major roads has led to a sharp increase in the number of violations registered during an entire month. According to security sources; they reported that around 2,000 cars have been photographed by the relocated cameras during last January as compared to 900 cars prior to the relocation.
Earlier on, the Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs Major General Mahmoud AlـDousari had recommended the relocation of the radar cameras, particularly since motorists had become too familiar with the previous locations. Drivers who have been involved in violations have been contacted through official channels to either pay their fines or get referred to the concerned authorities. It has been gathered that fines have been already collected from 400 errant motorists.
Last updated on Friday 27/3/2009
Here is an extra one for you, General Al-Dousari, one of those special kind of people who travel in the emergency lane while the rest of us obey the rules and crawl along the freeway. I could not resist this particular photo – with the sign right there.
PS – We were not moving. I wasn’t driving when I took the photo. 🙂
Closed Circuit TV in all Kuwait Schools
From today’s Al Watan:
CCTV cameras to be in place next school year
Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Former Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr. Nouriya AlـSubaih has confirmed that the ministry is finalizing the installation of CCTV cameras on school campuses and is expected to be fully and completely implemented by the beginning of the next school year.
AlـSubaih”s statement came during a press conference organized by the Teachers Society for its 38th Educational Conference, which was held under the title ”Excellent Training, Future in the Making”.
The minister stressed that all steps are being taken to provide students with a proper and adequate education and that their safety and security are equally prioritized.
She made reference to the recent abuse incidents in local schools and pointed out that contrary to popular belief, school incidents have taken place in the past with the only difference being that they were never reported to police and the press “because they were dealt with and tackled by the school management then.”
She recalled how when she was herself a teacher school problems were dealt with privately and discretely due to the sensitive nature of the problems.
AlـSubaih further pointed out that acquiring the correct specifications and right CCTV cameras to do the job adequately and comprehensively “requires careful consideration to check the right models types, otherwise we would have gone to the local market,” adding that there were some models which the ministry had acquired but due to poor quality was later decided to be dropped.
For his part, Teachers Union Director Ayed AlـSahli said that teachers play an essential role in education and upbringing and that “the idea of training fits perfectly with the requirements of this noble profession to ensure that teachers make the children they teach more useful and productive.
“There is a need for training while teaching and great consideration is being put into the latest training programs with an eye to the future, so that teachers” skills and abilities are enhanced adequately,” he remarked.
Last updated on Tuesday 24/3/2009
Barbara Nadel: The Ottoman Cage
I got the recommendation for this book from Little Diamond; we have a long family tradition of trading books back and forth, my sisters, our children, even my mother; we are all sending books and exchanging suggestions all the time. I know I can count on Little Diamond and Sparkle for particularly good recommendations, and they never disappoint me.
When The Ottoman Cage arrived, I was put off by the cover. “Who’s Likely to Like This?” the cover asked – it seemed like screaming to me – “Fans of Donna Leon and exotic, atmospheric locales”
Remember, I am in a dark time, taxes, turbulence, destabilization. . . I am easily disgruntled when I am vulnerable like this. I don’t want to think I am so predictable. I love reading Donna Leon! So I am predisposed (grumble grumble grumble) NOT to like Barbara Nadel.
I fail miserably. The first five pages I am resisting. By the sixth page, I am ready to stay up all night to read this book (I don’t really, but I did finding myself making more time to read so I could find out what happens next.)
It is like the Donna Leon series in that while the plot is original and interesting, the real focus is on the police inspector, his crew, the relationships with friends and characters, the bureaucracy, and the way systems and institutions function in modern day Turkey.
One particular relationship was of great interest to me, that of Suleyman, who dutifully married his first cousin. They both tried very hard to make it work, but when we meet him, we discover that the marriage has become a painfully dry and desolate place, where each lead their individual lives, with very little of the relationship together.
Another character is detective Cohen, a rare Jew in the police force described as follows:
When one has been known and admired as a prolific womanizer for most of one’s adult life, any change in that situation can come rather hard. Although Cohen had been married since the age of nineteen, he had never let that fact or indeed his rather short stature and dishevelled apearance hold him back from the most ardent pursuit of other women. Jokey charm, of which he possessed copious amounts, had always seen him through. The knowledge that women love a man who can make them laugh had successfully taken him to many bedrooms and had, quite frequently, resulted in his being asked back again. Until this year.
Whether it was because now he was on the ‘wrong’ sied of forty five or just a patch of ill fortune, Cohen didn’t know but the fact was beyond dispute. Women, it seemed, didn’t want him any more. The rbuffs and even in one notable case the cruel sound of mocking laughter were hideously painful for him to bear. Even his long-suffering wife, who had for so many years pleaded with him to leave other women alone and attend to her, had lost interest. He’d tried to find a little comfort in her arms the previous night when he found that he couldn’t sleep, but she, like all the lithe little girls that he still so desired, had just sent him on his way, back to his customary couch, flinging her curses in his unfaithful wake.
It was, Cohen would have been the first to admit, his own fault. Had he bothered to try and be faithful to Estelle he would now, in his middle years, have both a friend and a over with whom he could take comfort as the lines overwhelmed his face and the loose skin around his middle began to sag. His wife was, after all, ageing like himself and, unlike the pretty little tarts he hankered after, unable to point mocking fingers at his inadequacies.
The plot hinges on a dead boy, a beautiful boy, found dead, alone, on a bed in an empty, tasteful but unlived in home. Who is he? Why is he here? Why is he dead?
We meet the gossipy neighbors, we meet the Armenian community, we meet some of the lowest characters you would ever hope to meet, the kind the police deal with every single day. Nothing is simple, one single clue leads slowly, painfully to another. I give credit to Nadel; she relies on good honest police work, chasing down the clues, going through the stacks of old files, interviewing unsavory lowlifes; the things good police really do to solve their cases.
More than the plot, I loved the rich and intricate textures of this mystery novel, I loved the descriptions of the interiors and the interior lives of the characters. Nadel has that in common with the other writers I read serially – Leon, Pattison, Qiu Xiaolon, James Burke and Peter Bowen. It is another rich entry into the genre of the “mystery novel set in exotic, atmospheric locations.”
Definitely worth a read!
“No” Means No?
Interesting case from the Arab Times. Many courts in many nations are struggling with the same question – at what point does it become rape? In this case, there was a disagreement about the price and she tried to leave, at which point she claims she was raped.
Consensual sex, no rape: lawyer
KUWAIT CITY : The Criminal Court listened Tuesday to the argument of the lawyers for five Kuwaiti police officers, who had been charged with raping and molesting a Bedoun woman.
The court then set April 14, 2009 to issue its verdict.
During the session, the lawyer for the first and second suspects, Attorney Mohamed Al-Sane, told the court the victim had gone to the flat of the suspects on her own free will. He added this incident can never be considered rape as the victim had agreed to collect KD 100 from the suspects in return for staying and having sex with them.
Attorney Ali Al-Asfour, who represented the third suspect, requested the court to acquit his client as there is no proof to show that the victim had been raped. He further said the arresting officer’s investigations were inconclusive.
Meanwhile, Attorneys Tareq Al-Khars, Khaled Al-Mahhan and Ahmad Al-Shehab, who represented the fourth suspect, requested the court to acquit their client as he had nothing to do with the case. They added there is no evidence that the man had committed the crime.
According to the victim, she knows the third suspect, who called her on the day of the incident and invited her to go with him to a friend’s flat where she met the other suspects and two women. She disclosed the third suspect offered her KD 100 if she spends ‘fun’ time with him. However, when she arrived at the flat and had a drink with the five men, she asked for KD 50 more.
When the men refused, she tried to leave the flat, but she couldn’t as the door was locked. While she was looking for the key, the third suspect took her by force to the main bedroom and three other suspects followed him, then they all raped her.
The session was presided over by Judge Adel Al-Saqer.
By Moamen Al-Masri
Special to the Arab Times
I would guess, in Kuwait, even if she wins the case, which looks doubtful given the cadre of lawyers hired to prevent that from happening, she loses. My guess is that she goes to prison for agreeing to have sex for money.
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