Priests lead Orthodox anti-gays in violent Tbilisi clashes with rights activists, police (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Thousands Orthodox anti-gay activists broke through police cordon and pursued gay rights protesters in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, injuring at least 28 people in the process. The violent brawl marred the May 17 International Day Against Homophobia.

The first sanctioned anti-homophobic rally in Georgia organized by Identity NGO activists had to be moved to a public garden on Tbilisi’s Freedom Square after a 10,000-strong Orthodox crowd gathered at the initial rally spot on Friday.

But heavy police cordons failed to contain furious anti-gay activists led by priests, who rushed to the new gay parade location. Upon breaking into the public garden, the agitated crowd engaged in a violent pursuit, beating and throwing stones at all the people who were thought to be representing and advocating for the minorities.

At least 28 people were injured in clashes, and 14 of them hospitalized, Georgian Minister of Health David Sergeenko said. A journalist suffering blunt force trauma to the head and a passer-by who had his leg broken were among the injured.

The police and special task forces managed to evacuate the rally participants using minibuses, but several vehicles were attacked in the process. Counter-demonstrators blocked the way and smashed the windows of a yellow van, in which minorities were thought to be carried.

Georgian ombudsman Uchya Nanusahvili was also compelled to leave the scene guarded by a dozen police after trying to persuade the Orthodox believers not to obstruct the gay rally, according to Interfax. The angry crowd responded to the rights commissioner plea by shouting insults.

Local media said that acting US Ambassador to Georgia Bridget Brink was caught in the turmoil too. Brink arrived at the scene before the clashes started and left without public comments, but her car was taken for a retreating vehicle of a gay rights defender and pursued, Georgia-Online reported.

The thwarted parade had been allowed by the city authorities, despite the call by the head of Georgia’s Orthodox Church to ban the event. Georgian Patriarch Ilya II on Thursday said it would be “an insult” to Georgian tradition. He also called homosexuality an “anomaly and illness.”

“The people do not want propaganda from minorities,” Orthodox priest Father Ioanne told AFP, as he stood among the jubilant anti-gay crowd in the center of Tbilisi. “When these people want to demonstrate then it becomes a problem,” he said.

Other priests who led the rally told reporters they would not allow “rampant immorality” in Georgia.

Meanwhile, the Georgian parliament voiced its support for the minorities’ rights.

“The constitution assumes freedom of faith and views and no one has the right to go beyond the constitution and law,” Chairman of the Georgian Parliament David Usupashvili said at a Friday plenary session.

One of the parliamentary majority’s leaders, Georgy Gabashvili, has blamed the authorities, saying “the government has not taken sufficient measures to protect the rights of sexual minorities.” The parliamentary minority led by the Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili has also spoken in support of the gay parade, according to Interfax.

Orthodox Christian activists run during clashes with gay rights activists at an International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) rally in Tbilisi, May 17, 2013. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili (GEORGIA – Tags: CIVIL UNREST RELIGION SOCIETY POLITICS) – RTXZQ70

Dying woman denied abortion in El Salvador

San Salvador, El Salvador - Beatriz, a 22-year-old woman known to the world only by a single name, has a simple request.

“I want to live,” she says.

Her life hangs by a thread while the El Salvador’s Supreme Court decides whether her right to life should be protected, or whether the rights of her unborn foetus should prevail.

Beatriz is almost 23 weeks pregnant. She has lupus, an auto-immune disease which causes the body’s immune system to attack its own tissue. Her condition is deteriorating and her doctors say she is at “high risk of death” if the pregnancy continues.

Medics have recommended an abortion in order to save her life, but cannot proceed amid fear of prosecution.

El Salvador is one of three Latin American countries where abortion is illegal in all circumstances – punishable with up to 30 years in prison.

Yet in this case, the foetus is unviable. Several scans have revealed that it is anencephalic – missing a large part of the brain and skull. Almost all babies with anencephaly die before birth, or within a few hours or days after birth. It has no chance of surviving into infancy, experts say.

First pregnancy

Beatriz, from the east of this tiny Central American country, has a 14-month-old son who also suffers various health problems – caused by serious complications she suffered during pregnancy.

At that time, Beatriz suffered an exacerbation of her lupus, but also anaemia, pneumonia, and high blood pressure which led to severe pre-eclampsia. Her son was delivered early using an emergency caesarean section, and spent more than a month in hospital with digestive and respiratory problems.

“I want to live to protect and raise my son,” Beatriz said through her lawyers.

She is currently in hospital suffering from early-stage kidney failure, caused by her lupus. With every day that passes the risk to Beatriz’s life increases, her doctors say.

But the country’s powerful religious campaigners are adamant that there be no exceptions - that the life of the foetus must be protected from the moment of conception. Public opinion is divided.

‘Aggravated homicide’

Her medical team made an application to El Salvadorian legal authorities at the end of March, seeking permission to proceed with a therapeutic abortion in order to safeguard Beatriz’s health. They asked for a guarantee that they would not be prosecuted.

Under Article 133 of the country’s penal code, anyone who provides – or tries to access – abortion services can face lengthy prison sentences. Women and doctors can be charged with aggravated homicide.

The authorities have yet to respond to her doctors’ request.

The attorney general could use his powers to give the doctors and Beatriz protection from prosecution. He has so far refused to do so.

The country’s highest court was therefore presented with the case in mid-April. Lawyers acting for Beatriz asked the Supreme Court to guarantee legal protection for Beatriz and her doctors.

Several international bodies have also intervened.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights took the unprecedented step of ordering the El Salvadorian government to take “precautionary measures” and implement the treatment recommended by the Specialised National Maternity Hospital.

On April 29, the commission gave the government 72 hours to comply with the precautionary measures in order “to safeguard life, personal integrity and health”. It was an attempt by the commission to ensure the case was expedited by the Supreme Court.

Despite that ruling, no decision has yet been made.

“The delays are unconscionable,” Amnesty International’s Esther Major told Al Jazeera.

Last week the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ordered a range of psychological and physical tests to be carried out on Beatriz by the Institute of Legal Medicine (ILM).

To the shock of campaigners, the ILM opinion contradicted all previous assessments and recommended Beatriz continue with the pregnancy – a “wait and see” approach.

“The opinion was completely biased,” said Sara Garcia from the Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalisation of Therapeutic, Ethical and Eugenic Abortion. ”Four of the doctors that participated had already expressed an opinion against Beatriz being allowed a therapeutic abortion.”

The ILM has publicly rejected accusations of bias, stating that its opinion was supported by various national medical organisations – including the Association of Bioethics, the Association of Rheumatology and the Association of Nephrology and Arterial Hypertension.

‘Political manoeuvring’

In what appears to be Beatriz’s last chance, her lawyers submitted an application to the Supreme Court on May 8, urging them to reject the ILM opinion on the grounds of “bias and flawed process”.

“This is the end, the legal possibilities have been exhausted,” said Victor Hugo, Beatriz’s lawyer.

The case has re-ignited national and international debates about access to abortion and a woman’s right to life.

Abortion was criminalised in El Salvador in 1997 by the then-governing Nationalist Republican Alliance party. Before then, abortion in cases such as Beatriz’s would have been permitted.

Marta Maria Blandon is the regional director of the international abortion rights organisation IPAS. “It was a political manoeuvre in an electoral context, trying to secure votes from conservative groups by showing unconditional support for the Catholic Church,” she told Al Jazeera.

“The reform to the penal code was done in secret without any public consultation.”

Since then, around 600 women have been criminally investigated. Almost 30 have been imprisoned for 30 years, many convicted of infanticide. Six women have subsequently been freed following campaigns by the Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalisation of Therapeutic, Ethical and Eugenic Abortion.

Activists, rights groups, academics and clinicians – including the United Nations representative in El Salvador and UN experts on the rights to health, torture, violence and discrimination against women – are among those urging authorities to grant Beatriz the right to a termination in order to save her life. Amnesty International has launched an online appeal for people to write to Luiz Martinez, the country’s attorney general.

They argue that the failure of the state to act amounts to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

El Salvador’s Minister of Health, Maria Isabel Rodriguez, and her legal adviser have also written to the Supreme Court supporting the medical and constitutional basis of Beatriz’s case.

Rodriguez is the only government minister so far to speak out in support of Beatriz’s right to life – and has also criticised the IML medical opinion as flawed.

In contrast, the “Sí a la Vida” ["Yes to Life"] Foundation, an anti-abortion religious group, says feminist groups are exploiting and manipulating Beatriz in order to legalise abortion.

In a recent statement of support for anti-abortion groups, El Salvador’s Conference of Catholic Bishops said protecting the unborn child “does not constitute a violation” of Beatriz’s constitutional rights.

A global issue

Parallels are being drawn between this case and the death of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland in October 2012.

Halappanavar, an Indian dentist working in Ireland, was denied a potentially life-saving emergency abortion despite the fact she had suffered a miscarriage – because the foetus’ heart was still faintly beating.

In Ireland, the Catholic Church is vehemently opposing a new parliamentary bill to relax the strict laws and allow abortion to save a mother’s life.

Around 25 per cent of the world’s population live in countries which prohibit or punish women and health professionals for abortion.

World Health Organisation figures suggest almost 70,000 women die annually as a result of unsafe “illegal” abortions – accounting for 13 per cent of all maternal deaths.

Latin America hosts some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws. In many countries, abortion is permitted only to save the woman’s life, but in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Chile, abortion is prohibited under all circumstances.

Yet the region also has some of the world’s highest rates of abortion, due to the significant unmet need for contraceptives which causes high rates of unplanned pregnancies, according to IPAS.

“We are horrified that government officials in El Salvador are standing by, watching Beatriz suffer pain and anguish, and maybe even die. It is utterly inexcusable of them to deny her life-saving treatment,” said Esther Major, Amnesty International’s El Salvadorian expert.

“Each official and judge who does not do what they can to save her, or prevent her suffering severe health damage, risks having blood on their hands. It is a human rights scandal, and one which has discrimination at its heart. Beatriz is poor, and needs treatment only women and girls need.”

Beatriz’s identity has been hidden amid enormous stigma and strong, divided opinions about her case. But on Sunday May 5, she recorded a plea to the country’s president.

“President Mauricio Funes Cartagena, help me please,” she said.

“This baby inside me cannot survive. I am ill. I want to live… I want to live for my son.”

Malawi’s Radio Islam Slapped With Fine For Saying “Jesus is not the Son of God”

If the converse happened in a Muslim majority country and a Christian program was fined for saying Muhammad wasn’t the last prophet, you can be sure there would be spitting vitriol in the Islamophobic looniverse, whole seminars would be dedicated to the topic at Conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.

Interestingly when it comes to freedom of speech in this regard they are rather silent.

What if they were Muslim?:

Malawi’s Radio Islam punished for demeaning Jesus Christ

By Yankho Msukwa, Nyasa Times April 9, 2013 (NyasaTimes)

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has slapped Radio Islam with a $625 (about K260, 000)  fine for denigrating the Christian religion, mostly stating that Jesus Christ is not the son of God.

Macra has imposed the fine on Radio Islam for breaching Clause 2(a) of the Third Schedule to the Communications Act and Clause 10.1.3 of its Licences by denigrating other religion beliefs.

“In January, 2013 Radio Islam aired a programme where they denigrated the Christian religion by among other things stating that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God and all people who follow him shall perish in hell.

“Upon hearing representations from Radio Islam, they admitted to have aired the program in breach of both the Communications Act and the Licence terms and conditions.

“Radio Islam has been warned before for the same conduct of denigrating other religious beliefs. Therefore, pursuant to Section 54(5)[c] of the Communications Act, the Authority has imposed the fine of $625 on Radio Islam which is a quarter of their Licence fees,” said Macra Director General, Charles Nsaliwa.

Nigerian Christian Group To Launch Terror Campaign Against Muslims in “Defense of Christianity”

Guardian

Nigeria could face a battle between rival terrorist groups after Christian militants threatened to attack Muslim targets in response to bombings carried out by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), the umbrella body of armed groups in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, said it would launch a new terror campaign “in defence of Christianity”.

“The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregations in Islamic events and assassinations of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate will form the core mission of this crusade,” the Mend spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an emailed statement.

The group appears to be responding to the ongoing attacks against churches and Christian populations in northern Nigeria, which some estimate have killed more than 1,000 people, including Christians and Muslims, in recent years.

The threat of a new round of violence, which Mend said would be codenamed Operation Barbarossa, comes a week after the Christian group claimed responsibility for the ambush of a boat in Bayelsa state, southern Nigeria, in which 13 police officers were killed.

The statement prompted concern in Nigeria, although there were questions about whether Mend had the capacity to launch widespread attacks on Muslim targets.

“We are on the cusp of something imaginable happening – there is a likelihood that we are going to experience some kind of Christian retaliatory killings for what’s happening in the north,” said Tolu Ogunlesi, a journalist and witness to attacks on Muslims in southern Nigeria.

“I’m just not confident it will be Mend that will do it. Just like Boko Haram, it is not a single organisation but different faces and shadows all using the same name.”

Mend has appeared increasingly fragmented in recent months. The group behind the current threat against Muslims is believed to comprise disgruntled militants who have turned against the amnesty agreed between Mend and the Nigerian government in 2009.

“Mend no longer exists in the way it has done in the past,” said Ken Henshaw from the Niger Delta-based group Social Action. “They key characters from Mend who really had the capacity to unleash mayhem have all accepted amnesty and handed in their arms. I can’t think of anyone left who can carry out the same level of violence.

“But I don’t think this threat should be handled lightly. At the moment Nigeria is so volatile, things are getting out of control,” Henshaw added. “Here is a group threatening to kill other people, it must be taken seriously.”

There have been a series of attacks or threats against Muslims by Christians in Nigeria in recent years. In 2011 a group called Akhwat Akwop – which it claimed was the Christian equivalent of the name Boko Haram – began distributing leaflets in northern Nigeria threatening terrorist attacks against Muslims, claiming it would emancipate Christians in the north.

In January there were attacks against Muslims in Rivers state in the Niger Delta, although Mend did not claim responsibility for those attacks.

“There is some precedent for attacks against Muslims in southern Nigeria,” said Adunola Abiola, founder of Think Security Africa. “And although there are real questions about whether Mend have the capability and the networks to carry out the attacks they are threatening now, it’s worth remembering that this is not just a group confined to the Niger Delta – they have operated in Lagos and Abuja before.”

Last month the Mend leader Henry Okah was sentenced to 24 years in jail after a South African court convicted him of terrorism over twin car bombings in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, in 2010.

There was speculation that the threat from Mend was at attempt to coerce the government into negotiating for Okah’s release. “The timing of this sentence suggests to me that this might be intended as some sort of proxy conflict with the federal government,” said Abiola. “But at this point in time and given the unpredictable turn of events in Nigeria, that anything is possible and they shouldn’t be ignored.”

Nigerian Christian group threatens retaliation over Islamist attacks

Burundi: Catholic sect ‘clashes with police kill six’

(bbc.co.uk) (H/T- Sir David)

At least six people have been killed and 35 wounded in clashes in northern Burundi between police and a Catholic sect, an official has said. The violence broke out after police tried to block followers of 30-year-old Zebiya Ngendakumana from praying in Kayanza region, the official added. Ms Ngendakumana says she sees visions of the Virgin Mary on the 12th day of each month. The authorities are worried her sect could threaten public order. The sect, formed more than a year ago, has developed a following across the country and in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Kayanza Governor Athanase Mbonabuca said hundreds of sect members, some “armed with clubs and stones”, resisted police attempts to prevent them from meeting on a hilltop on Tuesday, the day Zebiya Ngendakumana said she would see her visions, AFP news agency reports. ‘Sanctuary destroyed’ “There were violent clashes. At least six people are dead and 35 wounded,” he is quoted as saying. All the dead are believed to be followers of Ms Ngendakumana, with four policemen seriously wounded, AFP reports. The sect has had a tense relationship with Burundi’s government since its formation, says Florentine Kwizera of the BBC’s Great Lakes Service. Last year, police destroyed a sanctuary of the sect in Kayanza – its stronghold – and its followers retaliated by breaking up a Sunday service at a local Catholic church, she says. Most Burundians are Catholic and the official church has distanced itself from the sect. The sect has also urged its followers to boycott the government’s community service programme. It is not clear why it is opposed to the programme, which sees residents of towns and cities engage in activities such as cleaning streets and refurbishing schools every Saturday.

Sanele Masilela, 8, ‘Marries’ Mother-Of-Five Helen Shabangu, 61, In Tshwane, South Africa!

(Huffingtonpost.co.uk)

An eight-year-old schoolboy has ‘married’ a 61-yearold woman in Tshwane, South Africa.

Sanele Masilela tied the knot with Helen Shabangu, who is already married and a mother of five.

Sanele said he married Helen in accordance with the wishes of his dead ancestors, a message his family took so seriously they provided Helen with £500 and paid a further £1,000 for the celebration.

Dressed in a bow tie and tiny silver suit, Sanele, the youngest of five children, exchanged rings in front of 100 guests and even exchanged a kiss with his new bride.

It’s already shocked the community but the family has defended the ceremony, saying it is a ritual and not legally binding.

Sanele’s 46-year-old mum, Patience Masilela said: “This is the first time this has happened in the family.

“Sanele is named after his grandfather, who was never had a white wedding before he died so asked Sanele to get married. He chose Helen because he loves her.

“By doing this we made the ancestors happy. If we hadn’t done what my son had asked then something bad would have happened in the family.

“I didn’t have a problem with it because I know it’s what the ancestors wanted and it would make them happy.”

The widow, who works at a recycling centre, added: “I would say that this is not wrong.

“Sanele was fine and he was happy about the ceremony and it was what he wanted. He was happy to get married and very excited.”

Sanele and his bride did not sign a marriage certificate and do not have to live together. Both have gone back to their normal lives.

Sanele today said he hoped he would have a “proper” wedding to a woman his own age when he was older.

He added: “I told my mother that I wanted to get married because I really did want to.

“I’m happy that I married Helen – but I will go to school and study hard.

“When I’m older I will marry a lady my own age.”

Despite being old enough to be his grandmother, bride Helen, whose children are aged between 37 and 27, was happy with the arrangement.

Helen, who also works at a recycling centre, said: “I’m married and have five kids of my own, but I know that this is what the ancestors wanted – and now they are happy. It is a ritual. We are just playing now, but it is a sign that he will get married one day.”

Her husband of 30 years, Alfred, 65, said: “My kids and I are happy.

The builder added: “We don’t have problems with it but some of the community members were shocked.”

Poor Pastor Pat, everywhere he goes he sees devils and evil. (h/t: JD, KP)

Pat Robertson Claims Islam Is ‘Demonic’ And ‘Not A Religion’ But An Economic System (VIDEO)

(Huffington Post)

Controversial conservative Christian Pat Robertson doubled down Tuesday on claims that Islam is not a religion.

According to Right Wing Watch, Robertson, an elder statesman of the evangelical movement, made the inflammatory claim during an episode of his TV program, “The 700 Club.”

“Every time you look up — these are angry people, it’s almost like it’s demonic that is driving them to kill and to maim and to destroy and to blow themselves up,” Robertson said of Islam. “It’s a religion of chaos.”

He went on to say, “I hardly think to call it a religion, it’s more of — well, it’s an economic and political system with a religious veneer.”

None of the reports that I have come across mention the religion of the perpetrators of this chilling and horrific crime in Papua New Guinea. (h/t: JD):

Woman burned alive for ‘sorcery’ in Papua New Guinea

(BBC)

A woman has been tortured and burned alive in Papua New Guinea after being accused of using sorcery to kill a young boy, local media report.

The woman, a mother aged 20 named as Kepari Leniata, was stripped, tied up and doused in petrol by the boy’s relatives in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands, said the National newspaper.

She was then thrown onto a fire in front of hundreds of people.

Police and firefighters were unable to intervene, the paper said.

The Post Courier newspaper said they had been outnumbered by the crowd and chased away. Both newspapers published graphic photos of the incident on their front pages.

Provincial police commander Supt Kaiglo Ambane told the National that police were treating the case as murder and would arrest those responsible.

In parts of the Pacific nation deaths and mysterious illnesses are sometimes blamed on suspected sorcerers. Several reports have emerged in recent years of accused people, usually women, being killed.

In 2009, after a string of such killings, the chairman of PNG’s Constitutional Review and Law Reform Commission said defendants were using accusations of witchcraft as an excuse to kill people, and called for tougher legislation to tackle the issue.

Local Christian bishop David Piso told the National that sorcery-related killings were a growing problem, and urged the government “to come up with a law to stop such practice”.

The US embassy in the capital, Port Moresby, condemned the killing as a “brutal murder”, the AFP news agency reports, and evidence of “pervasive gender-based violence” in Papua New Guinea.

“There is no possible justification for this sort of violence. We hope that appropriate resources are devoted to identifying, prosecuting, and punishing those responsible for Ms Leniata’s murder.”

There is more descriptive report of this horrific act on TIME magazine’s website:

A woman accused of sorcery was tortured, burned and set on fire on Wednesday in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, reports Australia’s Courier Mail.