On March 23 of last year (has it been that long?), I reported a travesty in Afghanistan: a 27-year-old woman named Farakhunda was falsely accused of burning a Qur’an—the charges were cooked up—and then was brutally tortured, stoned, burned and murdered by a mob. Even if she had burned a Qur’an it would be barbaric, but it turned out that she hadn’t done that.
Her murder became a cause celebre for Afghan women, including those brave feminists campaigning against the repression of women in their land. Here’s Farakhunda’s coffin being borne by sad and angry women:
Eventually 49 men were arrested for the murder, with four sentenced to death. So far so good—except that I don’t sanction the death penalty.
Now, however, a New York Times investigation has found that virtually all of those arrested have either had their sentences reduces to very little prison time, or have been let off the hook completely.
Those men were sentenced to death last year in what briefly looked like a rare moment of justice for Afghan women, and other convictions seemed imminent. But in the months afterward, as detailed last year in an investigation by The New York Times, failures at every stage of the justice process surfaced. Clear leads did not turn into arrests, and tough sentences were drastically reduced — including for those four men identified at the center of the violence, who had their death sentences turned into as little as 10 years in prison.
And now things have gotten worse:
Afghanistan’s Supreme Court has confirmed the decision to vacate those four death sentences, and nine other defendants also had their sentences reduced. Word of that decision came late Monday in a restrained announcement by the attorney general, and all day Tuesday it became the inescapable backdrop for International Women’s Day observations in Kabul.
. . . Of 49 men originally arrested in Farkhunda’s killing, only 13 have so far been given serious penalties — nearly all of them greatly reduced on appeal. All the death sentences were vacated.
In addition, many activists claim that some of those most responsible — and identified in cellphone video of the killing — have still not been arrested. “I believe the main perpetrators of this case, those who were behind it, are still not brought to justice,” said a female senator, Anarkali Honaryar.
. . . . . . Nineteen of the people arrested in connection with Farkhunda’s death were police officers accused of failing to intervene to save her; most of the policemen were given token penalties, such as pay reductions or cancellation of leave time while on duty.
Afghanistan’s First Lady, Rula Ghani, expressed her sorrow about these reduced sentences while addressing a gathering for International Women’s Day, but assured the listeners that reform was on the way. One can hope. . .
This travesty of justice is not that surprising, but it’s infuriating. I don’t mind the death sentences being vacated, but ten years in prison—is that enough? And what about those who have simply been slapped on the wrist, or not arrested at all? If you’ve seen the videos (an informative BBC documentary is here, but be warned that it contains gruesome scenes), you’ll know that this was a brutal and bloody killing, and that the police stood by twiddling their thumbs while it happened.
It’s all a sad reminder that while women face inequities everywhere, one of the worst places to be a member of that sex is in the Middle East. I look forward to the day when Western Leftists and feminists recognize this, and, instead of turning their heads, make common cause with their sisters in the East.
It’s all a sad reminder that while women face inequities everywhere, one of the worst places to be a member of that sex is in the Middle East. I look forward to the day when Western Leftists and feminists recognize this, and, instead of turning their heads, make common cause with their sisters in the East.
Precisely, PCC.
Last time you spoke about Farakhunda’s murder, someone showed up here and started talking about the murder and saying that Farakhunda essentially ‘had it coming’ because she supported Daesh style Islam? WTF. Even if her beliefs were odious, she didn’t deserve *this*. No one does. Anyone remember that?
And speaking of “Dear Muslima” style sentiments, I did manage to get a feminist to admit to me that the reason she 1) lost her shit when Matt Taylor wore a rockabilly shirt with hot laydeez on it 2) completely ignored the rapes in Cologne is because she and other feminists did not want to appear racist. Yep. Gotta keep up appearances and signal your virtue by criticizing the *right* people!
People like Richard Dawkins who, she claimed, was ‘horrifically sexist’ because he stated that *some* feminists are very dogmatic and oddly supporting of FGM and child rape (in the service of intersectional politics aka the Oppression Olympics) in a way that is comparable to Islamism. So, Dawkins is a ‘horrific sexist’ if he mocks/criticizes some feminists, yet she and other intersectional feminsts are free to mock/hate on radfems for their opposition to sex work and trans women in women’s only spaces?
The authoritarian motto “It’s ok when we do it”
P.S. I have seen progressive feminists argue in favour of FGM provided it is carried out in a hospital. The reasoning is that families won’t take their daughters out of country to get it done. And you can’t say that it is ‘mutilation’ because that will hurt the feelings of those who have been mutilated.
P.P.S. FGM is also a cis-sexist term. It is gender essentialist since penises are female.
P.P.P.S I troll various authoritarian leftist forums and I repeat these talking points, expecting to be found out because who would repeat such batshit ideas? No one calls me out. They don’t want to appear racist/sexist/transphobic.
I do remember that comment. It was strange to me that she felt we had missed the whole point which was that the murder victim was not a good person. I am not used to this line of reasoning b/c I pretty much avoid those other web sites. Here things are very pleasant. There, I imagine, commentary is filled with outrage over something or other. It must be exhausting.
So right. A journalist named Alison Bevege here in Australia won a discrimination suit against Hizb ut-Tahrir (the pro Caliphate group Majid Nawaz used to be part of). She got a court ruling against them requiring them to stop segregating males and females at public meetings (often held on university campuses)although there was no actual financial penalty against them having done so)http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/i-took-on-hizb-uttahrir-and-i-won/news-story/27b60e0ee608579ecb08a66c1561b9e6
Sure enough with articles about her achievement in the press on International Womens Day, the hard left have come out with calling her a racist and fascist etc.
https://redflag.org.au/article/when-small-l-liberals-and-fascists-agree
Although her responses to the comments on the Telegraph site will show that Alison is impeccably lib democrat and goes out of her way to say she makes a distinction between and supports reform minded Muslims (theres a struggling Muslim Reform council in Australia) and recognises Islam is here to stay in Australia – it is up to us to actively uphold the boundaries of what is acceptable in terms of not allowing Islamists to impose their norms on others. She cites Maajid Nawal a few times too. This is considered “racist” by some.
So the left media – including centre left newspapers and national public media websites don’t carry her story. To be fair it has been on the news on television but nothing on their websites. Someone left a comment on the thread to the public discussion panel the Drum – an issue discussing Womens issues in Australia on IWD – pointing out they’d studiously avoided mentioning Alison Bevege or non Western treatment of women. And of course the Religion and Ethics bits of the ABC studiously avoid this issue whilst running articles from people like Yassir Morsi, moderate Muslim apologists, Islamist converts to Islam, non Muslim apologists like Martha Nussbaum, and occasionally even Uthman Badar, the main Hisbut Tahrir spokesman in Australia
“I look forward to the day when Western Leftists and feminists recognize this, and, instead of turning their heads, make common cause with their sisters in the East.”
They’ll get round to it when they’ve succeeded in stamping out cultural appropriation, unconscious verbal microaggression, clumsy chat-up lines in hotel elevators and tacky Hawaiian shirts. Come on, give ’em a break – they can’t be everywhere at once!
Oh yes, I forgot….they have a lot of demonstrations against Israel to get through as well. Looks like the women of Afghanistan will just have to wait a bit longer until the important stuff is taken care of.
“They’ll get round to it when they’ve succeeded in stamping out cultural appropriation, unconscious verbal microaggression, clumsy chat-up lines in hotel elevators and tacky Hawaiian shirts.”
Don’t forget the deadly problem of pronouns.
The pronoun problem was just too horrible to contemplate. I don’t want to go there. I’m happy to let a crack lefto-feminist SWAT team tackle that one.
And then there are all the other pronouns in other languages. Some of those are pretty elaborate!
They will first have to deal with the people speaking all those other languages.
From Scandinavian statistics, it should be more than enough.
But I have a sneaking suspicion that the token sanctions that the officers that didn’t do their stated duty got is a problem. And a large one at that.
And perhaps, if it could be justified, the absence of sanctions for the real instigators in the background.
When I say “more than enough”, I look at recidivism, total frequency or murders, et cetera. C.f. Norway.
There could be a moral (and/or political and/or educational?) problem if large groups see sanction scales as problematic.
It seems that nobody requires police to do their job anymore. I see no comments why police officers in Cologns didnt’t try to protect the women. It is taken for granted that if police are outnumbered, it is OK for them to stay quiet and safe and let the violent crowd abuse defenseless victims as it wishes.
I suspect in Afghanistan its partly the culture re women – the idea of impartial law above customary and tribal is tenuous
The more they are outnumbered by misbehaving human primate males, the more armed-to-the-teeth – yea, “militarized” – it seems they should be for their own safety.
Not a few omniscients in the U.S. consider the police too militarized. I don’t know just who they expect to become law enforcement types, or what they think the “carrot” to enter the field is. Everyone has as much “right” or “duty” to become a police officer as the next person, and experience the joy of finding oneself outnumbered.
I was mentioning culture in Afghanistan is tribal and more geared to defending people in your group but I suppose its possible the police feared they themselves might be turned apon with mob frenzy.
Certainly at cologne I understand they were stretched very thin, plus there were things going on in multiple cities. The delay in media reporting I think was political obstruction higher up
Yes, that’s what I understood too… that there was the thought that it was a lost cause and was not worth getting killed over. Still a dreadful shame. I hope in future the police will be supplied with the ways and means and numbers.
Ten years for each of them – yes, it’s enough. (But many others should get sentenced too).
Assuming an afghan prison is as bad as I’m imagining it is, AND assuming they don’t quietly get let out after a few years or months or allowed out all week just to report back on weekends or something…
cr
Islam is completely obsessed with maintaining tribal/clan structures and loyalties which means controlling lineages and sexually controlling women
Surely the worst place for women in the world today is in Islamic countries – Afghanistan isn’t really middle east. The SE Asian ones aren’t that bad but for pretty much everywhere else in the Islamic world its shocking. I suspect theres a reason for that – still in Indonesia for instance, local pre Islamic customary law or adat is strong in the villages and they even have a massive festival in Java (Indonesian heartland) at the site of the death of some pre Islamic saint where people go to arrange sexual relationships irrespective of marital status (Im not saying good or bad but certainly very un-Islamic)
It leaves one feeling frustrated & angry… I don’t know what else to say.
I’d say Amen to that.
I’d also say the only hope lies with the more ‘advanced’ countries in the Arabian Peninsula and Asia, to set a decent example by modernizing their inhumane laws.
I read that NYT article and it was about what I was expecting regarding this case.