VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 175, March 20, 2011
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

EDITORIAL:

We were saddened to learn about the devastating tsunami in Japan and subsequent loss of lives and destruction of property. We convey our deep condolences to the families of the victims and pray Allah to ease their sufferings.

Our focus in this E-Zine is on the ability of Global Ummah to adapt with the latest developments that are distilled in the twin refineries of advanced reproductive technology and possible disruption of the traditional family structure. We also discuss about issues relating to promoting interfaith activities which we strongly believe in, as well as highlighting the recent instances of the extremists raising their ugly head yet again, revisiting the chronicles pertaining to destruction of family via reckless practice of abortion and issues pertaining to fighting injustice.

PART A

REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY:

WHAT WOULD BE THE ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE WITH REGARD TO THREE PARENT IVF TECHNOLOGY ?

(ED NOTE:

There is lot of focus in Islam on seeking knowledge and when knowledge is used for the betterment of mankind, it is generally encouraged and supported. However when such positive benefits undermine the traditional structure of family in terms of a child being born from one mother and one father compared to genetic manipulation involving three parents and two babies being born five days apart from five parents, then how should the Global Ummah perceive such new reproductive technology ? For further complexity in this issue, please read the article dated January 2, 2011 cover story in the New York Times Magazine: "MEET THE TWIBLINGS" ...“How four women (and one man) conspired to make two babies.”

In terms of advanced reproductive technology, there is a tendency for some Muslim scholars et.c to wait until the very end and then come out with fatwas FOR or AGAINST such application. We strongly advocate MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH and encourage Muslim scientists, Islamic leaders and Social Service professionals et.c to discuss such new controversial developments and attempt to reach a consensus if possible and feasible. Repeating time and again about us being ONE UMMAH but in reality consistently fighting with each other may not be of much help.

In as much as every coin has two sides, we need to improve our ability to deal with difference of opinion and put extra effort to understand the perspective OF THE OTHER SIDE, however different it may be from ours. Sometimes we become so entrenched in our own beliefs that we have shut the door to seek new knowledge or information that in our perception is CONTRARY to what we believe. The discomfort level is so high that we just cannot absorb such different opinions with an open mind, instead we feel at ease and comfortable that we did our part by labeling the OTHER DIFFERENT MUSLIM VOICE as munafiqeen (hypocrite), kafir et.c.

It is time we put our hearts and brains together and work towards the common good for the GLOBAL UMMAH).

Scientists Seek Approval for New ‘Three-Parent’ IVF Technology
Rebecca Millette
Mar 16, 2011
(www.lifesitenews.com)

LONDON, U.K.

A new “three-parent IVF” technology developed in Britain has been sent to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority for review. With government approval and a change in Britain’s fertility laws, scientists hope the new method may be introduced in just over a year.

The controversial technique was developed by scientists at Newcastle University using cloning methods to remove faulty DNA during the fertilization process, thereby in theory preventing certain incurable fatal diseases of the heart, liver and brain in the newly “created” child. The method uses sperm and egg from the “real” parents, as well as some DNA from a donor mother. The researchers say that the child created through the method would inherit 98 percent of their DNA from their “real” parents.

Unlike the vast majority of DNA in the body, which comes from both the mother and father, the faulty mitochondrial DNA that causes the diseases in question comes only through the mother. The process thus involves fertilizing the primary mother’s egg with the father’s sperm in a lab, and then transplanting the parents’ DNA, without the mother’s mitochondrial DNA, into a new egg from the donor mother that has all DNA removed, except the healthy mitochondrial DNA. The embryo is then implanted into the primary mother and the new baby has DNA from three parents.

In developing the process, scientists used a variation of the technique used to make Dolly the cloned sheep in 1996. “A child born using this method would have correctly functioning mitochondria,” said lead author of the original study, Professor Doug Turnbull, “but in every other respect would get all their genetic information from their father and mother.” “As doctors we have a duty to treat disease and where possible to prevent disease,” said Professor Alison Murdoch, head of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Newcastle University. “With diseases for which there are no treatments the imperative to develop new treatments is even greater. Of course no treatment is ever risk free and if there are risks we will need to quantify these so that doctors can discuss them with patients.”

....Critics point out that IVF produces its “miracle babies” only through a process that results in the death of many human embryos, and have also pointed out to the numerous other unknowns involved in the process. Dr. David King, director of Human Genetics Alert, told the Daily Mail that in his view doctors cross the line when they tamper with human genetics using methods such as the new three-parent IVF. “Up to now there has been a consensus that we should not manipulate human DNA in this way,” he said. “It is altering the genetic constituents of every cell in the child’s body. If it’s a girl, then those changes will be passed down to all her descendants. The first children conceived using this technique will be an experiment.”

There are also concerns about long-term health complications for IVF babies. Studies in the UK in recent years reveal that children conceived through IVF methods suffer from nearly twice as many health problems as those conceived naturally.

Where Did I Come From? – It’s No Longer a Simple Question
www.lifesitenews.com
Albert Mohler
Jan 3, 2011

WHERE DID I COME FROM ...

That is, the answer was easy in terms of biology. In some form, the answer took the shape of a story about two people, one male and one female, who came together and made a baby. Mommy and Daddy made a baby. That story was both true and universal. For most of human history, there was no alternative account. The answer given by parents in 1960 was the same as that given in 1060 or in any previous year.

All that changed with the biological revolution and the emergence of new reproductive technologies. The development of In Vitro Fertilization technologies [IVF] came only after human beings grew accustomed to reproductive control through the Pill. If medical technologies could be harnessed to avoid pregnancy, surely new technologies could allow couples to have long-wanted children who had not come by natural means.

This revolution is portrayed movingly in the January 2, 2011 cover story of The New York Times Magazine. In “Meet the Twiblings,” Melanie Thernstrom provides an account of how she and her husband became parents to babies Violet and Kieran, who appear adorably on the cover of the magazine. The cover text also contains this teaser: “How four women (and one man) conspired to make two babies.”

As Thernstrom acknowledges, this is a complicated story. The two babies were born five days apart. They shared a common egg donor (obtained commercially) and a common sperm donor (Thernstrom’s husband, Michael). But they were carried by two different surrogate mothers. Genetically they are siblings, but they emerged from two different wombs. They were born five days apart, but they are not really twins. Thernstrom calls them “twiblings.”

She writes movingly of her efforts, with Michael, to have a child. After six IVF rounds and clear medical advice, the Thernstroms moved to develop a new plan, but the plan required a great deal of thinking. The pull of the new reproductive technologies was clear, as was the revolution these technologies represent. She writes, “Reproductive technology fills an important — and growing — need. Gay couples are increasingly choosing to have families.

Eight percent of women between 40 and 44 identify themselves as involuntarily childless or hoping to become pregnant, according to a Pew report. Most women in that age bracket will be able to become pregnant only by using donor eggs.”

Melanie and Michael wanted siblings of about the same age to grow up as companions. IVF twins were more dangerous, so Michael came up with the idea of using two surrogates to deliver two babies at about the same time.

....Melanie and Michael referred to these babies as “drafts.” In her words, they did this “to remind ourselves that they were notes toward the children we wanted, but if they died, they were just beginnings like all the embryos had been, and we would start again.”

Kieran was born first, with Violet arriving five days later. Both are adorable and healthy. The roles of the surrogate mothers did not end with the births, however, for the Thernstroms — against the prevailing advice — chose to maintain a relationship with the surrogates and the egg donor.

Interestingly, Melanie Thernstrom seems to see the complexity of these births as somewhat advantageous. “I wanted to avoid what I think of as the claustrophobia of the nuclear family,” she explains. She refers to the web of relationships required by this process as “a kind of extended family.”

She also acknowledges the ambiguities created by these new technologies. “Third-party reproduction creates all kinds of relationships for which there are not yet terms,” she explained. “For example, there is no word to describe the relationship between our children and the carriers’ children, but it feels to me that they are, somehow, related. They are gestational siblings; they don’t share a mother, father or genes, but they were carried in the same body and they learned its fathomless chemical language.”

Furthermore:

There is also no word to describe our children’s relationship with each other. Our children were born five days apart — a fact that cannot be easily explained. When people press me about their status (“But are they really twins?”), the answer gets long. The word “twins” usually refers to siblings who shared a womb. But to call them just “siblings” instead of “twins” also raises questions because full genetic siblings are ordinarily at least nine months apart. And our children could be considered the same age because they were conceived at the same time (in the lab) and the embryos were transferred at the same time. If the person continues to quibble about whether they really qualify as twins (as, surprisingly, people often do), instead of asking why it matters, I announce airily that they are “twiblings.”

It is as if we are now living on a new planet — one in which all the natural boundaries of sex and reproduction have been left behind. The technologies of reproduction are redefining sex, marriage, relationships, family, and the human story.

Humanity is rushing headlong into a world in which the answer to the question, “Where did I come from?,” can be endlessly complicated. We have no adequate categories for explaining the relationship of little Kieran and Violet and all those who “conspired” to bring them to be. We read the birth announcement of Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, and we know that the most important moral questions are already off-limits.

PART B

NEED OF THE HOUR: PROMOTION OF INTERFAITH ACTIVITIES


RUSSIAN MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN CLERICS:

Here are the photos from Russian army. These are Russian Christian and Muslim clerics, some of the dressed into Russian Army Uniform.

(www.englishrussia.com)

Here are the priests – some wear Army Uniform together with their clerical symbols.



(www.englishrussia.com)

They look they are fond of being there in the army and don’t quarrel – a real unity of Islam and Christianity

Building Peace ‘Like Planting a Seed’

March 15, 2011
www.cathnewsindia.com

A priest who spent years promoting peace in areas of conflict in the southern Philippines remembers how the fighting brought together Christian and Muslim communities who declared their villages “zones of peace.”

“The seed we planted is growing but we need to nurture it,” Father Robert Layson, priest of senator Ninoy Aquino parish, said after celebrating Holy Mass in Sultan Kudarat.

“We approached the government forces and the MILF so we could arrange a way of making innocent civilians more secure and protected, especially during fighting,” Father Layson said. Efforts to help communities caught up in the conflict led to the creation of Ginapaladtaka, an acronym for seven villages that united and formed the “zones of peace.” Combatants from both sides were not allowed carry weapons when entering Ginapaladtaka’s boundaries. Father Layson said that while it was important to help these affected communities, the need to politically engage the government and the rebels had to be followed up.

“People planted the seed of peace, and are letting it grow,” the priest said. Source: ucanews.com

EXTREMISM RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN:

(ED NOTE:
As we indicated in the past, extremists have their own diversity in terms of comprising of different faiths, being narrow minded, self-centered, ignoring the rights of others who don't confirm to their value system, myopic in perspective and hell bent on violence and destruction. We have no hesitation whatsoever in strongly condeming the bomb attack on the moderate Muslim group, banning of worship by Christians in Indonesia and attack on Christian cemetery in Mysore - India)

Jakarta bomb hits moderate groups
www.cathnewsindia.com
March 16, 2011

A parcel-bomb exploded at the East Jakarta offices of the Utan Kayu Community yesterday injuring five people, three of them seriously. The blast occurred in the compound of the Utan Kayu Community, a collection of moderate Islamic groups, while three policemen were trying to defuse the device. One of the seriously injured officers lost a hand in the blast, while a security guard and a cleaner were slightly hurt.

The bomb, hidden in a book, was addressed to Ulil Abshar Abdalla, an activist of the Liberal Islam Network and delivered to the Institute for Studies on Free Flow of Information in the morning. An employee became suspicious after noticing some wires sticking out of the parcel and immediately contacted the police. According to Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist from the state University of Indonesia, Abdalla may have been a target because of his support for human rights and his recent condemnation of the attack on the Ahmadiyah sect on February 6. Source: ucanews.com

Indonesians Ban Christian Worship
www.cathnewsindia.com
March 14, 2011

Christians in Bogor City in West Java say local authorities are flouting a court order by still trying to prevent them from worshiping in their church. “Police have barred us from praying in our church and have even blocked the entrance,” Bona Sigalingging, an official of Taman Yasmin Church, said yesterday. Sigalingging said a January supreme court ruling cleared the way for them to use their church after a lengthy legal battle.

However, on March 6, when they tried to use it, local authorities and police locked the church’s doors. When they went to the church yesterday they were forced to break in so they could hold a Sunday morning Mass, according to a report on the Jakarta Post website. “Barring us from the church is in defiance of the law and goes against the constitution,” Sigalingging said.

It seems local authorities would rather bow to the demands of a radical Muslim group than comply with the Supreme Court’s decision, Reverend Sumampauw said. Besides robbing citizens of their constitutional rights, the local government is abusing the constitution, he said. Source: ucanews.com

Muslims Condemn Christian Worship Ban

www.cathnewsindia.com
March 15, 2011

Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama (NU),the country’s second largest Muslim organization, expressed concern at the level of intolerance shown in the recent ban of Taman Yasmin fellowship in Bogor, West Java.

“NU is concerned about the attitude of intolerance, especially of radical Muslim groups. NU is against groups spreading hatred through sermons,” said Imanuddin Rahmat, deputy secretary of the organization’s central board at a March 14 press conference in Jakarta. Source: ucanews.com

Catholic Cemetery Attacked in Mysore, India
cathnewsindia.com
March 15, 2011

Unidentified people vandalized a Catholic cemetery at Pushpagiri in Mysore. The attackers desecrated the graves, broke the tombstones and damaged a large statue of Christ on March 10. The cemetery falls under the parish of Infant Jesus Church in a nearby area. Locals suspect that the attack was the handiwork of radicals.Karnataka had seen a series of attacks on Christians and their places of worship in 2008. Source: CBCI

PART C

CHRONICLES ON DESTRUCTION OF FAMILY:
RAMPANT AND RECKLESS PRACTICE OF ABORTION:

(1) UNDERCOVER VIDEO EXPOSES CHILD PROSTITUTION:







(2) VIDEO - EXPOSE PLANNED PARENTHOOD VIDEO CONTEST:






(3) VIDEO RELATING TO ABORTION:

Planned Parenthood Helped Abort My Siblings: Pro-life Video Contest Winner

KATHLEEN GILBERT
March 16, 2011
www.lifesitenews.com

The winner of a pro-life contest for videos urging Congress to de-fund the Planned Parenthood Federation of America has a chilling story to tell.

Melissa Pereira says that because of the courage of her sexually-abused mother, she managed to avoid an early encounter with the abortion giant - something two of her older siblings sadly did not avoid.

“26 years ago, my mother was forced into a Planned Parenthood with her supposed husband. Dear Congress, he was her sexual abuser,” says Pereira, a student at Caldwell College in New Jersey. “My mother, scared and frightened, was five months pregnant. Planned Parenthood told her that it was just a blob of cells, that it was just tissue. So much for being informed.

“With state-funded money, my sibling was aborted.” Pereira’s video won $1,000 in the “Tell Congress” Youtube video contest hosted by Live Action, Students for Life of America and others to support the de-funding of Planned Parenthood. A year after the first abortion, Pereira says her mother became pregnant again. While Planned Parenthood gave her no counseling, an employee referred Pereira’s father to a local hospital where another abortion was performed.

Her father “knew just where to go to find the support he needed ... and to hear what he wanted to hear about choices,” said Pereira. But when a third pregnancy happened, “my mother refused to go anywhere, she chose to keep that child. I was that child,” says Pereira. She adds that she and her mother continued to be abused by Pereira’s father, who she says is now a registered sex offender. Pereira says she was forced one day to call 911 while her father repeatedly punched her mother’s pregnant belly, “a brutal solution to manage her fertility” that ended the life of Pereira’s third sibling.

“Planned Parenthood believes that unwanted children will turn into criminals. But they need to open their eyes and see that these people who are doing these abuses are the real criminals,” she said. Lila Rose, president of Live Action, praised the creative spirit behind the winning entries. “Together, we stand for the protection of our unborn brothers and sisters, and we will work to expose organizations like Planned Parenthood which destroy innocent human beings and cover up the abuse of our young peers,” she said in a statement Tuesday.

35,000 forced abortions per day in China as Chinese President visits U.S.

BY JOHN JALSEVAC
(www.lifesitenews.com)

Jan 19, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC
Victims who have lived through imprisonment and harassment by the Chinese government, including the government’s vicious one-child policy, gathered together with human rights leaders on Capitol Hill yesterday to speak out on the arrival of Chinese President Hu Jintao in the United States.

One activist, former Tiananmen Square student leader Chai Ling, pointed out, “As we gather here in Washington, over 35,000 forced and coerced abortions are taking place today in China.”

Ling called the “brutal” enforcement of the one-child policy “the largest crime against humanity.”

“It is the inhumane secret slaughter against mothers and babies,” he said. “It is a Tiananmen massacre taking place every hour; and it is an unending holocaust that has gone on for 30 years.”

Referencing the famous “I have a dream speech” by Martin Luther King, whose birthday was celebrated earlier this week, Ling said: We dream a dream that tomorrow China’s Forced One Child Policy will become history; we dream a dream that children will grow up with brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts; we dream a dream that all tears will be wiped from the faces of parents whose children were taken; we dream a dream that all young men will have brides and taste the sweetness of being newly wed; we dream a dream that all mothers will mourn no more because they are with children.

Big Brother Winner: ‘I Wept For Hours’ Over Abortion Done to Please Boyfriend

BY KATHLEEN GILBERT
www.lifesitenews.com
Mar 15, 2011

Josie Gibson -A former winner on Britain’s version of the reality show Big Brother has opened up about her abortion experience six years ago, revealing how she was shattered after her boyfriend pressured her to abort her baby at 3 months gestation. She warned others to “not have an abortion for any man.”

In an interview found in the paper edition of Britain’s OK! Magazine this week, Josie Gibson said that she had an abortion when she was 20 years old. She had wanted to keep the baby; however, she said, her boyfriend at the time made it clear that he didn’t want the child. “He waited until I was three months gone to let me know he didn’t want it,” said Gibson. “I even had baby names picked and he turned around and told me that he didn’t want our child and that I should get rid of it.”

Gibson, now 26, admitted, “I’ve regretted my abortion ever since.” “I wept for hours. I knew straight away that it was a mistake,” she recalled.

“I didn’t really want to have an abortion. But I did it anyway, to please him. Big mistake.” To other women in a similar situation, Gibson urged: “Don’t be forced into anything, don’t have an abortion for any man. Everything will work out alright in the end if you stay true to your own heart.”

Unreality TV reports that Gibson responded gratefully on Twitter after fans read the interview and sent her messages of support: “Thankyou 4 tweets guys. Was a little worried about OK mag with being so open about everything but I’m happy you understand x.”

The organization Silent No More Awareness has collected testimony from hundreds men and women who have suffered after abortions in several countries.

PART D

CHRONICLES (Continued) IN FIGHTING INJUSTICE:

DOWRY:
AN EVIL THAT MUSLIMS IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT HAVE ADOPTED AND CONTINUE TO PRACTICE:


(www.haiderajaz.blogspot.com)

(ED NOTE:

We appeal to all our dear Muslims brothers in the Indian subcontinent to have the courage to say NO to dowry and instead focus on meeting the Islamic commitment of giving Mah'r to the bride.

Prophet Mohamed (SAW) had stated that the BEST OF MARRIAGE ARE THOSE THAT HAVE THE LEAST BURDEN. It is really a paradox that Muslims happily celebrate the marriage following Islamic customs while simultaneously violating above recommendation of Prophet by accepting dowry and creating MAXIMUM BURDEN specially for the parents of the economically challenged bride.

We are looking forward to receive names of those courageous Muslim brothers in the Indian subcontinent who have the guts to say NO TO DOWRY and we request to give us your names to be published in this E-Zine with the hope of making you TRUE MUSLIM ROLE MODELS for other Muslim men to emulate. Dear brothers, those females that you marry are our sisters, please be considerate. We encourage the imams and Islamic leaders to strongly condemn the practice of Dowry in their speeches on Fridays and other occassions)

TWO WOMEN END LIVES OVER DOWRY, MARITAL ROW
Ahmedabad Mirror Bureau
www.ahmedabadmirror.com
February 08, 2011

Anisha Mansuri (30) hanged herself at her Juhapura home, while Jasu Parmar (40) jumped into the Sabarmati river.

Two women ended their lives in the city on Sunday. Anisha Mansuri, 30, hanged herself at her home in Juhapura, whereas Jasu Parmar, 40, jumped into the Sabarmati river. Anisha, a mother of three, committed suicide apparently because of dowry harassment. Her father Iqbal Ajmeri, in fact, has leveled the charge of abetment to suicide against her husband, Mehmood Ansuri and his three family members.

According to the complaint, filed in the Vejalpur police station, Anisha married Mehmood in 2006. The two stayed with Mehmood’s family in Jainab Park in Juhapura. Sometime back, the Ansuris started demanding dowry from her to buy a new house.

When Anisha could not fulfil their demand, they started to harass her. Tired of being ill-treated, she hanged herself from a ceiling fan on the first floor of her residence at about 10 pm on Sunday.

“We have registered a complaint against Mehmood, his father and two other family members. We will take necessary action after recording statements of witnesses,” an inspector at Vejalpur police station, J B Rana, said.

HUBBY, IN-LAWS ASSAULT WOMAN OVER DOWRY

Ahmedabad Mirror Bureau
February 06, 2011
Vijay Zala

Anisha Saiyed was admitted to a hospital last month after her husband beat her up for refusing to meet his demands

Nasir and his parents demanded Rs 2 lakh

A woman in Shah-e-Alam has accused her husband and in-laws of tormenting her for dowry. Anisha Saiyed has filed a complaint against the three in Isanpur police station.

Anisha, a mother of three, married Nasir 13 years ago. Some years back, he and his parents started demanding dowry. They used to allegedly abuse her and hit her whenever she refused to seek money from her parents.

Anisha didn’t complain about the harassment to her parents because she didn’t want them to get worried. In her complaint, she has alleged in January this year, Nasir and his parents demanded Rs 2 lakh. On the evening of January 29 when she was in her room with her daughter, he hit her. Two days later, he again attacked her, causing severe injuries. Anisha was admitted to a private hospital following the incident. Later, she filed a complaint against Nasir and her in-laws with the Isanpur police.

MATCH MADE ONLINE GOES AWRY OVER DOWRY HARASSMENT
January 30, 2011

A 29-year-old fashion designer who married a man she met on the internet has accused him and his parents of tormenting her for dowry

The mahila police arrested the woman’s husband on Friday

A 29-year-old fashion designer who married a man she met in an online chat room has accused him and his parents of harassing her for dowry.

Amina Khan (name changed), who lives with her parents in Navrangpura, has filed a complaint against her husband, Mehtab Ishra Hussain Shaikh, and in-laws with the mahila crime branch. Mehtab, who was arrested on Friday and sent to judicial custody on Saturday, hails from Mumbai. He tied the knot with Amina at a hotel in Ahmedabad on January 2, 2008, after chatting with her on the internet for about a month.

According to Amina’s complaint, Mehtab and his parents were given Rs 1.4 crore, a Honda City, some furniture and valuables as dowry. She and Mehtab then moved to his residence in Mumbai.

Tensions, however, surfaced between the two just a month after their marriage when Amina came to know that her husband was a drug addict and an alcoholic with a gambling habit.

The 29-year-old fashion designer has alleged that he used to frequently hit her and demand more dowry. Amina has said that she was harassed by Mehtab and her in-laws even after she became pregnant. In fact, she was forced to come to Ahmedabad to give birth to the baby, a girl.

Even after the delivery, Mehtab continued to ill-treat her. He slapped her while she was still at the maternity home. According to her complaint, she was allowed to return to his residence in Mumbai after her parents gave him jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh.

Mehtab apparently sold off this jewellery to buy drugs. In 2010, the Shaikhs demanded Rs 1 crore from Amina’s father to buy a plot in Mumbai. When her father said that he only had Rs 50 lakh, they allegedly tormented her. In July 2010, they drove her out of their home.

Fed up with the harassment, she filed a case of domestic violence against them. In October 2010, the Shaikhs threatened Amina and her parents that if the case was not withdrawn, they would kill them.

On January 18 this year, Amina and her father approached the mahila crime branch and filed a complaint of dowry harassment against the Shaikhs.

On Friday, inspector C N Chaudhary arrested Mehtab and produced him in a metropolitan court, which sent him to a day’s police remand. On Saturday, he sought bail, but Amina’s lawyer, Prakash Patel, opposed his application. Magistrate D C Trivedi then sent Mehtab to judicial custody.

Bangalore: Husband Held For Dowry Death

hsharma on 25 January, 2011
(criminalrecordsindia.com)

On January 25, 2011 Deccan Herald reported that the Mahalakshmi Layout police arrested a man in a dowry death case on Monday. The man arrested, Ameer Pasha (30), is married to Masthan Bi (20). According to police, Ameer and his mother harassed Bi for more dowry. An alcoholic, Pasha used to beat his wife regularly.

Pregnant Woman Killed For Dowry...

December 28, 2010
www.emirates247.com

A pregnant woman was murdered allegedly by her husband and in-laws over dowry in a Delhi suburb on Monday. Sarita, who was three months pregnant was killed by her husband and in-laws and later hanged from a ceiling to make it look like a case of suicide, the officials told the Indian media. Parents of the victim have lodged a complaint against the family members.

Human Trafficking in Europe

JAMA January 28, 2011
(The World in Medicine)

Joan Stephenson, PhD

Human trafficking in Europe yields about $3 billion a year for criminal groups, who control more than 140 000 persons at any point in time and subject them to sexual exploitation or forced labor, according to a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (http://www.unodc.org/).

The report, Trafficking in Persons to Europe for Sexual Exploitation, notes that the vast majority of those affected are young women who are subjected to violence, rape, imprisonment, drugging, and other types of abuse.

A key step to attacking the problem, the report said, is “information sharing that has to be conducted through the creation of an international monitoring mechanism on trafficking in persons.”

PART E

(ED NOTE: CELEBRATE THE UNION OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN A MAN AND WOMAN).


WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY BY YEKATERINA MUKHINA

(Yekaterina Mukhina may be called one of the most stylist photo authors of Russia)

www.englishrussia.com)

THE END