PLEASE HELP

[kasia]

Please please please take time to sign the letter at Amnesty International's site.

******************

As many of you may have heard, a Nigerian woman was recently sentenced to death- for having a child out of wedlock. Amina Lawal has been sentenced to death by STONING- she is to buried up to her neck in the ground, after which her punishers will surround her and throw rocks at her head until her skull is crushed and she dies a painful and horrible death.
I'm sure you all feel equal shock and disgust at this sentence, and I want you to know that she has only thirty days to appeal her trial.

Please go to the Amnesty International site, www.mertonai.org/amina/ and sign the letter addressed to the President of Nigeria. It literally takes only a minute, and could help to save her life, as well as help put an end to this kind of cruel and disgraceful judgement in a country that calls itself a democracy.
Please copy and forward this letter to others in youraddress book as well.
Please help her! Thanks.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by Morientes@Sep 15 2002, 01:43 PM
the sharia law sucks in my humble opinion.
don't be too humble about it. wherever implemented, whether in a monarchy or a democracy, the modern Islamic fundamentalist version of sharia turns into an excuse to oppress the people, spy on them, and violate their liberties. rather than simply asserting that certain acts are wrong and go against God's will, right moral foundation, attainment of nirvana, whatnot, sharia specifies earthly punishments to be carried out by civil authorities as the penalty for transgressions against Allah.

further, anti-adultery laws rely on finding khalwat offenders (those who engage in intimate behavior or even just go to a secluded place in which it might arise the suspicion that intimate behavior is occuring,with someone to whom they're not married). thus you start from some Muslim lawmaker hoping to promote morality and passing a few laws, and end up with jackbooted thugs like the mutawwa'in of Saudi Arabia who prevent girls from leaving burning buildings because their heads aren't covered, or M'sia's mawar merah who raid hotel rooms and private houses without warrants and start demanding identity documents from Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

[kasia]

it may or may not be overturned at the supreme court level. it wouldn't hurt to sign the petition if you believe that she should not be killed in this manner solely for having a child out of wedlock.

[kasia]

Originally posted by Morientes@Sep 15 2002, 08:29 PM
Originally posted by kasia@Sep 15 2002, 05:49 PM
it may or may not be overturned at the supreme court level. it wouldn't hurt to sign the petition if you believe that she should not be killed in this manner solely for having a child out of wedlock.
can i not voice my disgust at the stupidity and backwardness at the sharia law itself as well as signing the petition?
of course you may. i just didn't want others to get the message that signing the petition would be unnecessary given that the decision will likely be overturned. thanks for signing.



<!--EDIT|kasia|Sep 15 2002, 10:12 PM-->

[kimpossible]

signed.

[Ch8Li179]

SIGNED! :)

[Chris]

Signing and linking this to two more forums don't worry Kasia you going to get credit!

[wylin]

honestly thats their cultures punishment for what obviously is a transgression in their moral fabric. If that their cultural procedure/ way to deal w/ adultry, then more power to them, we shouldnt be judging other peoples cultures w/ our imperialistic view of "western culture".

she sinned and did sumthing wrong in their eyes then they better dam well stone her, its only fair...

[Saiko]

Gee. Sounds painful.

[kasia]

Originally posted by wylin@Sep 17 2002, 11:35 PM
honestly thats their cultures punishment for what obviously is a transgression in their moral fabric. If that their cultural procedure/ way to deal w/ adultry, then more power to them, we shouldnt be judging other peoples cultures w/ our imperialistic view of "western culture".

she sinned and did sumthing wrong in their eyes then they better dam well stone her, its only fair...
god, i can't wait until you live in *my* world.

[wylin]

kasia live in mine i want a world like that has constant conflict and is honor driven kinda like meiji era japan when people lived w/ their hearts and fought w/ their swords! so there.

=P

[kasia]

Originally posted by wylin@Sep 18 2002, 02:28 AM
kasia live in mine i want a world like that has constant conflict and is honor driven kinda like meiji era japan when people lived w/ their hearts and fought w/ their swords! so there.

=P
okay, well to be fair, you addressed a good point. but while i believe in cultural relativism to some extent (e.g., it's okay to kill chicken in chinatown), throwing stones at someone's head until they die is a little extreme. seems immoral regardless of culture, don't you think?

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by wylin@Sep 17 2002, 06:28 PM
kasia live in mine i want a world like that has constant conflict and is honor driven kinda like meiji era japan when people lived w/ their hearts and fought w/ their swords! so there.

=P
What? That sounds more like the romanticized anime version than the real thing.

[wylin]

Originally posted by kasia@Sep 17 2002, 06:30 PM
Originally posted by wylin@Sep 18 2002, 02:28 AM
kasia live in mine i want a world like that has constant conflict and is honor driven kinda like meiji era japan when people lived w/ their hearts and fought w/ their swords! so there.

=P
okay, well to be fair, you addressed a good point. but while i believe in cultural relativism to some extent (e.g., it's okay to kill chicken in chinatown), throwing stones at someone's head until they die is a little extreme. seems immoral regardless of culture, don't you think?
well its how they killed adulters in the bible if it was ok 2000 yrs ago in bibilical judea/ isreal then should be ok in africa too. what u rather her face the chinese firing squad or the french guitine, or how bout being ripped and quatered like william wallace by the english. Everyone has their own excution methods just some in western eyes are barbaric why is electrocuting sumone any less painful (they rarely die the 1st time) or how bout hanging them? She did something wrong in the eyes of that culture and she should be punished in the ways of that culture passing such quick judgement is like the animal activist in angelnymphos story passing judgement on asians eating dogs.



<!--EDIT|wylin|Sep 18 2002, 08:36 AM-->

[kasia]

Originally posted by wylin@Sep 18 2002, 04:34 PM
She did something wrong in the eyes of that culture and she should be punished in the ways of that culture passing such quick judgement is like the animal activist in angelnymphos story passing judgement on asians eating dogs.
Passing judgment a culture's practice of eating dogs is NOT the same as passing judgment on how a culture stones people to death by burying them to neck level and throwing rocks at their head until they bleed to death.

[Arex]

Originally posted by kasia@Sep 18 2002, 08:21 PM
Passing judgment a culture's practice of eating dogs is NOT the same as passing judgment on how a culture stones people to death by burying them to neck level and throwing rocks at their head until they bleed to death.
Don't some cultures still practice cannibalism? If that's what they want to do, then I suppose that should be okay, so long as they aren't trampling on other people's rights. Every nation has their own sets of values and tailors their laws accordingly. She broke the law in Nigeria and should be punished. While I personally think that the punishment is just a tad extreme (sarcasm), I really don't believe we necessarily ought to be imposing our western values on anyone. If they want to adopt our values and ways, that's their prerogative.

On the other hand, I suppose there's nothing wrong with an individual simply voicing one's disagreement with a particular practice though.

Alex

[SunWuKong]

ok i signed the petition. a government shouldn't be forced to change its ways, but it should sometimes be urged. cultural relativism can only go so far. some traditions need to be done away with. they should do what they do in china instead. put a bullet in the back of her head and then make her family pay for the bullet.

just kidding

[kasia]

Originally posted by Arex@Sep 19 2002, 08:53 AM
Originally posted by kasia@Sep 18 2002, 08:21 PM
Passing judgment a culture's practice of eating dogs is NOT the same as passing judgment on how a culture stones people to death by burying them to neck level and throwing rocks at their head until they bleed to death.
Don't some cultures still practice cannibalism? If that's what they want to do, then I suppose that should be okay, so long as they aren't trampling on other people's rights. Every nation has their own sets of values and tailors their laws accordingly. She broke the law in Nigeria and should be punished. While I personally think that the punishment is just a tad extreme (sarcasm), I really don't believe we necessarily ought to be imposing our western values on anyone. If they want to adopt our values and ways, that's their prerogative.

On the other hand, I suppose there's nothing wrong with an individual simply voicing one's disagreement with a particular practice though.

Alex
also, we're just assuming that it's a cultural practice. how do we know it's not just governmental oppression?

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by kasia@Sep 20 2002, 07:53 AM

also, we're just assuming that it's a cultural practice. how do we know it's not just governmental oppression?

the present extremist Islamic culture promotes this kind of activity. Government oppression implies that the people don't want the law, but it was imposed onto them by a religious elite. We see throughout the Islamic world this isn't exactly the case. In Egypt, for example, the trend towards sex-segregation in universities, requirement that women be fully covered, etc, was started by female university students in the 1970s who voluntarily covered themselves up when in mixed company. Several states in Malaysia are implementing sharia law piece by piece at the ballot box, with popular support from Malays and Muslim Indians.

The only exceptions which come to mind offhand are Iran (the revolution against the Shah was led by overseas-educated students who turned into Islamic fundamentalists in reaction to the immorality they saw around them in the West, and these days everyone hates the religious elite and all their laws) and Turkey (due to the fact that they threw religion out of the public sphere to an extent that even the ACLU doesn't advocate for America).



<!--EDIT|AliBabaIncorporated|Sep 20 2002, 09:43 AM-->

[wylin]

like i said b4 it worked in the bible so dont change it. dude theres worse ways to die, i think americans are just too weak and arrogantly into their own culture to understand that not everyone is like you. and not everyone lives the way you do.

least their not burning her to death or cutting her face up like chopping off her nose, eyes, ears, etc like sum dude did in pakistan for "cheating on him"

if u wanna be fair lets burn her and stone her at the same time. and lets see wat other curses befalls those who commit adultery hmm lets put a big Scarlet Letter on her chest too just to be culturally relevent to American culture.

sarcasm. i think shez being punished fairly and if its the law of that land then we shouldnt judge them so harshly, then be hippocrats and say oh america is doing things wrong to asian countries becuase its the same thing, exerting ur cultural standards on some one else and if u gonna doit dont bitch bout others doing it to you.



<!--EDIT|wylin|Sep 20 2002, 10:42 AM-->

[wylin]

what says she didnt also she bore an illegitamate child out of wedlock says the orginal article i see that as proof of SIN.

i denno wat laws ur talkin bout nor do i care its not americans jobs to judge and dispense their holy american cultural justice EVER.

thats my view.

[wylin]

Originally posted by kasia@Sep 14 2002, 10:27 PM
Please please please take time to sign the letter at Amnesty International's site.

******************

As many of you may have heard, a Nigerian woman was recently sentenced to death- for having a child out of wedlock.
theres ur quote and shez guilty!