Boko Haram declares sharia in Gwoza •Occupies churches, forces women into marriage •Gunmen attack army base in Bauchi, kill 2 soldiers

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="itemBody" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="itemFullText"> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <img alt="" src="http://www.tribune.com.ng/images/boko-haram4.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; height: auto; margin: 10px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">FOLLOWING the take over of Gwoza town in Borno State and the recent occupation of the terrorists in Madagali, in Adamawa State, the Islamic extremists have reportedly taken over churches and declared sharia in the areas.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Director, Social Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, gave the revelation on Thursday, in an electronic statement sent to journalists in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, had, last week Thursday, declared Gwoza town seized by his men and, in a video obtained by AFP, said his group would not leave the town.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Nigerian military initially denied that Boko Haram had taken over the town but on Wednesday, the military, through the Director, Defence Information, said it would soon reassert Nigeria’s sovereignty in portions that had been violated illegally by Boko Haram.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to a statement by the Catholic Diocese, Boko Haram had advanced in its rampage and had declared a caliphate in Gwoza, a town bordering Borno and Adamawa states.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“As it is well known, the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri covers the whole of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, the three states under strict emergency rule.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Apart from the churches within Maiduguri that have great share of such attacks by the terrorist group, all the churches on the major road linking Maiduguri and Adamawa State have been closed down due to same act of terrorism,” the statement read.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It further added that “St Timothy’s Bama had been under siege since last year. The parish priest, Reverend Father Timothy Cosmas, had long been relocated to a different parish.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“At the early part of this year, St. Peter’s Pulka was badly attacked. Thanks to God, the Pastor, Fatrher James John was luckily unavailable. The terrorists searched and wanted to kill the holy priest of God.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Lately, precisely on Friday, August 22, 2014, the dreaded group had moved steadily and yet more boldly into Gwoza, which is in Borno State and the neighbouring Madagali Local Government Area in Adamawa State, declaring a caliphate.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The assisting priest of St. Denis Madagali, Father Aiden Ibrahim, fled the parish with some of his parishioners to the mountains, upon hearing serious fire battle from the terrorists.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Report reaching the Director, Social Communications, Reverend Father Obasogie, in Maiduguri has it that the whole town and the parish rectory have been occupied by the terrorists, so many structures and items have been vandalised.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“A lot of church structures have been burnt. Christians in the town are really in a terrible situation. Their houses are now occupied by Boko Haram.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Reacting to the development, the Borno State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Gideon Jibrin, said he was not aware of the development, but promised to find out.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Follow Ebere Samuel (@FAVORD) on Twitter</span></div> </div> </div> </div>

Boko Haram declares sharia in Gwoza •Occupies churches, forces women into marriage •Gunmen attack army base in Bauchi, kill 2 soldiers

FOLLOWING the take over of Gwoza town in Borno State and the recent occupation of the terrorists in Madagali, in Adamawa State, the Isla...

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A Woman’s Horrific Trip to Dubai: Drugged, Gang-Raped and Thrown in Jail (with Video)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Also, the story points out a tragic reality: in Islam there can be no “reform”. As I told a conference just a week ago, while genuine reform is possible in something like Christianity (remember the Reformation?), it is not in Islam. This is because in Christianity, if you go astray from the basics and basis of Christianity – the life and teachings of Jesus Christ – real reform means going back to the roots, getting back on track.</span><br /> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://upww.us/vinienco/2014/03/19/womans-horrific-trip-dubai-drugged-gang-raped-thrown-jail-with-video/10horrific/" rel="attachment wp-att-39245" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="10horrific" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-39245" height="341" src="http://upww.us/vinienco/wp-content/uploads/10horrific.jpg" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: none; clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 5px auto 10px; max-width: 496px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="600" /></a>In a month I will be in the very country where this horrible assault and injustice took place – the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Even though it is just a stopover to Europe, it is still possible that a kiss on my wife’s cheek in public there could see me thrown into jail.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But Islam is considered to be the perfect religion, and those calling for reform – the so-called moderates who want to see less violence, terror, misogyny and oppression – are seeking to get away from the roots, the basics, of Islam. But that is verboten in Islam.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To seek to reform or amend Islam by moving away from the original teachings and practices is anathema. A true Muslim is one who unquestioningly submits, and does not swerve from the example and teachings of Muhammad – the perfect model of what a true Muslim is to be like.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So if Muhammad had a low view of women, and treated many of them so very poorly, then all Muslim men are called to go and do likewise. Child brides, multiple wives, wife-beating – these are all enjoined and justified in Islam. Muhammad did these things, the Koran and hadith promote them, and so good Muslims today should also do these things.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Those who do not like the practices and teachings are seeking to move away from the very foundation of Islam, and that is simply not allowed. So reformers are simply kidding themselves. All they are doing is seeking to move away from real Islam. That is apostasy, and punishable by death.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The shocking case of what happened to Australian woman Alicia Gali (pictured) may now be old news, but I suspect the overwhelming majority of people have never heard of her and her case. So let me briefly summarize it here for you.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At age 27 Alicia Gali got what she thought was a dream job at a fancy resort in the UAE. Her dream turned into a nightmare within a few short months of her arrival. Her room had been deliberately sabotaged so she had to spend time down at the staff bar, where her drink was spiked. A day later she awoke naked with four broken ribs and other injuries – the victim of a vicious gang rape.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But in Islam women are guilty until proven innocent. Islamic law states that four adult male Muslim witnesses are needed to prove a rape – to prove that it was non-consensual! Yes you read that right. So the trial did not take very long to have the book thrown at her. It took less than 30 minutes for her to be found guilty, and she was sentenced to a one year prison term: 1 month for drinking and 11 months for sex outside marriage.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She did not serve all of that one year sentence, but she did spend eight months in jail, finally to be released in March 2009. So imagine that: get raped in an Islamic country and then do jail time for your “crime”. But of course this is the norm in so many Muslim-majority countries where sharia law predominates.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A follow-up story written three years later testifies to her ongoing trauma and pain: “Alicia Gali is still severely traumatized. The Brisbane woman, 30, who spent eight months in jail, has been hospitalized three times in the past year, she still has flashbacks and nightmares and she will need more treatment.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“She says that noises and smells that remind her of the ‘horrendous’ conditions inside the squalid prison continue to trigger anxiety, panic attacks and flashbacks to her ordeal. ‘It can be as simple as smells of bad body odor, certain foods, people talking in different languages, if I see something about an assault or about a prison,’ she said. ‘If I feel I’m in a space where I can’t get out, I’m trapped or confined in some way, I have panic attacks, very bad claustrophobia’….</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Ms. Gali, who has been diagnosed with severe complex post-traumatic stress disorder, is unable to work and has had to borrow from family and friends to pay for some of her hospital treatment and counselling. ‘Alicia has been through an incredibly traumatic ordeal and she deserves much better than this from her former employers, who failed to provide her with a safe working environment,’ Maurice Blackburn lawyer Michelle James said.”</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is just one story. The tragedy is that there are countless other similar stories. This is how Islam treats women – even non-Muslim women from non-Muslim countries. What this Queensland woman endured is what far too many other women have to go through.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <b><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Article continues below video</i></b></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="youtube" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LUM3pTwp6xY?wmode=transparent&fs=1&hl=en&modestbranding=1&iv_load_policy=3&showsearch=0&rel=0&theme=dark" style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="480"></iframe></span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>News Report from December 2013:</b> An Australian woman who spent eight months in prison in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on charges of having sex outside of marriage after she was gang-raped told her harrowing story to Yahoo 7 News.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Alicia Gali told reporter Ross Coulthart she was working for an American hospitality company, Starwood Hotels, at the Meridien Al Aqah beach resort in the UAE when her room was flooded due to a backed-up drain. Gali was living at the hotel where she worked.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Gali told Yahoo 7 News she went to the hotel bar to use her laptop and have a drink since there was nowhere else to go. She said a fellow employee at the hotel refilled her glass with ice from an ice bucket, using a pair of tongs, but the next thing she remembers is waking up at 4:30 p.m. the next day, with four broken ribs and bruises all over her body.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Maintenance employees later found a man’s shirt and a plastic bag had been used to stop the drain, perhaps in a ploy to force Gali to the hotel bar, Yahoo 7 News reports.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After reporting the rape to police, Gali was told to sign a statement in Arabic, which she later learned was a confession that she had drank alcohol and had sex outside marriage, she told Yahoo 7 News. Gali was sentenced to a year in prison, but was pardoned in 2009 after serving eight months, The Australian reported.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Years later, Gali’s 2008 rape continues to affect her life. Last year, the Courier Mail reported that she was “diagnosed with severe post traumatic stress disorder, is unable to work and has had to borrow money from friends and family to pay hospital and counseling.”</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Gali’s case is not the first of a woman being charged with crimes after reporting rape to UAE authorities. The country has notoriously harsh laws that allow for prison sentences for crimes including drinking alcohol and gay sex in addition to having sex outside marriage.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A statement given by Starwood Hotels to Yahoo 7 News said the hotel “worked diligently on Ms. Gali’s behalf” and that the men involved in the crime were prosecuted and served prison terms.</span></div> </div>

A Woman’s Horrific Trip to Dubai: Drugged, Gang-Raped and Thrown in Jail (with Video)

Also, the story points out a tragic reality: in Islam there can be no “reform”. As I told a conference just a week ago, while genuine refor...

Read more »