Mother on death row in Sudanese jail.

I repeat that ill-treatment of women and girls is sadly not restricted to a particular part of the world or to a particular religion. The girls in Uttar Pradesh were Hindus. Buddhist families in Thailand sell their daughters. The marriage of child brides is found across Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. FGM is practised across all religions (except Christianity, I believe). Blaming Muslim extremists distracts us from the root cause of all these evils: poverty and ignorance. Which we can do something about.

Signed

For those of you who follower twitter, or not (just google) I find the following brings up to date news, initiatives, education, and info. on petitions for all concerns worldwide for young girls and women.
UNICEF
GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN
UN WOMEN WATCH
BBC INDIA

What can we do about the ignorance Lilygran?

The girls raped and left hanging in a tree were in India. Why does India still have a caste system? Why are some youngsters excluded from school because they are deemed to be low caste? India needs to share the wealth out more fairly. Perhaps these awful crimes coming to world attention might help to spur their government on. We can only hope.

Thanks for the links, ffinochio. Support educational projects, jingl.

Signed.

I'm not sure how to say this Lilygranbut here goes.......

Does suffering poverty and ignorance necessarily mean that that you (they) have no feelings of love and the desire to protect someone weaker? This is what I fail to understand.

I have signed , barbadosgran, I am so appalled, as everyone else on this this thread, at the barbaric treatment of this poor mother.
I see her husband is a US citizen, maybe the President will speak out soon for the family.....

There is an article in today's Guardian about this woman and I was surprised to see a picture of her smiling and well dressed, sitting on a bed in what looks like a colourful, comfortable bedroom, holding her baby and with her son by her side.

According to the article she is visited daily by Sheiks to see if she is ready to renounce her Christian faith in which case her sentence would be rescinded. She has said she is not likely to do this.

I don't know the answer to that, gillybob. I think if you are really poor with no food and no income, starving children and no possibility of improvement, your priorities might change. I also think that it is quite common outside Western Europe for children to be considered a resource for the family and where family members do not expect to follow individual wishes or ambitions. And I think ignorance allows people to base their actions on indefensible principles. On Today this morning, a Pakistani documentary maker said there are hundreds (thousands?) of honour killings every year in Pakistan and virtually no-one ends up in court as a result because it is just accepted as the way things are.

Which makes me wonder if there is some kind of different genetic makeup. I know that might be an extremely controversial thing to say Lilygranbut I honestly can't think of any other explanation. When a mother gives birth to a child the feelings of love and the need to protect are overwhelming. Why is it not so in Pakistan or Sudan? Genuinely

Daughters were married off in this country and in Mediterranean countries for the sake of dynasties or family alliances. Family honour was important and girls locked up in their rooms and beaten if they persisted in defying their parents. The sisters of a girl who had "fallen" would find it hard to marry into a decent family.

But to put someone to death for apostasy (changing their religion) is a feature of Islamic fundamentalism. It is recommended in the Koran. Here it was more likely that a nunnery would get an unwilling novice who had not submitted to parental insistence on a marriage.

Isn't anybody else heartened that living conditions for this woman and her children are not as bad as we at first imagined and that all she has to do if she wants to avoid the death sentence is to renounce Christianity?

Well, I'm glad her living conditions are apparently adequate, but didn't we always know that all she had to do to avoid the death penalty was renounce her Christian faith? I don't find it heartening that this is still the only option open to her.

I read that she was forced to give birth shackled to the floor in her prison cell. Is it not possible that the photos we are being shown have been set up to show that we in the west have got the whole situation wrong? It is not surprising that she would smile on seeing her husband and children, but that doesn't mean she is not feeling deep despair and terror at what she is facing. Not do we know what might happen to her even if she did return to the Muslim faith - I find it hard to believe that there would be no further punishment. In short, are we being manipulated here?

Muslims presumably feel that they have 'chosen' to be Muslims. I would like to ask them what the value of their choice is if such a choice is denied to all non-Muslims.

"all she has to do is renounce Christianity" !!!!



Why the fuck should she?!!!

Hopefully the fact the world's spotlight is on them, including messages from PM's, is making a difference in their attitude.

We shouldn't be too down on the Muslim community for not speaking out:-

"The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, backed a statement from the Christian Muslim Forum in Britain calling for the sentence to be rescinded. "I wholeheartedly endorse this call … for the death sentence against Mariam Yahya to be dropped," he said."

Er, jings I don't know why the fuck she should, except maybe for the sake of her children.

Surely God would understand!

I wonder how many Christians would, these days, be prepared to be tortured and killed rather than renounce their faith.

Do you know any?

That's not the point. No one should dictate what faith another person should belong to.

In Islam, a woman is only worth half of a man. Pious Jews have a morning prayer in which they explicitly thank their god that they were not born a woman. The majority of the world's Christians are Roman Catholic, and we all know how little woman are valued there - apart from one Jewish girl a couple of millennia ago... Religions despise women - which makes it strange that so many women cling to them... Misogyny is institutional in the mosque, the church, the shul, the temple - and it stinks.

Or they fear women!

Sounds like this lady maybe released within days according to latest news, let's hope this is true!

It sounds hopeful - if we can trust the government and if they can ensure her safety once she is released.

It does appear that, from this morning's news, that she will be released. The news team were questioning why it has all suddenly happened; why it wasn't contested when she applied to marry the man.