10 Jan 2011 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Prominent Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and human rights activist Shiva Nazar-Ahari have received prison sentences for their activities in the aftermath of the disputed 2009 presidential election. Nazar- Ahari has received a four-year prison sentence for “assembly and collusion against the regime”, while Sotoudeh has received an eleven-year sentence for “propaganda against the regime”, “acting against national security” and “not wearing hijab during a videotaped message”.
10 Jan 2011 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa
Italian investigative journalist Emilio Casalini has made a documentary film, Iran About, focusing on Iranians and their lack of freedom. Featuring nine interviews in silhouette, the film points to aspects of everyday life that are taken for granted in many parts of the world. (more…)
10 Jan 2011 | Uncategorized
Index has been contacted by journalist Neil Clark, who points out that he never called for Iraqi translators to be shot, as I may have suggested in a previous blog post.
The article I was referring to (“Keep These Quislings Out“, Comment is Free, 10 August 2007), dealt with calls at the time for asylum to be granted to Iraqis who found themselves under threat from militia after working as translators for the British Army. Clark commented in that piece:
“History tells us that down through history, Quislings have — surprise, surprise — not been well received, and the Iraqi people’s animosity towards those who collaborated with US and British forces is only to be expected.”
He went on:
“There is a simple answer to that “practical military issue”: let’s do all we can to keep the British army out of war zones. And in the meantime, let’s do all we can to keep self-centred mercenaries who betrayed their fellow countrymen and women for financial gain out of Britain.
If that means some of them may lose their lives, then the responsibility lies with those who planned and supported this wicked, deceitful and catastrophic war, and not those of us who tried all we could to stop it.”
10 Jan 2011 | Americas, Mexico
Mexico’s Roman Catholic church has taken a new target. Late last week church spokespeople called on Mexicans to stop following a cult that promotes the worship of death, which they call Saint Death. Mexico City Archdiocese spokesman Hugo Valdemar said the cult was “against Christianity and a chosen cult by organised crime.” His remarks came after a Santa Muerte bishop, David Romeo Guillen, was detained and charged with being the money man for a gang that specialised in kidnapping in Mexico City.
According to newspaper reports, Guillen admitted to being part of the kidnapping ring and offered police to collaborate with them and provide information on other kidnapping rings. Mexico has approximately 8,000 kidnappings a year, according to security consulting firm Multisistemas de Seguridad Industrial.
The Santa Muerte is a macabre sight that adorns altars across the country, complete with offerings. It is known to be followed by drug traffickers and criminals. The church has about 2m followers in Mexico, and an undetermined number of faithful in the United States, where immigrants have built about 15 churches dedicated to the cult.
The figure worshipped by its followers is a skeleton with a hooded robe. The colour of the robe may vary.
The first time Mexicans learnt about the figure was in 1998, when Daniel Arizmendi López, a well known kidnapper who was known as the “mochaorejas”, or the ear chopper, and police discovered an entire shrine to the Santa Muerte, where he prayed daily for protection.
There are people who think the cult goes back to the conquest, but some analysts say, the number of followers is mainly among people in prison, the young and drug traffickers.
Nevertheless, a group of followers has also conducted public demonstrations to protest the detention of Bishop Guillen. One follower, who said she had been a devout of the church for 25 years said the authorities should provide more evidence as to whether Guillen was really guilty.
