Friday, December 26, 2014

Saudi Arabia preacher Fayhan Al Gamdi gets 8 years, 800 lashes for torturing daughter to death

gulfnews.com

Mother to be given SR 1 million in blood money after she dropped death penalty call
  • By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
  • Published: 08:42 October 8, 2013
  • Image Credit: Al Sharq
  • The murdered five year old Luma.
Manama: A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a father who had tortured his five-year-old daughter to death to eight years in prison and 800 lashes.
The court in Hawtat Bani Tamim, 160 kilometers south of the capital Riyadh also ruled that Fayhan Al Gamdi, a self-proclaimed preacher, pay Luma’s mother, his ex-wife, SR 1 million in blood money.
Under Saudi laws, the mother had the right to ask for blood money instead of the death penalty for the defendant.
Al Ghamdi’s second wife was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 150 lashes for not reporting the torture inflicted on Luma, Saudi daily Al Sharq reported on Tuesday, quoting a Human Rights Commission activist.
The lawyers of Luma’s father and stepmother have appealed the verdict.
Luma’s case shocked Saudi Arabia to the core last year when details emerged how her father tortured as she visited him and his new wife. Reports said that the father used wires and an iron rod to punish his daughter and that he had expressed doubts about her virginity.
She died after four months in coma and was not buried for another four months pending the investigation and the autopsy procedures.
Luma’s divorced mother said that her daughter lived with her under a court order and was allowed to visit her father even though he reportedly did not seem to care about her.
She added that she had agreed to marry her ex-husband as he appeared to be a gentle and reformed man after spending years of his life as a drug addict. However, following the marriage, he turned into a violent man who often beat her, forcing her to file for divorce.
A court in the Eastern Province city of Dammam ruled in her favour and she was told by the judge that she could have the custody of the daughter until the girl reached the age of seven.
The mother said that, following the divorce, her former husband had met their daughter only on four occasions.
“The last visit was when I took her to see him in Riyadh where he had moved after he lapsed into a long silence even though Luma was keen on seeing him,” she said. “The agreement was that she spends only two weeks with him, but after 14 days he refused to let her come back home to me. The last words I heard from her were ‘I love you, mum and I always pray for you.’ Her father often said that he would make her forget all about me,” the mother told Saudi media.
In December 2011, Luma’s mother was informed by the police in Riyadh that her daughter was in hospital where she was being treated for severe burns and bruises, and that her condition was critical.
“It was such a terrible shock to see her frail body in this tragic state. She remained paralysed for several months before she passed away,” she said.
The mother initially insisted on the death penalty for her former husband and his wife for torturing her daughter, but she later changed her mind, saying that she would rather take blood money to help her with the increasingly frustrating financial challenges.
“I have three other children [from a previous marriage] and a house to look after and I will need the money,” she said in June. “There is no interest for the family in the execution of my former husband.”
Amid the public furore about the case and claims that Al Ghamdi would not be given the punishment he deserved because of his religious status, the Islamic Affairs Ministry in November said he was not on its official list of Islamic preachers.
“He is not registered with the ministry and we have no relationship with him in any way,” Shaikh Saleh Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh, the minister, said. “He had committed a heinous crime and he cannot be a preacher. No-one can ever justify his crime.”

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-preacher-fayhan-al-gamdi-gets-8-years-800-lashes-for-torturing-daughter-to-death-1.1240527

Saudi Wahhabi Scholar Rapes And Tortures To Death 5 Year Old Daughter Aquitted


SyriaNews

Real News and Updates about Syria

A Saudi Wahhabi so-called preacher who raped his five-year-old daughter and tortured her to death has been sentenced to pay “blood money” to the mother after having served a short jail term, activists said on Saturday.


Lamia al-Ghamdi was admitted to hospital on December 25, 2011 with multiple injuries, including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns, the activists said. She died last October 22.

Fayhan al-Ghamdi, an Islamic preacher and regular guest on Muslim television networks, confessed to having used cables and a cane to inflict the injuries, the activists from the group “Women to Drive” said in a statement.


They said the father had doubted Lama’s virginity and had her checked up by a medic.


Randa al-Kaleeb, a social worker from the hospital where Lama was admitted, said the girl’s back was broken and that she had been raped “everywhere”, according to the group.


According to the victim’s mother, hospital staff told her that her “child’s rectum had been torn open and the abuser had attempted to burn it closed.”


The activists said that the judge had ruled the prosecution could only seek “blood money (compensation for the next of kin under Islamic law) and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lama’s death suffices as punishment.”


Three Saudi activists, including Manal al-Sharif, have raised objections to the ruling.

Note: These laws are Saudi “Wahhabi, Brotherhood, Salafi” extremist self written laws, and not Islams as they claim. Islam does not permit the harming of any human beings, and certainly not the rape and torture to death of one’s own daughter…JA


- The above information were posted by real Syrian activists from Syria & around the world, not by western intelligent post offices duped activists.

فضائل مصر- خطبة العريفي - مسجد عمرو بن العاص 11 - 1 - 2013

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Mixed Somalis Are No Strangers to Awkward Questions

Hiiraan Online:

 2484  19 Google +1  1


Yusuf Mohammad, one of the administrators of the Facebook group, “Are You Half Somali?”— in California on Sept. 2, 2014. (Photo by Hassan M. Abukar/ For Sahan Journal).


by Hassan M. Abukar
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
advertisements
When Zulaikha, a light-skinned red head, was in kindergarten, she had an epiphany. She found out that her Somali mother was unique. At the time, Zulaikha was a student in a predominantly white school in California. When the young children saw a black woman picking her up after classes and sometimes volunteering at their school, they were perplexed. “Zulaikha, are you adopted?” the children would ask. When Zulaikha told them no, they would say, “Then how come your mother is black?”
Zulaikha and her siblings, Amina Caddey, 25, and Yusuf Mohammad, 26, are the offspring of a white father and a Somali mother. They are also active members of the Facebook group, “Are You Half Somali?”— a private group that is strict about who joins.
The objective of the group is clear. “It is for mixed Somalis to exchange their views, thoughts, experiences, and, most of all, positively the blessing of belonging to more than one culture.” Even though the group is private, “Non-half Somalis are welcome, but haters are not.”
The group occasionally receives nasty messages, ostensibly from some Somalis who question its intention and its very existence. These naysayers are mostly individuals who believe there is no such thing as a half-Somali. “Anyone whose father is not Somali is not Somali, these critics believe,” explains Yusuf Mohammad, one of the administrators of the Facebook group, which includes half-Somalis of German, Native American, French, Japanese, Chinese, Arab, Finnish, and Indian ancestries. Indeed, the group is a mini-United Nations group that has one common denominator— a Somali half.
Interestingly, the majority of the half-Somali group members have Somali mothers, Yusuf says.
Amina Caddey likes associating with members of this diverse group. “I like to network with people who have a similar background and share with them our uniqueness,” she says.
One day, Amina went to a student conference with her cousin, a full-blooded Somali. The cousin introduced her to another young Somali woman who was immediately shocked by Amina’s light skin. After a minute of staring at Amina closely, the young lady finally issued a verdict:  “I can see the traces of Somaliness in you,” she told Amina. “But you are so white.”

Amina Caddey at age 5 around 1994. (Photo by Hassan M. Abukar / For Sahan Journal).
Amina laughed and told her that she hears that from other Somalis all the time. Once, an elderly Somali woman asked Amina’s cousins why they were hanging out with two white kids. When the elderly woman was told that Amina and her sister Zulaikha, in fact, related to the children, the Somali woman was astounded. Then, suddenly, the woman started inquiring about the clan of their white father. “It was a bizarre encounter,” Amina said, smiling. “Many people simply want to put me in a box.”
Yusuf recalled attending a weekend Islamic school. The first day, the Egyptian teacher asked students who spoke Arabic to raise their hands. Several students did. Then the teacher turned to Yusuf and admonished him for not raising his hand. “I do not speak Arabic,” Yusuf told the teacher. Baffled, the teacher became speechless. “I guess, she automatically assumed I was an Arab,” he says.
The half-Somali group was founded in 2008; however, it experienced an unprecedented peak in 2011 when many “halfies”—as they call themselves—joined.
The half-Somali group has interesting tales to tell — some extremely rare, others simply outrageous.
There is one rare case of a young lady who is half-Somali and half-Japanese. The Japanese, coming from a nation that is homogenous like Somalia, rarely marry outside their group. However, love, as it is popularly said, is blind. A Japanese journalist covering a story in Kenya met a Somali woman, and the two fell in love. Today, the couple’s daughter, who grew up in Japan, is also part of the half-Somali group.
Then there is the weird case of a person who tried to join the group because she was half-Somali and half-Somalilander. “It was a ludicrous attempt,” says Amina Caddey, “to instill politics in an otherwise cultural and multi-ethnic group.” Incidentally, the residents of Somalia and Somaliland — a self-declared independent entity — are both ethnic Somalis.
A half-Somali group might appear strange to many Somalis, but its members bring a greater richness of culture and a whole new perspective to the Somali community at large. The cultural horizons have indeed expanded worldwide. It was, after all, a child with a strange name, a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas who became the forty-fourth president of the United States of America.

Hassan M. Abukar is a freelance writer and Sahan Journal contributor. He can be reached at abukar60@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

ضحية الاغتصاب في السعودية تقول.. هكذا اغتصبني ابي لثلاثين عام

‘Terror has no religion’: MP urges ban on phrase ‘Islamic terrorist’ in mass media

RT logo

Published time: December 17, 2014 10:31
Edited time: December 17, 2014 14:02
Aftermath of a terrorist attack in Kizlyar, Dagestan / RIA Novosti / Said Tsarnaev
Aftermath of a terrorist attack in Kizlyar, Dagestan / RIA Novosti / Said Tsarnaev
A Russian lawmaker proposes a ban on expressions such as ‘Islamic terrorist’ and ‘Islamist militant’ in the mass media, claiming they give people the wrong impression about Islam and put ordinary believers at risk.
Shamsail Saraliyev (United Russia) stepped up with this initiative at this week’s session of the State Duma Committee for Information Policy, Izvestia daily reported on Wednesday. According to the newspaper, other Russian MPs supported the idea.
Saraliyev is from Chechnya and before taking a parliamentary seat he was the minister of external relations, ethnic policy and information in the predominantly-Muslim internal Russian republic. Presently he is a member of the State Duma committee for Foreign Policy.
The MP said in an interview with Izvestia that lately the mass media are freely and frequently using expressions like ‘Islamic terrorists’, ‘Islamists’, ‘Jihadists’, ‘Shahid belt’, ‘Terrorist Islamic State’ and many others of this kind.
These expressions push people towards the conclusion that Muslim religion and terrorism are the same thing. Common people automatically begin to associate Muslims with bandits, murderers and terrorists,” Saraliyev said.
At the same time, the majority of Muslims prefer to distance themselves from radical groups, preferring to call them ‘Kharijites’ – Arabic for ‘dissenters’ or ‘insurgents’, the lawmaker noted.
One typical example of such people are the supporters of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), he said.
They call themselves the Islamic State, but they have absolutely nothing to do with Islam! For them Islam is just a cloak with which they cover their evil deeds!”
Saraliyev reiterated the thesis that traditional Islam is a kindness and creation that promotes peaceful coexistence between all peoples. The reports about Muslim religion calling for aggression and extremism is a either a mistake or a baseless lie, he added.
Just as we don’t call fascists ‘Christians’, we should stop using the term Muslims when we describe radical militant groups who claim to be followers of Islam.”
In 2012, Saraliyev was among the sponsors of the bill that called for a ban on the mass media mentioning the ethnicity of criminals or suspects in news reports. Though not yet passed into law, the bill prompted several media outlets to adopt this rule on a voluntary basis. Saraliyev called such self-regulation an example of how the ban on drawing a connection between Islam and terrorism could work in the future.
There are about 20 million Muslims among Russia’s 140-million-strong population. Islam is considered one of four ‘traditional religions’ in the country, along with Orthodox Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism.

http://rt.com/politics/215131-russian-islamic-terrorist-ban/

صبايا الخير | بالفيديو جريمة قتل بشعة رجل يقتل ابن خالتة بدم بارد و يضع ...

متصلة تحرج الشيخ محمد حسان على الهواء : الله ينتقم منك يا جبان فين كلمة ...

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Ignoring human rights: another pawn for the UAE

middleeastmonitor.com

 2  5
 
 0  7
It's no surprise then that over 50 per cent of women living in the UAE say that they would not report a rape to police.
Lawyer Mohammed Al-Roken, from the United Arab Emirates, is in trouble. He is serving his second year of a 10-year jail term. He is a prisoner of conscience, say Amnesty International, imprisoned solely for his work as a lawyer and activist, defending others whose rights have been denied, and for speaking critically of the UAE authorities. In July last year, Al-Roken was tried as part of the "UAE 94", alongside 93 other lawyers, judges, teachers and students. He was found guilty of "attempting to overthrow the government".
The UAE 94 judicial process was unfair in too many ways – some defendants weren't allowed to see a lawyer, others were kept in solitary confinement ahead of the trial. Many said that they had been tortured, and confessions obtained through torture were used against the group in court. Most of them were on trial for political reasons, simply because they had criticised the UAE regime, or for being members of a peaceful Islamist group – Al-Islah. They were all denied the right to appeal the verdict – a crime under international law.
Sixty-nine of the 94 were found guilty, receiving prison sentences ranging from seven to 15 years – and the remaining 25 were acquitted. Shortly before their trial, they released another petition calling for a democratically elected parliament, couched in the terms of the UAE's Constitution. It went unnoticed.
Al-Roken, as he remains in prison, represents "a big loss to the UAE " as Ahmed Mansour, another indomitable human rights defender in the country, puts it. "I want him released today – no, yesterday."
Mansour knows the work of Al-Roken intimately. He was part of a small group who, in 2011, drew up a similar petition calling for a parliament to be elected on the basis of universal suffrage. By way of reward - five men, including Mansour, were accused of "publically insulting" the Emirati monarchy. They were later pardoned but only after eight months in prison, and a lengthy hunger strike. They continue to be harassed by authorities. Al-Roken acted as their lawyer until his arrest.
As ever – the UAE has managed to find supporters in the West to whitewash their crackdown on Al-Roken, and the peaceful Islamist groups he represented.
An interesting case is Trevor Neilson – co-founder of the Global Philanthropy Group (GPG). Much of his work is admirable – GPG connects high net worth individuals with good causes. Celebrities like John Legend, Avril Lavigne, Madonna, Sir Richard Branson, Brad Pitt and Bono are among his clients. Neilson is a serial NGO man – having worked on the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, and the Genocide Intervention Network. He was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In an article Neilson wrote in January 2013 for the Huffington Post, he made his views on the UAE clear. Entitled "Supporting Those Who Share Our Values in the Middle East" - he cited a recent face-to-face meeting he had enjoyed with Sheikh Mohammed, the vice president and prime minister of the UAE. "Sheikh Mohammed shared that 70 per cent of those graduating from schools in the UAE are girls, citing his belief that this was because girls are 'more studious' than boys. Women make up 65 per cent of those who serve in the government as a whole."
Pointedly – he then added "painting a stark contrast to the views of Al-Islah and the Muslim Brotherhood". By that time – Al-Roken and his Al-Islah clients in the "UAE 94" had been in prison for four months. Many had been tortured. But in Neilson's book – because the Muslim Brotherhood possesses somewhat strange views on women, torture is OK.
But with all due respect to Neilson's professional record in philanthropy, you have to be plain stupid, or wilfully ignorant, to think that the status quo enforced by the monarchy in the United Arab Emirates is much different. It's arguably worse.
Afsana Lauchaux, a former civil servant from east London, was branded an unfit and un-Islamic mother by a UAE court earlier this year for "refusing to obey her husband". The court also ruled that she was a bad mother. The evidence? Her son had eczema.
Lauchaux was in fact a victim of domestic abuse. Though he is not Muslims, her ex-husband deliberately invoked Sharia law during the custody case over their son, and the court permitted a litany of lies to come spouting from his lips, while defence witnesses for his former wife weren't permitted to give evidence.
Tess Lorrigan, a schoolteacher from Britain, was deported from Dubai in 2011. She was working without her estranged husband's permission, which is still an offence under UAE law.
A 24-year-old Norwegian woman reported being attacked to the police and received a prison sentence for "perjury, consensual extramarital sex and alcohol consumption".
In 2010, a Muslim woman in Abu Dhabi retracted her allegations of being gang-raped by six men, claiming that the police threatened her with corporal punishment for premarital sex.
It's no surprise then that over 50 per cent of women living in the UAE say that they would not report a rape to police.
In another column for the Huffington Post, this time soppily entitled "Abu Dhabi, Misunderstood by Many, Emerging As Philanthropic Capital of the Middle East," he again attacks Al-Islah, who he condemned for their links to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (perhaps he approves of the bloody crackdown there too?). He questioned the Guardian for an article they published called "The UAE's Descent into Oppression".
Neilson rebuked the Guardian for not declaring that the author was a member of Al-Islah. This is an editorial mistake, for sure, but what has it got to do with Neilson, or charitable giving? What's it got to do with the Global Philanthropy Group, under whose name Neilson was writing?
It's almost as if someone in Abu Dhabi read the piece in the Guardian, and thought – "Hey, who can I get to write something to counter it?"
And the praise continues – 850 words straight out of the press releases of the UAE government, praising their (admirable) achievements on polio, women's education, grants to UNICEF and praise from Bill Gates. Why the spiel? The Bin Zayeds give a lot of money in charity and aid. Like any rich government anywhere.
But, unlike conventional governments, the money the Bin Zayeds give comes directly from their family. This makes the model similar to the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation, an organisation which Neilson is closely affiliated with. It also makes a great business opportunity for Global Philanthropy Group, which is adept at hooking up celebrities with these personality driven funds. Why is Neilson so passionately spouting the Bin Zayed line on Islamists? You can't help but see the dollar signs spinning. Who pays the price? The UAE 94; Mohammed Al-Roken, Ahmed Mansour and the countless others calling for democracy in their country. You can disagree with their political beliefs – you might not want to vote for them, but to whitewash and excuse their torture and illegal detention is unforgivable.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/15823-ignoring-human-rights-another-fawning-pawn-for-the-uae

صحف: عميل موساد في صفوف حزب الله وإمام مسجد يعترف بمثليته الجنسية

Home


صحف عربية منذ ساعة و12 دقيقة
صورة أرشيفية لجنازة أحد مقاتلي حزب الله الذي قتل في سوريا
دبي، الإمارات العربية المتحدة (CNN) --  اهتمت الصحف العربية الأربعاء بمجموعة متنوعة من الأخبار والموضوعات ومنها أنباء عن اكتشاف حزب الله عميلا للموساد في صفوفه، وإمام مسجد يعترف بمثليته الجنسية ويقول إنها "حلال في الإسلام،" وأنباء عن اقتراب داعش من امتلاك السلاح الكيماوي.
الخليج الإماراتية
تحت عنوان "أنباء عن اكتشاف حزب الله عميلاً للموساد في صفوفه،" كتبت صحيفة الخليج الإماراتية: "ذكر موقع إخباري لبناني أن حزب الله كشف عميلاً للموساد في صفوفه. ونقل الموقع عن مصادر لم يسمها أن العميل هو مسؤول في وحدة العمليات الخارجية (910) التابعة للحزب والمسؤولة عن القيام بعمليات ضد أهداف إسرائيلية محددة، وقد أُلقي القبض عليه منذ أسابيع."
وتحفظت المصادر عن كشف طريقة فضح أمر العميل. ولفتت إلى أنه من إحدى قرى الجنوب وكان يعمل كرجل أعمال وجنده الموساد في إحدى دول غرب آسيا .
وتابعت المصادر أن العميل "عمل منذ سنوات مع الموساد فساهم في إحباط الكثير من عمليات الحزب، وذكر الموقع أن هناك شبهات حول تورطه في عمليّة اغتيال مغنية والقيادي البارز في الحزب حسان اللقيس العام الماضي."
المصري اليوم
وتحت عنوان "إمام مسجد يعترف بمثليته الجنسية ويدعي أنها حلال في الإسلام،" كتبت صحيفة المصري اليوم: "كشف محمد لودفيك زاهد، وهو جزائري يعمل إمام مسجد، عن مثليته الجنسية، الثلاثاء، خلال حلوله ضيفًا على أحد البرامج التلفزيونية، فيما ادعى أن الإسلام لم يحرم المثلية الجنسية."
وقال زاهد إن أهله رفضوا الاعتراف بمثليته عندما صارحهم بذلك قائلًا: "قالوا مستحيل أنت مش بمثلي، لازم يعني تغير جنسيتك وتتزوج مع إمرأة ولكن ذلك كان مستحيل لي، لأن ما عندي أي شهوة تجاه إمرأة، هذه طبيعتي."
وأضاف: "كان أخي الكبير ضد هذا المثلية الجنسية في نفسي، لكن أبي فهم وقال أنه هكذا لازم نستقبل في العائلة بعد 15 سنة، يعني حاول كيف يغيرني، وقرأت القرآن في المدرسة في الجزائر خمس سنوات والصلاة والصيام والحج والعمرة، 5 عمرات، ولكن ما تغيرت، فهذا مستحيل، هذا من سنة الله في خلقه."
الشروق التونسية
وتحت عنوان "داعش يقترب من امتلاك السلاح الكيمياوي،" كتبت صحيفة الشروق التونسية: "كشفت مصادر عشائرية وميدانية في محافظة الأنبار العراقية، عن سيطرة تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية على معمل فوسفات القائم، القريب من الحدود العراقية السورية."
وأكد العقيد جمعة سلطان العيساوي، أن مسلحي داعش فرضوا سيطرتهم على معمل الفوسفات في القائم، بعد حصار ومفاوضات استمرت خمسة أيام مع إدارة المعمل والمهندسين والفنيين العاملين فيه، وقضى الاتفاق على الحفاظ على حياة العاملين في المصنع مقابل السماح بالسيطرة عليه وإدارته من قبل المسلحين المتطرفين.
وأضاف العيساوي، في حديث اعلامي، إن داعش عين مديرا من أتباعه للمعمل يدعى عبد الناصر الدبّاغ وهو مهندس كيماويات من أهالي الموصل، ويحمل شهادة الماجستير في مجال تخصصه.
الشرق الأوسط
وتحت عنوان "الروس لن يتخلوا عن الأسد.. ونحن أيضا،" كتب عبدالرحمن الراشد في صحيفة الشرق الأوسط: "لفهم التغييرات الأخيرة ربما علينا أن نعيد تقييم الوضع السياسي والعسكري في سوريا، بافتراض أن روسيا لم تصطف إلى جانب نظام بشار الأسد، ولم تدعمه، فهل كان هذا سيغير مسار تاريخ الثورة السورية؟"
وتابع الراشد بالقول: "كان للروس دور سياسي كبير، أكثر من كونه دورا عسكريا حاسما، وهذا لا يقلل من خطورة الدعم الضخم الذي قدمته موسكو للنظام في دمشق، وساعده على سحق قوى المعارضة في العديد من المناطق المنتفضة. "
وأضاف: "الروس يلعبون بالكلمات، لكن موقفهم دائما هو نفسه، هم مع الأسد ما دام حيا وفي القصر في دمشق. والتواصل مع موسكو، وتقديم الخدمات المختلفة من قبل دول المنطقة على أمل تليين موقفها، لم ينجبا شيئا يذكر

Al-Shabaab blamed for five beheadings

CNN

By Omar Nor, for CNN
December 15, 2014 -- Updated 1426 GMT (2226 HKT)
Watch this video

Taking back Somalia

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Officials say Al-Shabaab is responsible for five beheadings
  • The latest was a Quran teacher
  • The terrorist group had demanded people to leave a village
Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN) -- A Quran teacher in central Somalia was the fifth beheading victim in one week at the hands of Al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked militant group based in Somalia.
"The Quran teacher was snatched from his house in Qandho by Al-Shabaab militants on Friday and they dumped his headless, beheaded body near his home town on Saturday morning," local town spokesman Abdiaziz Durow told CNN.
The teacher was identified as Mohamed Hussein, 45, a resident of the Qandho near the besieged town of Bulo Burde, 217 miles north of Mogadishu in central Somalia.
"The reason the Quran teacher was murdered is that he was one of the few residents that refused orders from Al-Shabaab to leave his village that was recently seized by Somali and AU troops," Durow said.
Al-Shabaab had warned local residents to leave their houses in the towns they have seized, according to Durow.
Last week, the militant group abducted and beheaded two Somali policewomen in the city of Teyeglow, located in the southwest region. The beheadings prompted a government soldier whose wife was among the victims to kill five Al-Shabaab wives in retaliation.
Al-Shabaab also beheaded two government soldiers near the town of Bur Hakaba in the Bay region in south Somalia.
Al-Shabaab is a Somali group that was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government in March 2008. It is seeking to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state.
The group is believed to be responsible for attacks in Somalia that have killed international aid workers, journalists, civilian leaders and African Union peacekeepers.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Iran strongly condemns hostage taking in Australia



Two hostages (L) run for cover behind a policeman (R) during a hostage taking incident in the central business district of Sydney, Australia, on December 15, 2014.
Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:29PM GMT
 
Iran has vehemently condemned hostage taking at a café in the Australia’s most populous city of Sydney.
“Resorting to inhumane methods and creating terror and panic in the name of the divine religion of Islam is not justifiable under any circumstances,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Monday.
She noted that the Australian police have been totally abreast of psychological conditions of the hostage taker, who had immigrated to Australia about two decades ago.
The hostage taker has been identified by local media as an Iranian, who had moved to Australia 18 years ago.
Some blame the incident on those who support terrorism, including the United States, Israel, and certain regimes in the Middle East region that support such Takfiri groups as al-Nusra Front and ISIL.
On December 1, in a message posted on his Tweeter account, the hostage taker had described Iran and the supporters of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as terrorists.
Australian security forces raided the Lindt Café in Sydney’s central business district on Monday, ending the siege that lasted for more than 16 hours.
According to police sources, the gunman and two hostages were killed during the operation.
In recent months, Australia has been on high alert after the Canberra government raised concerns over the return of the citizens who have joined the Takfiri terrorists operating in Syria and Iraq.
Earlier this month, Canberra said at least 20 Australian nationals fighting for terrorist groups, including the ISIL, had been killed in the two neighboring Arab states. Over 90 Australians have joined ISIL Takfiri militants there.
Related Interviews:
Related Viewpoints:

سر الخشوع بالصلاة _ كيفية الخشوع في الصلاة

Friday, December 12, 2014

Muslims masquerade as Hindus for India jobs

Al Jazeera
Features

Facing religious discrimination in the Hindu-dominated job market, many are forced to assume fake identities.

Last updated: 10 Dec 2013 08:25
Email Article
Print Article
Share article
Send Feedback

A Muslim street vendor in Kolkata dresses up as a Hindu to attact buyers [Shaikh Azizur Rahman /Al Jazeera]
After taking off her silver armband embossed with the word "Allah" in Arabic, Ayesha Begum puts red-and-white conch bangles on her wrists and vermillion powder on her forehead - the signs of a traditional Hindu woman in eastern India.
Begum, a Muslim, changes her appearance every morning before she leaves her home, 50km east of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, where she works as a housekeeper in a private hospital.
"Through the day in the hospital I maintain this Hindu appearance. Everyone there knows me as Hindu and calls me 'Lakshmi' - a popular Hindu moniker," Begum, in her early 30's, told Al Jazeera.
"When I did not succeed in getting a job, I followed the advice of some friends and posed as a Hindu. Soon I landed this job in a hospital."
Spotlight
Follow our special India coverage
Hospital officials asked her to get more female housekeepers from her village. "When I told them there were Muslim women who were looking for jobs, they said it would be better if I brought non-Muslim candidates," she said.
Begum's case is not unique. Many Muslims in India complain they face religious discrimination in the country's Hindu-dominated job market. Muslims who have secured jobs pretending to be Hindus are fiercely secretive about their place of work.
Noorjahan Khatoon, 42, who lives in a suburban slum and works as a domestic cook in a Hindu household in a posh Kolkata neighbourhood says none, not even her close relatives know where exactly she is employed.
"My children do not know in which colony I work, let alone the identity of my employer. I don't share any information about my workplace with anyone," said Khatoon, who puts on conch bangles and vermillion powder on the partition of her hair to keep up a Hindu appearance.
"I am sure if my employers learn I am Muslim, I will be fired."
Placement agencies
Muslims posing as Hindus are mostly found in menial jobs in the unorganised sector where worker's identity documents are not usually sought.
Some placement agencies across the country are helping Muslims find jobs in Hindu workplaces by introducing them as Hindus.
Nearly all clients in my agency are Hindu and most of them prefer not to employ Muslim.
- Sudhin Bose, former manager of a domestic help placement agency
Recently, when a domestic helper was found dead at the residence of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member of parliament in New Delhi, police discovered the victim was a Muslim woman from West Bengal working there while wearing Hindu attire.
During interrogation, the manager of a New Delhi-based private placement agency told police he had introduced the woman as a Hindu - and he had done likewise with several other Muslim candidates to get them jobs in the national capital.
Sudhin Bose, who managed a domestic help placement agency in Kolkata until recently, agreed that a good number of Muslims work in the city pretending to be Hindus.
"Nearly all clients in my agency are Hindu and most of them prefer not to employ Muslims," Bose told Al Jazeera.
"More than half the job-seekers our agency placed were Muslims from nearby villages and city slums. Often we introduced them as Hindus to our Hindu clients - and they got the jobs."
"I am sure many placement agencies adopt such secret policies out of mutual interest to help Muslims find jobs in the city," he said.
Religious bias
In 2005, the government appointed the Sachar Commission to investigate whether Muslims were disadvantaged in social, economic and educational terms.
The commission concluded the socio-economic condition of most Muslims was as bad as that of the Dalits, who are at the bottom rung of the Hindu-caste hierarchy, also referred to as the "untouchables."
Ayesha Pervez, who works on minority issues and has authored reports on India's working Muslims, said job-seeking Muslims face the hurdle of discrimination even outside unorganised sectors.
"The discrimination - which is nothing but religious identity-based exclusion - exists in organised government sectors too. In West Bengal, Muslims constitute 27 percent of the population. But their representation in state-government jobs is as low as four percent," Pervez told Al Jazeera.
"Workplace discrimination forces Muslims to adopt fake Hindu identities. Because of this discrimination, most Muslims are unable to upgrade their standard of living."
Widespread prejudice against Muslims also keeps them from living in urban India, Pervez added.
Hostility
Although most agree that anti-Muslim prejudice has long existed in predominantly Hindu Indian society, the situation for Muslims has turned increasingly hostile in several states in the past couple of decades. This is a result of increased aggression of Hindu nationalist organisations, says social activist Ram Puniyani.
Sometimes I feel I have done something morally wrong by faking a Hindu identity, and have downgraded my own religion.
- Ayesha Begum, Muslim woman posing as a Hindu to get a job
Soon after 2002 communal violence in western Gujarat state - when more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in riots - several Hindu organisations launched a propaganda campaign asking Hindus to boycott Muslims in all day-to-day dealings.
"Such a phenomenon leads to fear psychosis amongst the targeted community," said Puniyani, who campaigns in support of communal harmony.
"This feeling of insecurity [among Muslims] is intensified by the increased economic challenges to make both ends meet - with livelihood issues on one hand and a social divisiveness, leading to ghettoisation on the other.
"Such ghettoisation of Muslims in cities like Mumbai and Ahmadabad clearly shows how the mutual trust among communities has vanished. And so the socio-economic enhancement of the minority community has stalled."
Many Muslims say they feel awkward at having to masquerade as Hindus.
"Sometimes I feel I have done something morally wrong by faking a Hindu identity, and have downgraded my own religion," Begum said.
"I shall be very happy if some day I get a good job where I shall be free from this guise."

Source:

  Al Jazeera

Furor over 'conversion' of Muslims in India


Aljazeera

Opposition MPs attack ruling party over mass conversion of about 200 Muslims to Hinduism by far right Hindu groups.

Last updated: 10 Dec 2014 11:17
Email Article
Print Article
Share article
Send Feedback
An investigation is under way into the alleged arson attack on a church in New Delhi earlier this month [EPA]
India's opposition politicians have protested inside parliament against the alleged mass conversion of about 200 Muslims to Hinduism in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Opposition MPs on Tuesday attacked the conservative Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party over the conversions in Agra city, reportedly under allurement by groups linked to the ruling party's ideological parent, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
"This is a serious matter as allurement was given to poor [people] to get them converted," Dalit leader Mayawati was quoted as saying by Times of India website.
The opposition has asked the government to ensure the religious freedom of minorities as enshrined in the country’s constitution.
"The House and the country need reassurance that the Constitution will not be violated," Congress leader Anand Sharma was quoted as saying by the NDTV channel.
A day after much publicised mass conversion, Muslim families have told local media that they were tricked into conversion and did not speak against the act "out of fear of violence".
NDTV reported that a police complaint has been filed after a villager alleged that Muslims from a slum in Agra, the city that houses the famous Taj Mahal, were allured to convert.
"We were told we will get a ration card, Aadhar [ID] card, and that the police will not bother us. We are poor so what do we do?" NDTV quoted one of the converts as saying.
The latest controversy comes as members of minority communities have come under attack from far right groups. Last week, a federal minister was forced to apologise for alleged hate speech.

I Grew Up in Guantanamo: Now That You Have Heard My Story, You Cannot Turn Away




Fahd Ghazy Headshot

huffingtonpost.com

Posted: Updated:

Fahd Ghazy has been illegally detained at Guantánamo since he was 17. He is now 30 

years old. He has been cleared for release since 2007. He is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
To begin, please forgive me for not saying the right things or making the right points. There are different cultures between us and many different experiences.
It hurts me that I do not have the privilege to express myself. I want to have the honor to speak out in my own voice and reach you directly -- you who are thinking people. I want to say thank you for caring. You are willing to view me as a human being and that is something so precious to me.
My exposure to the world came through Guantanamo. I was 17 when they sent me here. At that time, I had rarely seen a television or heard a radio. Every significant event in my life, from funerals, to my own wedding, to the birth of my beloved daughter, Hafsa, happened in the Diwan of my own home. Now I am almost 31.
2014-12-09-fahd2.jpg
That means I grew up in Guantanamo. I grew up in this system. I grew up in fear. I hope that helps you to understand me.
I hope I will be heard.
Here, at Guantanamo, I am never heard. I am only ignored. In 13 years of imprisonment without charge, I've never been able to tell anyone who I really am.
I am not ISN 026. That is the government's number.
My name is Fahd Abdullah Ahmed Ghazy. I am a human being -- a man -- who is loved and who loves.
--
I wish I had the ability to describe the passage of 13 years at Guantanamo. My own mind shuts down when I try to think about it. And I have no words that can make you truly understand.
In that time, I have lost so much both here inside the prison and outside in the world I left.
I miss my home -- too much. But the truth is that if I returned to my village tomorrow, I would be a stranger, even among the people who love me the most.
A few days ago, Omar brought me dozens of photographs of my village that were taken during the filming of Waiting for Fahd. I carried them back to my cell and held them with me like a treasure - I looked at every face, every building, and every mountain peak. I stayed up until the dawn hours before Fajr prayer, studying the images one by one. My mind and my heart raced. I wanted to be able to recognize every detail in the photos to be reminded of my life before Guantanamo. But it was nearly impossible.
I did not even recognize the faces of my best friends.
My younger brother, Abdur-Raheem, who I used to feed and care for and discipline, does not know me. Now he only knows of me.
The children in the village were just babies when I left. I have become just a name to them. There is even another Fahd Ghazy in the village now, a nephew of mine. He is already a teenager, nearly the age I was the last time I saw my home.
2014-12-09-image0021.jpg
As for the old generation? They are nearly all gone, one by one, while I have been waiting.
The most tragic loss I endured at Guantanamo was the sudden death of my uncle. He became like a father to me when my own father died. He was also my teacher and my mentor. I relied on him and he looked after me.
He could not stand the pain of knowing that I had been imprisoned in this place. Whenever I was permitted to have calls to my family he would not participate. He would not allow himself to see me here or talk to me. He could not even bear to write me letters.
But I missed him terribly and I was selfish. I wanted to see his face, just to be reminded of him and feel comforted. I wrote to him. I pleaded with other family members. I begged him to accept a video call from me. Finally he agreed.
It was 8 a.m. in Camp Echo on a Wednesday. The Red Crescent called the names of the family members in Sana'a who had come to join a video call with me. I cried just hearing my uncle's name announced. I was overwhelmed, but he maintained his composure.
"We love you," he said. "We are waiting for you. We will keep waiting for you."
And then, right in front of my eyes, he died. He stopped talking and his head fell back. My family rushed to support him and the line cut. I sat in silence, shackled in my chair, helpless.
When the line reconnected there was no longer an image. I only heard my brother, Mohammed's, voice. "He's gone," Mohammed said. "It was too much for him."
In that moment I truly learned what Guantanamo is and how much power it has over those of us inside and those left outside.
Time has left me behind at Guantanamo. I have to accept this, but it makes me feel such loneliness and isolation. I appear fine on the outside, but I am being destroyed on the inside.
--
There is no guilt and no innocence here at Guantanamo. Those ideas are empty. That's just a game that is played.
But there is always right and wrong. That can never change.
Even the ones who have caged me know what is right. What is right is to free me. I have been cleared. That means a lot here at Guantanamo, except if you are from Yemen. I have been cleared for release since 2007, but I am still waiting for my freedom.
I have been waiting a lifetime just to start my life again.
The first time I saw Omar after he returned from Yemen, I was so overjoyed, just to see someone who was face-to-face with my daughter and my family. He had touched them. Here in front of me was someone who had actually been inside my house and ate the food I used to eat. He heard my mother's voice. He experienced everything I had before and everything I want to have again. I could almost grasp it. For a moment, I was reconnected.
2014-12-09-image003.jpg
What you see in Waiting for Fahd is my dream. But I do not want it to be only a dream. I want it to come true. You can help make it come true. You can help me.
Children, I ask you to think about my daughter, Hafsa.
To the youth, remember age 17. Think about how I have been deprived of everything a young man needs to mature in this life: a job, education, experiences to learn from.
Wives, think of my wife who spent the spring of her life -- her youth- - waiting for me, caring for Hafsa alone.
Mothers, think of me when you think of your sons. Think of my mother longing for hers.
Fathers, think of me reaching out to my daughter from inside this place.
I have missed the best moments a father could ever enjoy: Hafsa's first steps; walking her to school; witnessing her successes; helping her when she stumbles. I look forward to the day when I will no longer miss her. I will be next to her and from then on I will not miss a minute.
I am starving for those moments, when she looks at me and smiles or says a kind words or laughs.
That is the desire I have in the deepest part of my soul.
Now that you have heard my story and seen my dreams, you cannot turn away. You are excused only when you do not know. But now that you know, you cannot turn away.
I ask you: Be a voice for the voiceless -- for another human being who is suffering.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fahd-ghazy/i-grew-up-in-guantanamo-n_b_6296504.html?1418153077


Thursday, December 11, 2014

ياسمين باعت كليتها وأعطت ثمنها لخطيبها ليتزوجها.. فتزوج بأخرى!

 ثقافة ٢٤

نشأت ياسمين مكاوي في ظل أسرة منفتحة في مدينة تعز اليمنية، جنوب العاصمة صنعاء، أعطاها والدها كل الحرية والثقة في خياراتها، سواء في اختيار صديقاتها أو في اختيار مجال دراستها الجامعية. كانت ياسمين حريصة على ألا تخسر ثقة والديها واستغلالها في الاتجاه الصحيح، وكان حرصها على بقائها منقبة من أهم السمات التي حاولت أن تحافظ عليها، وذلك رغبة من والديها لكيلا يتم مضايقتها في الشارع، كون المجتمع المحيط بهم محافظاً.
اختارت في دراستها كلية الهندسة من أجل أن تصبح مهندسة مدنية وتحقق طموح والدها لأنه حسب قولها كان يحلم بالدراسة في هذا المجال. تعرفت في الكلية إلى أحد زملائها، ومع مرور الوقت أخذت العلاقة تتطور، إلا أن وصلت إلى مرحلة الحب والتعلق. ولم تكتم الأمر عن والديها، لأنها لم تعتد الاحتفاظ بأسرار لنفسها في ظل وجود الثقة المتبادلة بينهم. وقد نصحها والدها أن تطلب من هذا الشاب اتخاذ خطوة إلى الأمام وأن يفصح عن نواياه بطريقة شرعية وأن يتقدم لخطبتها.
ورطة الخطبة
لم يجرؤ الشاب على رفض عرضها لأنه كان يحبها، لكنه في المقابل لم يستطع أيضاً مفاتحة والديه في موضوع خطبته لأنهما مثل كثيرين لا يعتبران الفتاة التي تتلقى تعليماً جامعياً زوجة مناسبة، ومن أجل ذلك قام بإقناع أحد أقاربه أن يتقمص دور والده وذهب معه إلى منزل ياسمين وقام بخطبتها من أبيها بعد أن قام باقتراض مبلغ من المال من أحد أصدقائه من أجل شراء لوازم الخطبة. وهكذا وبعد أن أثبت لها حسن نواياه، تعلقت به ياسمين بطريقة جنونية، لكنها لم تكن تعرف أنه أحضر لها أباً مزيفاً ليخطبها له.
مرت سنوات الدراسة وكان قد قام بخطبتها في السنة الثالثة، وعندما جاء موعد حفل التخرج اكتشفت أن والده ليس ذلك الشخص الذي قام بإحضاره في يوم الخطبة، وعندما سألته أخبرها أن ذلك الرجل هو خاله وأن والده كان يومها مسافراً. لم تسمح لنفسها بالتشكيك في مصداقيته، فلم يكن أمامها سوى تصديقه، فهو الحب الأول بالنسبة لها. بعد التخرج بسنتين قام والدها بالاتصال بوالده أو بالأصح بالرجل الذي قام بمرافقته في أثناء الخطبة، وطلب منه الضغط على ولده والتقدم لزواج ابنته بسبب مضي أكثر من ثلاث سنوات على خطبتهما. ولكن بسبب وصول الشاب إلى لحظة حرجة، لم يجد أمامه سوى مصارحة الفتاة وإخبارها أن أسرته لا تعرف بأمر حبه وخطبته. كان للصدمة وقع كبير على ياسمين، ولم تستطع أن تتمالك نفسها وأغمي عليها وهي ممسكة بالهاتف في منزلها.
تضحية
بعد مرور أسبوع كامل وهي منقطعة عن مهاتفته، قامت ياسمين بالتواصل مع خطيبها وأخبرته أنها ستغفر له ذلك الذنب بمجرد أن يخبر والده الحقيقي وأسرته بأمر خطبتهما. وعدها بذلك، ولكنه لم يستطع أن يفي بوعده ليقينه أن أسرته لن توافق عليها لأنها فتاة جامعية. تقول ياسمين: «كأن ذلك جرم كبير وعار على الفتاة، ولو كنت أعرف ذلك مسبقاً لما تعرفت إليه وأعطيته الثقة وأهله يفكرون بهذه الطريقة».
لم يكن الشاب حينها قد حصل على فرصة عمل لكي يستقل بقراره وحياته، فهو لايزال يعتمد على والده في كل شيء. أخبرته ياسمين أن عليهما معاً أن يصنعا مشوارهما من الصفر، وأن يعتمدا على نفسيهما ويبنيا حياة جديدة. وقامت بتحفيزه على البحث عن عمل وهي كذلك من أجل توفير قيمة المهر، وأقنعت والدها أن يعطي الشاب مهلة أطول من أجل توفير المهر اللازم.
مرت سنة كاملة على تلك المهلة، وبرغم حصول الشاب على وظيفة مؤقته في شركة فإن أن دخله لم يكن يؤهله للإيفاء بالمهر وفتح بيت جديد. زادت ضغوط الأسرة على ياسمين، ولولا حب والديها لها لتم فسخ الخطبة عند أول تعثر للشاب، حيث تقول «وصل بي الخجل إلى أني كنت أظل حبيسة غرفتي حتى لا ينظر إليّ أهلي بنظرات العطف والشفقة، فهم أطيب مما يتصور أي إنسان، ولا يمكن لي أن أضعهما في موقف محرج».
بعد أن أدركت أن خطيبها بالفعل غير قادر على الزواج بها، أخذت بالتفكير بجدية في البحث عن وسيلة للحصول على قيمة المهر ليتزوجا. وبعد أن انقطعت بها السبل، لم تجد سوى حل واحد يضمن لها كبرياءها وشرفها وحبها. ذهبت إلى أحد المراكز الطبية الخاصة في أمانة العاصمة صنعاء وقامت ببيع إحدى كليتيها بقيمة أربعة آلاف دولار أمريكي وكان المبلغ كفيلاً بإقامة حفل زفافهما، حيث غابت عن المنزل لمدة يومين لإجراء العملية وكانت قد أقنعت والديها أنها في رحلة مع صديقاتها إلى مدينة عدن. وعندما قابلت خطيبها وهي هزيلة ومجهدة من الإعياء، وضعت المبلغ بين يديه، وأخبرته أن يذهب إلى والدها بأسرع وقت ممكن. تقول مكاوي: «كنت خائفة أن أموت بعد العملية قبل الزواج منه ولذلك كنت أضغط عليه بالإسراع بالذهاب إلى أبي وإتمام حفل الزواج».
الكارثة
تأخر الشاب بالرد على ياسمين، وقام بإغلاق هاتفه وبعد مرور قرابة شهرين واستنفاد كل الطرق في الوصول إليه، قامت بالاتصال بأحد أصدقائه ووصف لها عنوان منزله، وعندما وصلت إلى العنوان قامت بطرق الباب ففتحت لها فتاة أخرى وحين سألتها عن خطيبها المختفي، ردت بشكل مفاجئ: «من أنت حتى تسألي عن زوجي؟».
سقطت ياسمين بعدها على الأرض وقامت المرأة بإغلاق الباب دونها، وبعد أن قام الجيران بإدخالها إلى منزلهم وصب الماء عليها، أفاقت من غيبوبتها، أخبرها الجيران أن خطيبها تزوج بابنة خالته التي خطبتها له والدته منذ كان في السنة الأولى بالجامعة، وقام بإخفاء ذلك الأمر عنها ظناً منه أنها خطبة تقليدية وستنتهي. وأخبرها الجيران أيضاً أن الشاب قد حصل على مبلغ كبير من عمله كقرض وقد قام بالإسراع بالزواج بابنة خالته إرضاءً لأمه. لم تجد مكاوي أي تفسير لذلك سوى أنها قالت «الحمد لله أني بعت من أجله كليتي ولم أبع شرفي».
- See more at: http://alam-al-ma3rifa.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-post_80.html#sthash.4sFfIrPe.dpuf
 

Burn Hijab! Hijab Miracle of Allah In india.

Woman 'Burns' From Inside Out After Reaction to Friend's Medicine

ABC News

PHOTO: Yaasmeen Castanada is in intensive care after having a severe allergic reaction to a mediation that caused her body to blister from the inside out.
Auto Start: On | Off
A young mother is in intensive care after having a rare but serious reaction to a friend's prescription antibiotics that caused her to "burn" from the inside out.
Yassmeen Castanada, 19, wasn't feeling well on Thanksgiving, so she took a pill that her friend had left over from a previous illness. Soon, Castanada's eyes, nose and throat began to burn, and she was rushed to the emergency room, her mother, Laura Corona, told ABC News.
Her body erupted in blisters over the next few days, Corona said. She had to be sedated and placed on a ventilator.
"Her face changed within four days," Corona told ABC News. "I would wipe her face and all the skin was just falling off."
Doctors diagnosed Castanada with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare but serious drug reaction that can occur even when drugs are taken as prescribed by a doctor, said Dr. Joshua Zeichner, a dermatology professor at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan who was not involved in treating Castanada.
"You're not truly burned, but what happens is you have compromised the skin barrier function," Zeichner said.
PHOTO: Yaasmeen Castanada has been hospitalized for three weeks as a result of a rare reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
Laura Corona/KABC
PHOTO: Yaasmeen Castanada has been hospitalized for three weeks as a result of a rare reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
Inflammation and blistering occur on the outer layer of skin as well as the lips, eyes and genitals, leaving the patient vulnerable to infection and unable to properly balance electrolytes and stay hydrated, Zeichner explained. As such, these patients are treated like burn victims.
"You get very painful lesions on your skin that are basically blisters," said Neil MacKinnon, dean of the University of Cincinnati's Winkle College of Pharmacy. "Your whole body is in excruciating pain."
Castanada was eventually transferred to the University of California Irvine's burn unit, where doctors said over 70 percent of her body was damaged, Corona said. She's undergone several surgeries over the past few weeks, but her feet are still blistering.
Zeichner said he sees it most often with antibiotics, but MacKinnon said this sometimes fatal reaction is different from most reactions to antibiotics, which are usually limited to gastrointestinal symptoms.
"Unfortunately, we have no way of predicting who would have this type reaction," Zeichner said, advising that patients only take prescriptions given to them by their doctors. He said they should report any reactions following new medicines immediately to their doctors. And, if necessary, go to the emergency room.
PHOTO: Yaasmeen Castanada is in intensive care after having a severe allergic reaction to a mediation that caused her body to burn from the inside out.
Laura Corona/KABC
PHOTO: Yaasmeen Castanada is in intensive care after having a severe allergic reaction to a mediation that caused her body to burn from the inside out.
Though Castanada is expected to miss her baby's first Christmas, Corona said she has hope her daughter will survive. Another patient with Stevens-Johnson syndrome spent two months in the same hospital and went home on Tuesday.
"Heartbreaking, just unreal," Corona told ABC's southern California station KABC. "Just watching your daughter burn in front of you, literally burn in front of you."