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misscamToday, this post is going to have quite a bit of fail in it.
Four boys arrested for gang-rape of an eight-year-old girl. Also reported here.
The boys were as young as nine and as old as fourteen, which isn't old at all. They're all from Liberia, which has been ripped to shreds by civil wars. What those boys might remember from there, I cannot know - but it was a war with a horrifying number of sexual assaults and kid soldiers fighting too. And then the real kicker - the parents of the girl disowned her. Because they blamed her for being victimized and bringing shame to the family. More on that here.
You know how sometimes a story is just depressing on all levels? That one is. I will not excuse those boys, but rape wasn't even illegal in Liberia until 2006. I have to wonder what they've been raised to think.
We have so far to go still on sexual assault.
So, NBC's new The Wanted show, which attempts to track down (alleged) terrorists and war criminals, took its first episode to Norway. They were there for this guy: Mullah Krekar. I watched this show (it aired in Norway as well, due to special interest) and I was not impressed at all.
Now, Mullah Krekar is an asshat and his opinions are repulsive. He violated the terms under which he got refugee status. While I'm not so sure he's actually a threat to my country's security (actively at least), he does admit to enough shit to establish he's not a safe man. I think we're well in our rights to kick him the fuck out. I really wish he wasn't here.
That he's still here? I will stand up for that. The man repulses me, but he is a human being. He is entitled to the human rights Norway believes in. This includes freedom from torture and no death penalty. Both are a possibility in Iraq and that's where he would be extradited to. 11 members of his (former) terrorist group have been hanged there already.
Until Iraq can guarantee to Norway's satisfaction neither would happen, we cannot extradite him. We would break our own laws. We would betray our human rights obligations. We would, to put it bluntly, fail. (The same would apply if the US sought extradition. If a person faces the death penalty in the US, we do not extradite him until we have guarantees the death penalty will not be used. In short, we do not knowingly send out people to get killed.)
The show rather fails at explaining any of this, as if it seems to think we keep him here for shit and giggles. It also seems to think obtaining some official document for some Iraqi official of uncertain standing will magically fix Norway's worries and should be good enough.
Um, right. We've had him here for six years because we're stupid and never thought of talking to Iraqi officials. And a paper and a reassurance via American television is surely all we'd need, because it's not like government officials would ever lie to a journalist. That never happens! And not like anyone would ever reassure all they would never torture (honest!) and then be discovered to have. Oh wait, what are we calling waterboarding again?
Could Norway be doing more to get the sort of guarantees we need? Maybe. I am unsure. Some from a particular opposition party think so, but they would think green if the government thought yellow. Politics, you know. Conveniently, the show decided to talk to them and pretty much only them. (Plus, that particular party is fairly anti-immigration to begin with, and quite a bit 'OMG dangers of Islam!' - albeit in a restrained Norwegian way compared to a lot of similar parties elsewhere.) Seriously, if you're only presenting the opinions you agree with, you fail at journalism. Painfully.
Also worth remembering that Iraq is not the most stable of countries and establishing democracy there has had its large bumps. In short, the issue of Mullah Krekar is not some black and white, right and wrong situation. It's not ideal that he gets to reside peacefully here when he should answer to the allegations from his home country, but this is a fucked up world and sometimes, there is no ideal solution.
You can dislike this - heck, I dislike this partciular situation a great, great deal and loathe having to share my country with this guy - but standards aren't standards if they aren't also held up when it's a bitch to. So yes, Mullah Krekar is still in Norway.
(If you are wondering, he's very much free to leave on his own, should he wish to. Norway will not hinder him and probably about 4.7 million people would happily help him pack his bags. He is not a prisoner here, but we will not forcefully extradite him, for the reasons discussed above.)
I do note this show got some less than stellar reviews. And I shall have to agree with this one in this:
Can you believe the arrogance of a cooked-up, American, prime-time news-entertainment show telling a government like Norway how it should behave?
I can believe it, but I am seriously not impressed by it.
I'm also not impressed by EA, due to this. Who thought that was even remotely a good idea? Women get bloody well objectified enough as it is.
I think I have to post cat pictures or something tomorrow to make up for all this. Ugh. For now, I shall watch me some Star Trek.
Four boys arrested for gang-rape of an eight-year-old girl. Also reported here.
The boys were as young as nine and as old as fourteen, which isn't old at all. They're all from Liberia, which has been ripped to shreds by civil wars. What those boys might remember from there, I cannot know - but it was a war with a horrifying number of sexual assaults and kid soldiers fighting too. And then the real kicker - the parents of the girl disowned her. Because they blamed her for being victimized and bringing shame to the family. More on that here.
You know how sometimes a story is just depressing on all levels? That one is. I will not excuse those boys, but rape wasn't even illegal in Liberia until 2006. I have to wonder what they've been raised to think.
We have so far to go still on sexual assault.
So, NBC's new The Wanted show, which attempts to track down (alleged) terrorists and war criminals, took its first episode to Norway. They were there for this guy: Mullah Krekar. I watched this show (it aired in Norway as well, due to special interest) and I was not impressed at all.
Now, Mullah Krekar is an asshat and his opinions are repulsive. He violated the terms under which he got refugee status. While I'm not so sure he's actually a threat to my country's security (actively at least), he does admit to enough shit to establish he's not a safe man. I think we're well in our rights to kick him the fuck out. I really wish he wasn't here.
That he's still here? I will stand up for that. The man repulses me, but he is a human being. He is entitled to the human rights Norway believes in. This includes freedom from torture and no death penalty. Both are a possibility in Iraq and that's where he would be extradited to. 11 members of his (former) terrorist group have been hanged there already.
Until Iraq can guarantee to Norway's satisfaction neither would happen, we cannot extradite him. We would break our own laws. We would betray our human rights obligations. We would, to put it bluntly, fail. (The same would apply if the US sought extradition. If a person faces the death penalty in the US, we do not extradite him until we have guarantees the death penalty will not be used. In short, we do not knowingly send out people to get killed.)
The show rather fails at explaining any of this, as if it seems to think we keep him here for shit and giggles. It also seems to think obtaining some official document for some Iraqi official of uncertain standing will magically fix Norway's worries and should be good enough.
Um, right. We've had him here for six years because we're stupid and never thought of talking to Iraqi officials. And a paper and a reassurance via American television is surely all we'd need, because it's not like government officials would ever lie to a journalist. That never happens! And not like anyone would ever reassure all they would never torture (honest!) and then be discovered to have. Oh wait, what are we calling waterboarding again?
Could Norway be doing more to get the sort of guarantees we need? Maybe. I am unsure. Some from a particular opposition party think so, but they would think green if the government thought yellow. Politics, you know. Conveniently, the show decided to talk to them and pretty much only them. (Plus, that particular party is fairly anti-immigration to begin with, and quite a bit 'OMG dangers of Islam!' - albeit in a restrained Norwegian way compared to a lot of similar parties elsewhere.) Seriously, if you're only presenting the opinions you agree with, you fail at journalism. Painfully.
Also worth remembering that Iraq is not the most stable of countries and establishing democracy there has had its large bumps. In short, the issue of Mullah Krekar is not some black and white, right and wrong situation. It's not ideal that he gets to reside peacefully here when he should answer to the allegations from his home country, but this is a fucked up world and sometimes, there is no ideal solution.
You can dislike this - heck, I dislike this partciular situation a great, great deal and loathe having to share my country with this guy - but standards aren't standards if they aren't also held up when it's a bitch to. So yes, Mullah Krekar is still in Norway.
(If you are wondering, he's very much free to leave on his own, should he wish to. Norway will not hinder him and probably about 4.7 million people would happily help him pack his bags. He is not a prisoner here, but we will not forcefully extradite him, for the reasons discussed above.)
I do note this show got some less than stellar reviews. And I shall have to agree with this one in this:
Can you believe the arrogance of a cooked-up, American, prime-time news-entertainment show telling a government like Norway how it should behave?
I can believe it, but I am seriously not impressed by it.
I'm also not impressed by EA, due to this. Who thought that was even remotely a good idea? Women get bloody well objectified enough as it is.
I think I have to post cat pictures or something tomorrow to make up for all this. Ugh. For now, I shall watch me some Star Trek.
