The faces of the Middle East uprisings are getting younger everyday. In overwhelming numbers, children are becoming the victims of the 21st century. A child’s experience of violence goes well beyond the slap, the insult, or even the video game.
Violence against children is organized under a physical, emotional, sexual and economic form. Overtime, the rise of killings in Middle Eastern Countries haven risen.
Which brings us to the case of Katya Koren, a 19-year-old Muslim girl from the Republic of Crimea, a sub-national unit of the Ukraine was stoned to death under “Sharia Law” after she took part in a beauty contest. “Sharia Law” is a body of laws and personal rules, regulating matters of jurisprudence, hygiene, politics, business, banking, family, sexuality, diet and society. It is meant to serve as the governing principle both within the Muslim world and for Muslims living outside it.
Koren was found dead in a village in the Crimea region near her home. She was targeted by three teens who said her seventh-place finish in the beauty contest was a violation of Muslim laws.
One of the suspects, identified as 16-year-old Bihal Gaziev, told authorities that he had no regrets about the stoning because the dark-haired Koren “violated the laws of Sharia.”
According to Amnesty International’s annual report on death sentences worldwide, issued in April, there were no reports of judicial executions carried out by stoning in 2010.
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The 13 Year Old From Syria:
Hamza Al Khateeb, a thirteen year old from Syria, joined his family in a peaceful march to break the Syrian police siege of the city of Deraa., when he was randomly killed by Syrian security forces.
Hamza was detained and his tortured body was returned to his family with his genitals cut off. His body endured brutal torture: Lacerations, bruises and burns to his feet, elbows, face and knees, consistent with the use of electric shock devices and of being whipped with cable.
Hamza has become something of a symbol mainly because if the Syrian governemt is willing to torture and kill a 13-year-old boy then there is no telling what they are willing to do. It is time President Bashar Al Assad recognize that the revolution will happen in his country if he continues to let travesties like this happen on the regular.
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The Death of Neda:
The death of Neda Agha-Soltan drew international attention after she was killed during the 2009 Iranian election protest.
Gunshots rang out and Neda Agha-Soltan, fell to the ground. “It burned me,” she said before she died.
Neda’s death was captured on video by bystanders and broadcast over the Internet and became the main figure in the Iraninan struggle against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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No Driving?:
A campaign has been launched on Facebook calling for men to beat Saudi women who drive their cars in a planned protest next month against the ultra-conservative kingdom’s ban on women taking the wheel.
The page, titled “The Iqal Campaign: June 17 for preventing women from driving,” refers to the Arabic name for the cord used to hold on the traditional headdress worn by many men in the Gulf, advocating the cord be used to hit women who dare to drive. The call comes as activists are demanding the release of Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi woman who was jailed for defying the ban.
