You Could Still Go to Jail for Being Raped in Dubai

• by Kristina Chew
• July 22, 2013
• 1:00 pm

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On the last night of a business trip in Dubai on March 6, Marte Deborah Dalelv, a 24-year-old interior designer from Norway, went out with female colleagues from her own country; some male Qatari colleagues joined them. As Dalelv told Norwegian news site VG Nett, “The morning after, I woke up being raped, my clothes were taken off and I was lying on my stomach.”
When Dalelv went to the police, she was arrested and detained for four days and her passport was taken from her. Last week, she was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges of extramarital sex, alcohol and perjury. A global uproar arose after Dalelv went public about her ordeal. This Monday, she was told that she was pardoned and her passport was returned to her.
Dalelv is now free to leave Dubai, but her case highlights the risks for foreigners in the United Arab Emirates and, even more, how societies in the Middle East seek to control women via restrictions on how they dress and what they do in public.
In just six decades, Dubai has been transformed from a small fishing village into a global commerce center known for its oil wealth and “larger-than-life offers” such as a recent plan to offer residents gold for losing weight. While it markets itself as a cosmopolitan and international city where tourists say alcohol is readily available in restaurants and hotels, Dubai remains strongly influenced by Islamic traditions.
Thousands of Westerners and others are on resident visas to work and live in the emirate; they outnumber the country’s own citizens. While Dubai’s law that makes extramarital sex a crime is often not enforced for foreigners, they have still been arrested for small public displays of affection and for, like Dalelv, reporting that they have been raped.
A young British woman of Pakistani descent who reported being raped by a hotel employee on New Year’s Eve in 2009 was arrested and, along with her fiancé, charged with having illegal sex and alcohol consumption. Both had their passports taken from them and could face up to six years in prison, as Nadya Khalife wrote in 2010. A British couple, Ayman Najafi and Charlotte Adams, were jailed for a month in 2010 after what Najafi said was an “innocuous peck on the cheek” in a restaurant; a witness claimed they had kissed on the mouth.
Dalelv’s arrest after reporting she was raped shows that things have not changed. Back in March, Dubai hotel workers expressed reservations when Dalelv asked that the police be contacted about what had happened to her. Dalelv says she was given a medical examination to check for evidence of rape after police were alerted and also a blood test for alcohol. But the police also asked Dalelv “did you come to us because you didn’t like it?” and then arrested her. Dalelv was placed in a prison cell for four days until she was able to contact her father on a borrowed phone.
Saying that Dalelv’s situation “flies in the face of our notion of justice” and is “highly problematic from a human rights perspective,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide condemned her sentencing. The Norwegian government was able to secure Dalelv’s conditional release; after being charged, she was placed under the protection of the Norwegian Seamen’s Center in Dubai.
Dalelv’s attacker was reportedly sentenced to 13 months in prison for extramarital sex and alcohol consumption. For someone to be convicted of rape in Dubai, there must be a confession or testimony from four adult male witnesses.
Gisle Meling, the minister to the Norwegian Seamen’s church in Dubai, described Dalelv’s conviction as one in which “the legal system here has obviously taken the information she has given them and concluded she is guilty of something else” because of “their Sharia legislation.”
Before boarding a flight to return to Norway, Dalelv made sure to thank those at the Seaman’s Center who had supported her through the past few months. It is a great relief to know that she has been pardoned. But the fact remains that in Dubai women, whether tourists or residents, can still be convicted of illegal acts when they are innocent and have themselves been subjected to violent crimes.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/you-could-still-go-to-jail-for-being-raped-in-dubai.html#ixzz2ZtG8Yddf

Greyhounds, Most Saved from Hunters, Now Devastated by Mudslides

• by Laura Simpson
• July 22, 2013
• 5:30 pm

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David Brennan has always loved flying, but in just a few days he’s going to try jumping straight out the open hatch of an airplane with the hopes that his leap of faith will inspire others. David’s stunt isn’t one he takes lightly, but instead it is a sincere gesture to bring aid to the rescuers of 74 greyhounds who recently survived two mudslides.
The dogs are in the care of Pepis Dog Refuge in Seville, Spain. David’s wife Beryl, who organizes campaigns and petitions to instigate reform for greyhounds, explains why David will make the jump.
“In the last 10 months, Jane and Alan Brian, founders of the Pepis Dog Refuge, have gone through a parvo virus outbreak, had poisoned dog meat thrown into their kennels and suffered two separate mud slides,” Beryl said. “In January, Alan was ill, then Jane was admitted to the hospital and then their home was declared unsafe to live in because of the mudslides. Their old electricity generator broke down and spare parts are unobtainable. They have so many dogs needing food, veterinary care and rehoming and they need to fence off an area at the top of the hillside to move the refuge away from the risk of further mudslides.”

Jane Brian unties two greyhounds left at the Pepis Dog Refuge gate.

David and Beryl have both grown up with dogs, and now devote themselves to their role as champions for greyhounds. Beryl explains that an estimated 150,000 greyhounds in Spain are “destroyed” at the end of each hunting season so that hunters won’t have to pay the cost of feeding them for another eight months. While there is no benefit to providing the graphic details of how the dogs are killed, rest assured that places like the Pepis Dog Refuge offer love and safety to dogs who would otherwise have met a terrible end.
Today, after a year of such financial hardship, natural disasters, health scares and attacks by neighbors, Jane and Alan need a miracle and that’s just what David has in store for them.
“I wouldn’t say I’m nervous, more apprehensive,” explains David who has enjoyed the soft rise of hot air balloon journeys but never anything as intense as sky diving. “I want to raise 6,000 Euro to pay for the new fencing so the dogs can be moved to safety and to also buy a new generator before winter.”

David Brennan, shown here, will jump from a plane to benefit greyhounds in need.

David’s jump will be dedicated not only to the greyhounds but also in memory of his recently departed friend Charlie who was scheduled to make the jump with him, just shy of his 80th birthday.
“Once I’m out, I’ll raise my arms to the sky and shout, ‘That was for you Charlie!” David said, contemplating his now solo mission to jump for the dogs (there will be an instructor helping him through the tandem jump).
Feel free to visit their website here.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/greyhounds-most-saved-from-hunters-now-devastated-by-mudslides.html#ixzz2ZtFdsi00

Agroecology Grows Food and Self-Sufficiency

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Settlement in Maranhao thrives despite drought

By Saulo Araujo
June 28th, 2013

The embattled northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhão is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years. Yet in the midst of this brutal dry spell, one farmer settlement is brimming with abundant vegetables, fruits and crops.

 

“We are producing cashews, berries, passion fruit, oranges, pineapples, limes…” says Edileu, a farmer at the settlement, with a note of pride. “The secret is using agricultural practices that are in harmony with the local environment, not at war with it like industrial agriculture.”

 

In short—agroecology is the secret behind the settlement’s success.

 

Peasants like Edileu are dedicated to practicing and developing agroecology – a farming approach that builds on the best of local and traditional knowledge, and is firmly anchored in good stewardship of the environment. The approach also depends upon farmers uniting and organizing so they can stand firmly against the encroachment of industrial agriculture with its seductive—and misleading—promises of commercial seeds and chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

 

To apply agroecology successful, farmers need to be keenly aware of the negative impacts of industrial agriculture on the environment, farmers and consumers’ health--and on the farmers’ pocket. Peasants have learned the hard way that industrial agriculture mostly only benefits the agribusinesses that control the seeds, agrochemicals production, processing and distribution of grains.

 

Organized landless workers are like canaries

 

George Naylor, an Iowan farmer and one of most knowledgeable food sovereignty advocates in the United States, sums it up by saying: “We farmers are like canaries in the mineshaft. The rest of the world had better start listening.” And farmers like George and Edileu remain steadfast in their resolve to stay on the land and produce healthy crops, despite the looming presence of industrial agriculture.

 

Farmers around the world won’t give up their struggle for food sovereignty because to do so essentially would be the death-knell of family and smallholder farmers. Globally, there is a growing consensus that the brutal logic of market-driven agriculture must be resisted.

 

Edileu’s farming group in Maranhao is part of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) settlement. They lived in tents for six years while waiting for the fulfillment of their constitutional rights to land and food. Police evicted the occupying families four times, and every time the police showed up with the intention of teaching the families a good lesson. But Edileu and his community never gave up. “Thankfully, we got our land. But if we had to stay in put [even longer], we would have continued to fight for our rights with the same intensity,” Edileu said.

 

On July 25, 2010 the group finally received land title for a farm big enough to settle the 98 landless families. After getting the land, the families urgently needed credit and funding to buy tools and seeds to begin making the land productive. Unfortunately, the bank gave a flat “No. ” They didn’t like the idea of lending money to peasants without any assets. So the group sought the support of allies like Grassroots International. And the fruit of that support continues to flourish, both literally and figuratively.

 

MST: building food sovereignty, a community at time

 

The newly established settlement needed enough resources to build a demonstration unit to train farmer in agroecology practices as well as develop individual backyard plots. Back in Boston, Grassroots contacted its network of supporters about the Maranhão settlement. People responded with generosity and donations, inspired by the example of a community that just wouldn’t give up.

 

Over the years, with the expansion of sugar cane plantations for producing ethanol (mostly for export), peasant communities are facing intense challenges to their land and livelihoods. As part of the effort to defend farmlands, Grassroots International supports movement organizations like the MST to provide technical assistance, foster alliances that are necessary to reclaim their land rights, and work to make sure those families can build a dignified life through agroecology.

 

“We are grateful for Grassroots’ support,” said Edileu. “This project helped us to produce our food and opened new opportunities. For example, we were able to build a partnership with local agronomy students who are working with us to expand the project to other areas.”

 

The group of food producers is now working on an initiative to market the fruits through a newly formed cooperative. “Many people from the government have visited us to learn about our initiative. And some of them promised to help us, because our next step is to figure out ways to sell our products to local markets and generate an income for the families and the movement.”

 

Agroecology, food sovereignty are forming the new leaders

 

Edileu shared with me the story of Juca, 34, and his family to demonstrate that the project was not only about food production but also strengthening the movement. Juca, his wife Maria and their six children lived through the four evictions. Juca and Maria knew how to grow just about anything, but they didn't have land, resources and the support they have today.

 

For Juca and Maria, the big and small victories of getting the land and planting their backyard with different fruits are results of the families’ organization and persistence through years of struggle. “It was not a government handout, believe me,.” Edileu insisted.

 

Edileu mentioned that the struggle taught families to organize themselves. Juca, for instance, now leads the meetings and provide assistance to other families with inevitable problems with their crops. “He coordinates the activities among the families. Juca is an example of how this project makes us stronger and self-sufficient as community and movement of peasants. We are not waiting anymore for the orders of a larger landowner and politicians to say what we should or can do.”

Tell TIAA-CREF to stop investing in the Separation Wall

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While TIAA-CREF is particularly interested in hearing from participants (or clients) with accounts, they also have an interest in protecting their image: Financial Services for the Greater Good.

Let them know that investing in companies like Elbit who profit from illegal construction and surveillance projects does not support the Greater Good! Share your concerns with them about the impact of the Wall on resource rights–and in particular, about companies like Elbit that TIAA-CREF invests in.
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