Massah ISIS

In the newest issue of Dabiq, the English-language magazine published by ISIS, the extremist group for the first time confirmed and justified the capturing, enslaving, and selling of Yazidi women and children. The article surfaced as anew report from Human Rights Watch said that hundreds of Yazidis are being held captive in makeshift detention facilities in Iraq and Syria, and that some young women and teenagers are being forced to marry the group's fighters.

“The Islamic State’s litany of horrific crimes against the Yezidis in Iraq only keeps growing,” said Fred Abrahams, special advisor at Human Rights Watch. “We heard shocking stories of forced religious conversions, forced marriage, and even sexual assault and slavery—and some of the victims were children.”

In the article, "The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour," the magazine stated that "the enslaved Yazidi families are now sold by the Islamic State soldiers," adding that, "the Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the Shariah amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations."

"May Allah bless this Islamic State with the revival of further aspects of the religion occurring at its hands," the article says.

Referring to the Yazidis as "pagans" and "infidels," the article said, "Their creed is so deviant from the truth that even cross-worshipping Christians for ages considered them devil worshippers and Satanists, as is recorded in accounts of Westerners and Orientalists who encountered them or studied them."

The publication of an article like this is obviously part of an intimidation effort. Elsewhere in the magazine, ISIS spokesperson Mohammed al-Adnani threatens, "We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women."

But ISIS is also boasting about what its members see as the revival of important institutions such as slavery. "Before Shaytan reveals his doubts to the weak-minded and weak hearted, one would remember that enslaving the families of the [infidels] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of Shariah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Quran and the narrations of the Prophet, and thereby apostatizing from Islam," the article says. "... May Allah bless this Islamic State with the revival of further aspects of the religion occurring at its hands."

The United Nations estimates that at least 500,000 Yazidis fled their homes in northern Iraq after ISIS waged a major offensive in August on Sinjar, pushing tens of thousands to Mt. Sinjar where they were stranded for weeks.

Researchers with Human Rights Watch, who interviewed 76 Yazidis who fled to the Kurdish region of Iraq and 16 Yazidis who managed to escape ISIS detention, said that none of those who had been detained said they had been raped, although several said they had fought off violent attacks.  

"As much as we could, we didn't let them touch our bodies," said one young woman who had been abducted but managed to escape. "Everything they did, they did by force."

However, fully disclosing assault may be curbed by social norms among Yazidis.

"The biggest taboo is not being captured, it is being [sexually] assaulted," Tirana Hassan, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch's Emergencies Division, told Vice News. "The Yezidis are a small, conservative community and women will go great lengths to ensure this is private, to make sure they are not ostracized by the community. Virginity is a very important concept."

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The Women of PKK

ERBIL, Iraq—As the Islamic State fighters tore through northern Iraq in a murderous rampage, the women were called to come down from the mountains.

One woman known as Ozlem, a longtime fighter with a Kurdish guerrilla group, was sent to defend Makhmour, a town where some 12,000 Kurds had taken refugee. Ozlem, whose nom de guerre means “to be missed,” eagerly left to confront the enemy -- the radical Islamic group also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“We knew what they did in Sinjar,” Ozlem said, referring to the recent slaughter of civilians from the Yazidi minority sect, whose surviving members fled into a forbidding mountain range in northern Iraq before. 

PKK Commander Ozlem

“We came to Makhmour with so much aggression against ISIS,” she said.

For days, they heard how the Islamic State was advancing toward Makhmour, their black banner giving the fighters the appearance of a marauding army conjured up from a medieval past.

Then, the fighters arrived. 

For the next 76 hours, Ozlem along with the rest of the Kurdish forces, battled the militants for control of the town, the women participating alongside the men in combat, as members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (or PKK) has always done.

In firefights with bearded, black-clad men, she came close enough to notice they were fighting in sandals and seemed apparently unconcerned with death.

“In clashes with other enemies, soldiers defended themselves, because life was important to them,” Ozlem said. “You usually lay down and shoot from the ground or from behind something. They were standing up -- exposed -- and shooting.”

A Peshmerga fighter leads training exercises on a base in northern Iraq.

Ozlem and other women who were part of the battle say they took special pleasure in fighting the notorious radicals whose barbarism, especially towards women, has left a scuttlebutt trail in every town they have taken.

“They're the enemy of women, but not only women,” Ozlem said. “They're the enemy of the entire region and entire world.”

ISIS fighters spray painted graffiti onto buildings around the town.

Colonel Nahida Ahmad Rashid commands an all-female regiment of Peshmerga fighters.

“Having women on the front lines is a way of confronting the fear of ISIS.”

The Islamic State militants came dangerously close to Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. 

The PKK not only called upon defense forces from its mountain base but a flood of ethnic Kurds also volunteered for the fight. Many are women, now training others as their more seasoned comrades-in-arms fight on the front lines.

In the fighting force, as many as 40 percent are women, who undergo the same combat training as men, with a supplementary course on women in war, according to commanders. Gender equality is a fundamental feature of the PKK, which was founded as a Marxist-leaning organization.

Adept at psychological warfare, the Islamic State wants to inspire terror through its brutality. 

“Having women face them directly sends a powerful message,” says Meral Zin Cicek, the president of the Kurdish Women's Relation Office in Erbil. 

“Having women on the front lines is a way of confronting the fear of ISIS.”

Shanaz Bakir Ahmad, 19, joined the Peshmerga four years ago. She is an RPG specialist.

“We'll take the fight until the last drop of blood.”

While women of the PKK and its affiliate in Syria—the YPG, another gender-mixed force that has been fighting the Islamic State in the Kurdish region of Syria for three years—see far more action than women in other Kurdish armed groups, the eagerness to confront ISIS is all the same.

The commander of a 500-strong all-female unit of Peshmerga fighters says that after the events of Sinjar, everyone from lawyers to university professors and government workers asked how they could help. 

Her own daughter, just 10 years old, who happily marched alongside a unit of women training, told her that she wanted to join the Peshmerga to avenge the deaths of all the children who died in Mosul and Sinjar.

“As Peshmerga, it is my duty to go to war, but it is not the duty of civilians,” said Colonel Nahida Ahmad Rashid. “Yet even civilians are so disturbed by ISIS—they are raping women, degrading the value of women, brutally killing people—they want to do something to stop them.”

Adding to their inspiration is a widely held rumor that the radical fighters believe that if killed by a woman they will not go to paradise. Though disputed by experts, it is the gospel among the women of Colonel Rashid's regiment.

Shanaz Bakir Ahmad, a 19-year-old RPG specialist, says she is ready to go to the front lines for this reason. 

“We'll take the fight until the last drop of blood,” she said.

“I have a high morale and am ready to take my gun and go.”

So far, enough volunteers have offered to fight that she has not yet been called. Instead, she has been delivering weapons to the front lines in Jalawla, another Kurdish town under threat.

Nasik Qader Mohammed, 39, has also volunteered. 

“I have a high morale and am ready to take my gun and go,” she said. 

She is now manning checkpoints and participating in supply runs to the front lines along with her daughter, 19-year-old Shanaz Bakir Ahmad, an RPG specialist, who is part of the same unit.

Peshmerga, the main defense force of the Kurdish region of Iraq is now collaborating with the PKK in some areas, including Makhmour, after initially being beaten back by the Islamic State. Men from both groups stand side-by-side at checkpoints, ushering in the refugees who are slowly returning to their town a month after the Islamic State was ousted.

Still, residents are jittery and want the PKK fighters to stay. The lean and sunbeaten men and women patrolling the camp are happy to oblige. Zinarin, a 33-year-old PKK veteran, who describes the Islamic State as a “dirty organization,” says she will stay as long as any threat remains. 

“We want to defend our people,” she said.

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Worst Offenders.........

 The U.S. State Department downgraded Thailand, Malaysia and Venezuela on Friday to its list of the world's worst centers of human trafficking, opening up the countries to possible sanctions and dumping them in the same category as North Korea and Syria.

The three countries were all downgraded to the lowest "Tier 3" status in the U.S. State Department's 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report as they did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Thai officials repeatedly expressed confidence their country would be upgraded, submitting a 78-page report to the U.S. government in April to make its case.

The downgrades could cause some multinational companies to reconsider investments in industries accused of using trafficked labor such as fisheries, a lucrative business in Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of shrimp.

The countries could also lose U.S. non-humanitarian and non-trade-related aid, and they could face U.S. opposition to help from international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The report said the majority of trafficking victims in Thailand - "tens of thousands ... by conservative estimates" - were migrants from neighboring countries "forced, coerced, or defrauded into labor or exploited in the sex trade." A significant number were trafficked into the fishing industry, garment production and domestic work.

The State Department also cited media reports of “trafficking-related complicity by Thai civilian and navy personnel in crimes involving the exploitation” of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar by the tens of thousands over the past year.

Those reports included a Reuters story in December that documented a clandestine Thai policy to remove Rohingya from immigration detention centers and deliver them to traffickers and smugglers waiting at sea. Many Rohingya were then ferried back to brutal trafficking camps in Thailand, where some died.

The State Department said that not only had the government "systematically" failed to prosecute trafficking into the fishing industry, but the Thai navy had also filed defamation charges against two journalists who reprinted reports of complicity of civilian and naval personnel in exploitation of Rohingya asylum seekers from Myanmar.

That was a reference to criminal defamation charges filed by Thailand's navy against two journalists at Phuketwan, a small English-language news website based in Phuket, which published selected excerpts from a July Reuters report.

The Reuters report, based on interviews with people smugglers and more than two dozen survivors of boat voyages, revealed how some Thai naval security forces worked systematically with smugglers to profit from the surge in Rohingya fleeing Myanmar to escape religious persecution.

The Thai navy has also filed a criminal complaint against two Reuters journalists, alleging violations of the Computer Crimes Act. Reuters has not been charged and stands by its reporting, a Reuters spokesman said.

“We have seen interlocutors who we think are actually trying hard, but of course that gets dragged down by the widespread official complicity,” U.S. Ambassador at-Large Luis CdeBaca of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons told Reuters.

“It’s kind of like an anchor that is holding the folks who seem to be wanting to make a difference back.”

"IMPUNITY"

Thailand, Malaysia and Venezuela promote themselves as modern, fast-developing countries, but their Tier 3 ranking puts them among the world’s most lawless, oppressive and dysfunctional.

A third of Tier 3 countries, among them Mauritania and Yemen, also appear on the United Nations list of least-developed nations. Many Tier 3 countries (Syria, Central African Republic) are at war; others (Zimbabwe, North Korea) are dictatorships.

In the year ended March 31, the period covered by the report, the Thai government said it had made "significant progress" in combating human trafficking. It cited data that showed it convicted 225 people for this crime in 2013, compared with 49 in 2012, among other measures.

But despite frequent media and non-governmental organization reports documenting forced labor among migrants, the State Department report said, the Thai government “demonstrated few efforts to address these trafficking crimes."

"Impunity for pervasive trafficking-related corruption continued to impede progress in combating trafficking," the report said.

The report found Malaysia had made "inadequate efforts to improve its flawed victim-protection regime" and had investigated fewer trafficking cases in 2013 than in 2012. The Malaysian downgrade had been largely expected.

The report said Venezuela was making insufficient efforts to combat sex trafficking and forced labor as it had failed to come up with a written plan to bring it into compliance with minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.

CdeBaca said the White House would make a decision on possible sanctions against Thailand, one of its oldest Asian treaty allies, within about 90 days.

Last month, Washington canceled some security cooperation projects with Thailand to protest against the country's military coup on May 22.

In April, U.S. lawmakers called on the Obama administration to punish countries that do too little to fight trafficking, including Thailand and Malaysia, and said Myanmar - another country Washington has been seeking to boost ties with - should not receive a waiver to avoid sanctions over its record.

Friday's State Department report said that while Myanmar did not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, "it is making significant efforts to do so."

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A Relationship between the 2?

Human trafficking leaves no land untouched. In 2013 the U.S. State Department estimated that there are 27 million victims worldwide trafficked for forced labor or commercial sex exploitation. A 2011 report from the Department of Justice found that of more than 2,500 federal trafficking cases from 2008 to 2010, 82% concerned sex trafficking and nearly half of those involved victims under the age of 18. Scholars note that the phenomenon represents a serious health issue for women and girls worldwide. Beyond the human cost, trafficking may also compromise international security, weaken the rule of law and undermine health systems.

Since the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children in 2000, global efforts have been made by the international community to address the growing problem. Challenges remain significant, however, in particular because of its profitability: According to the International Labor Organization, human trafficking is a $32 billion industry, second only to illicit drugs. A 2011 paper in Human Rights Review found that sex slaves cost on average $1,895 each while generating $29,210 annually, leading to “stark predictions about the likely growth in commercial sex slavery in the future.”

A 2012 study published in World Development, “Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?” investigates the effect of legalized prostitution on human trafficking inflows into high-income countries. The researchers — Seo-Yeong Cho of the German Institute for Economic Research, Axel Dreher of the University of Heidelberg and Eric Neumayer of the London School of Economics and Political Science — analyzed cross-sectional data of 116 countries to determine the effect of legalized prostitution on human trafficking inflows. In addition, they reviewed case studies of Denmark, Germany and Switzerland to examine the longitudinal effects of legalizing or criminalizing prostitution.

The study’s findings include:

• Countries with legalized prostitution are associated with higher human trafficking inflows than countries where prostitution is prohibited. The scale effect of legalizing prostitution, i.e. expansion of the market, outweighs the substitution effect, where legal sex workers are favored over illegal workers. On average, countries with legalized prostitution report a greater incidence of human trafficking inflows.
• The effect of legal prostitution on human trafficking inflows is stronger in high-income countries than middle-income countries. Because trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation requires that clients in a potential destination country have sufficient purchasing power, domestic supply acts as a constraint.
• Criminalization of prostitution in Sweden resulted in the shrinking of the prostitution market and the decline of human trafficking inflows. Cross-country comparisons of Sweden with Denmark (where prostitution is decriminalized) and Germany (expanded legalization of prostitution) are consistent with the quantitative analysis, showing that trafficking inflows decreased with criminalization and increased with legalization.
• The type of legalization of prostitution does not matter — it only matters whether prostitution is legal or not. Whether third-party involvement (persons who facilitate the prostitution businesses, i.e, “pimps”) is allowed or not does not have an effect on human trafficking inflows into a country. Legalization of prostitution itself is more important in explaining human trafficking than the type of legalization.
• Democracies have a higher probability of increased human-trafficking inflows than non-democratic countries. There is a 13.4% higher probability of receiving higher inflows in a democratic country than otherwise.

While trafficking inflows may be lower where prostitution is criminalized, there may be severe repercussions for those working in the industry. For example, criminalizing prostitution penalizes sex workers rather than the people who earn most of the profits (pimps and traffickers).

“The likely negative consequences of legalised prostitution on a country’s inflows of human trafficking might be seen to support those who argue in favour of banning prostitution, thereby reducing the flows of trafficking,” the researchers state. “However, such a line of argumentation overlooks potential benefits that the legalisation of prostitution might have on those employed in the industry. Working conditions could be substantially improved for prostitutes — at least those legally employed — if prostitution is legalised. Prohibiting prostitution also raises tricky ‘freedom of choice’ issues concerning both the potential suppliers and clients of prostitution services.”

Related research: A December 2013 paper, “Human Trafficking and Regulating Prostitution,” from the New York University Law and Economics program, takes a theoretical approach to supply and demand issues, and the dynamics of markets. Leaving aside the implications for trafficking, there is a vast body of research on the legalization of prostitution and the effects on societies around the globe. A 2013 paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research finds some positive effects of legalization in the U.S. context. Qualitative survey research with sex workers themselves also continues to provide insights.

- See more at: http://journalistsresource.org/studies/international/human-rights/legalized-prostitution-human-trafficking-inflows#sthash.XXlq7VZ5.dpuf

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Hippos under a Tree? No Hippos are Smarter!!

نبض سوريا

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Veiled women sit as they chat in a garden in Raqqa, March 31, 2014. (photo by REUTERS)

European women find appeal in Syrian jihad

AMSTERDAM — Khadija (not her real name) enjoyed a quiet life in the Netherlands, the country she grew up in. She had a place to stay and the opportunity to study.​ However, over the last couple of years, she found it more difficult as a devout Muslim and felt increasing hostility. ​

In the fall of 2013, her best friend told her that she was planning to join her husband, a jihadist fighter, in Syria. Khadija, who had always wanted to focus on her religion more, became convinced that she should come along. By the end of 2013, the two friends took a flight to Turkey. Contacts there smuggled them across the border into Syria and they were taken to a place near Aleppo. There, they were welcomed by other European women whose husbands were ISIS fighters.She came across images of black al-Qaeda flags in Syria on the Internet, and she found out that several Dutch Muslims had joined the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). They were talking about Sharia, creating an Islamic state and fighting against the Syrian regime, aspects that appealed to her.

“I always wanted to live under Sharia. In Europe, this will never happen. Besides, my Muslim brothers and sisters over there need help," Khadija, 24, told Al-Monitor over the phone.

“According to the Quran, Syria is a blessed land, and jihad is obligatory for all Muslims,” she said.

The London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization estimated in an April report that up to 2,800 Westerners have gone to Syria to fight, mainly from Europe. Intelligence and security services in Europe say that most of them are affiliated with ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, the official al-Qaeda branch in Syria.

"Jihad" attracts women as well as men. Sara, 18, from the Netherlands described how she went to Syria to “follow God’s rules” and to “help the people.” Like Khadija, Sara pointed out that she was not coerced in her decision.

“Muslims do not want to be humiliated in a kuffar [infidel] country where our rights are being violated. I left my country with a big smile, and I don’t care that the [Dutch] government doesn’t want me back," she wrote on her Facebook page. 

Sara radicalized after she became friends with Salafist Muslims in the Netherlands. She began to cover herself with an Islamic face veil. That resulted in insults on the streets, even from Muslims, many of whom consider the full black veil an extremist form of Islam.

Montasser AlDe'emeh, a researcher studying jihadist fighters at the universities of Antwerp and Leuven in Belgium, believes there are various reasons why European women join radical Islamist groups. The rise of right-wing parties — often anti-Muslim — in Europe is one factor, as is the women's difficult childhood.

“These girls feel there is no place for them in society, as they are being rejected by everyone, including Muslims. By contacting Muslims who feel the same way, they try to fulfill needs ​such as love, recognition and sisterhood,” he told Al-Monitor.

AlDe'emeh, a Palestinian Muslim, said that creating a caliphate by connecting all the Islamic countries is the ultimate goal of European jihadists who join ISIS.

“The fighters believe that the fall of the Ottoman Empire led to dictatorial regimes in the Muslim world. They do not believe in the colonial borders that were determined by the British and the French,” he said.

According to Khadija, most European jihadist women went to Syria with their husbands. Others get married on the spot, just like Sara, who recently married a Belgian fighter called Brian de Mulder.

A week after she arrived, Khadija was introduced to a Tunisian ISIS fighter. “A religious man with green eyes, I really liked him,” she said. After she agreed, a local sheikh performed the marriage.

European female jihadists in Syria describe a sober, domestic life, in which their duties of jihad play a key role. The main task of the female jihadist is supporting her husband, who fights, and being a good Muslim. This is part of the "inner or greater jihad," which is much needed in Syria, because, according to these extremists, the West does not care about the war-torn country. Fighting is considered to be part of the "outer or smaller jihad."

“I baked cookies, cooked for my husband, chatted with women and played with my pets. I had five fish, two birds and four cats,” Khadija said, smiling nostalgically, adding that she did not have contact with the locals, except for one Syrian woman, while in Syria.

ISIS, which has spread across Raqqa, northern Aleppo and some of the border areas, attracts young jihadists from all over the world. The European fighters in Syria form a tight community. On social media, male fighters share updates about attacks that their comrades have carried out, pictures of fallen jihadists and videos about their missions. As for the female jihadists, Quran verses are being shared and pictures of meals and snacks — next to that a Kalashnikov — appear on Facebook. Western countries are often being criticized and fighters who die as martyrs are hardly being mourned, because it is believed they go straight to​ heaven.

A European jihadist from Raqqa said she “pities Muslims who still live in a kuffar country."

“Here we feel that Allah is with us. Brothers and sisters are happy. Allah’s flag is waving in every street. So sweet," she wrote on Facebook.

But local Raqqa residents bemoan ISIS’ occupation of their city and the imposition of strict Islamic rules. Women are forced to wear a niqab and smoking is prohibited. Not a day goes by without an execution, crucifixion or torture. According to a local activist, the numbers of foreign jihadists are still increasing.

“Fighters from the United States, Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany, Norway, the Arab world. Believe me, I have seen them all, living in big houses and hotels. Of course, they have plenty of food,” Ammar Mohammed (not his real name) told Al-Monitor via Skype.

ISIS is not only involved in a battle with the Syrian regime, but also with their rival Jabhat al-Nusra. On May 27, a car bomb exploded in front of a hotel in Raqqa where the children and wives of foreign fighters live. ISIS said dozens of women, children and fighters were wounded and accusations were directed at Jabhat al-Nusra.

In Europe, there are growing concerns that European radicals will parlay their experiences in Syria into terrorism back home. These fears were realized when it became clear that the French national suspected of having shot dead three people in the Jewish Museum in Brussels last month spent most of 2013 fighting with radical Islamist groups in Syria.

Khadija also returned to the Netherlands after a two-month stay in Syria. Her husband brought her to the border himself after she told him she missed her family. She now lives in Amsterdam again, but her radical sentiments remain strong.

“I would like to go back to Syria soon," she concluded. “If I die over there, I die on God's path."

"Freedom" with a Side of Taliban

Some of the restrictions imposed by Taliban on women in Afghanistan

The following list offers only an abbreviated glimpse of the hellish lives Afghan women are forced to lead under the Taliban, and can not begin to reflect the depth of female deprivations and sufferings. Taliban treat women worse than they treat animals. In fact, even as Taliban declare the keeping of caged birds and animals illegal, they imprison Afghan women within the four walls of their own houses. Women have no importance in Taliban eyes unless they are occupied producing children, satisfying male sexual needs or attending to the drudgery of daily housework. Jehadi fundamentalists such as Gulbaddin, Rabbani, Masood, Sayyaf, Khalili, Akbari, Mazari and their co-criminal Dostum have committed the most treacherous and filthy crimes against Afghan women. And as more areas come under Taliban control, even if the number of rapes and murders perpetrated against women falls, Taliban restrictions --comparable to those from the middle ages-- will continue to kill the spirit of our people while depriving them of a humane existence. We consider Taliban more treacherous and ignorant than Jehadis. According to our people, "Jehadis were killing us with guns and swords but Taliban are killing us with cotton."

Taliban restrictions and mistreatment of women include the: 1- Complete ban on women's work outside the home, which also applies to female teachers, engineers and most professionals. Only a few female doctors and nurses are allowed to work in some hospitals in Kabul. 2- Complete ban on women's activity outside the home unless accompanied by a mahram (close male relative such as a father, brother or husband). 3- Ban on women dealing with male shopkeepers. 4- Ban on women being treated by male doctors. 5- Ban on women studying at schools, universities or any other educational institution. (Taliban have converted girls' schools into religious seminaries.) 6- Requirement that women wear a long veil (Burqa), which covers them from head to toe. 7- Whipping, beating and verbal abuse of women not clothed in accordance with Taliban rules, or of women unaccompanied by a mahram. 8- Whipping of women in public for having non-covered ankles. 9- Public stoning of women accused of having sex outside marriage. (A number of lovers are stoned to death under this rule). 10- Ban on the use of cosmetics. (Many women with painted nails have had fingers cut off). 11- Ban on women talking or shaking hands with non-mahram males. 12- Ban on women laughing loudly. (No stranger should hear a woman's voice). 13- Ban on women wearing high heel shoes, which would produce sound while walking. (A man must not hear a woman's footsteps.) 14- Ban on women riding in a taxi without a mahram. 15- Ban on women's presence in radio, television or public gatherings of any kind. 16- Ban on women playing sports or entering a sport center or club. 17- Ban on women riding bicycles or motorcycles, even with their mahrams. 18- Ban on women's wearing brightly colored clothes. In Taliban terms, these are "sexually attracting colors." 19- Ban on women gathering for festive occasions such as the Eids, or for any recreational purpose. 20- Ban on women washing clothes next to rivers or in a public place. 21- Modification of all place names including the word "women." For example, "women's garden" has been renamed "spring garden". 22- Ban on women appearing on the balconies of their apartments or houses. 23- Compulsory painting of all windows, so women can not be seen from outside their homes. 24- Ban on male tailors taking women's measurements or sewing women's clothes. 25- Ban on female public baths. 26- Ban on males and females traveling on the same bus. Public buses have now been designated "males only" (or "females only"). 27- Ban on flared (wide) pant-legs, even under a burqa. 28- Ban on the photographing or filming of women. 29- Ban on women's pictures printed in newspapers and books, or hung on the walls of houses and shops. Apart from the above restrictions on women, the Taliban has: - Banned listening to music, not only for women but men as well. - Banned the watching of movies, television and videos, for everyone. - Banned celebrating the traditional new year (Nowroz) on March 21. The Taliban has proclaimed the holiday un-Islamic. - Disavowed Labor Day (May 1st), because it is deemed a "communist" holiday. - Ordered that all people with non-Islamic names change them to Islamic ones. - Forced haircuts upon Afghan youth. - Ordered that men wear Islamic clothes and a cap. - Ordered that men not shave or trim their beards, which should grow long enough to protrude from a fist clasped at the point of the chin. - Ordered that all people attend prayers in mosques five times daily. - Banned the keeping of pigeons and playing with the birds, describing it as un-Islamic. The violators will be imprisoned and the birds shall be killed. The kite flying has also been stopped. - Ordered all onlookers, while encouraging the sportsmen, to chant Allah-o-Akbar (God is great) and refrain from clapping. - Ban on certain games including kite flying which is "un-Islamic" according to Taliban. - Anyone who carries objectionable literature will be executed. - Anyone who converts from Islam to any other religion will be executed. - All boy students must wear turbans. They say "No turban, no education". - Non-Muslim minorities must distinct badge or stitch a yellow cloth onto their dress to be differentiated from the majority Muslim population. Just like what did Nazis with Jews. - Banned the use of the internet by both ordinary Afghans and foreigners. And so on...

Many of the anti-women rules that Taliban practiced were first of all the rules formulated and practiced by Rabbani-Massoud government after they came to power in 1992, but no one talk about them and it is painful that today even they are called the champaions of women's rights!! ON November 8, 1994 the UN Secretary-General presented the interim report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan prepared by Mr. Felix Ermacora, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/84 of 9 March 1994, and Economic and Social Council decision 1994/268 of 25 July 1994. Parts of the report about women's rights sitaution says:

The Special Rapporteur's attention has been drawn to the Ordinance on the Women's Veil, which is reported to have been issued by a nine-member professional committee of the High Court of the Islamic State of Afghanistan and which reads as follows: "A denier of veil is an infidel and an unveiled woman is lewd". "Conditions of wearing veil: 1. The veil must cover the whole body. 2. Women's clothes must not be thin. 3. Women's clothes must not be decorated and colourful. 4. Women's clothes must not be narrow and tight to prevent the seditious limbs from being noticed. The veil must not be thin. 5. Women must not perfume themselves. If a perfumed woman passes by a crowd of men, she is considered to be an adulteress. 6. Women's clothes must not resemble men's clothes. "In addition, 1. They must not perfume themselves. 2. They must not wear adorning clothes. 3. They must not wear thin clothes. 4. They must not wear narrow and tight clothes. 5. They must cover their entire bodies. 6. Their clothes must not resemble men's clothes. 7. Muslim women's clothes must not resemble non-Muslim women's clothes. 8. Their foot ornaments must not produce sound. 9. They must not wear sound-producing garments. 10. They must not walk in the middle of streets. 11. They must not go out of their houses without their husband's permission. 12. They must not talk to strange men. 13. If it is necessary to talk, they must talk in a low voice and without laughter. 14. They must not look at strangers. 15. They must not mix with strangers."

Take a Canadian Shot !!??

Canadian shooting: What we know -- and don't know -- a day later

(CNN) -- A day after a gunman killed an army reservist in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, many questions remain.

Why did he shoot? Why did he target Nathan Cirillo? Is he connected to the militant group ISIS? Here's a list of what we know -- and don't know -- in the Ottawa shooting.

THE SHOOTER:

What we know: The alleged gunman was born Michael Joseph Hall in Canada, and changed his name to Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, authorities say. He was 32 years old according to court documents.

He was a Canadian citizen who may have had dual Libyan-Canadian citizenship, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson said. The police commissioner said Zehaf-Bibeau was born in Montreal and lived in Calgary and most recently Vancouver.

He had criminal records indicating infractions related to drugs and violence and other criminal activities, police said.

His father is a Quebec businessman and his mother works in Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. The parents are divorced.

What we don't know: Why he changed his name to Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, but two sources told CNN that he converted to Islam. While ISIS militants have stepped up recruitment efforts in Canada, there's no indication so far that the attacker was part of them.

THE MOTIVE:

Uncle of Ottawa shooting victim speaks

Ottawa shooting witness: It was chaos

Who was Michael Zehaf-Bibeau?

Brother of hero: He did what he had to

'Hero' Sergeant for shooting gunman

What we know: Authorities said Wednesday that Zehaf-Bibeau had been applying for a passport and hoped to travel to Syria. His passport had not been revoked, as earlier stories have said.

"I think the passport figured prominently in his motives," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson said Thursday. "However, we have not come to ground completely on his motivations for this attack. But clearly, it's linked to his radicalization. Clearly, it's linked to his difficult circumstances."

Was Zehaf-Bibeau a jihadist? He had "connections" to jihadists in Canada who shared a radical Islamist ideology, including at least one who went overseas to fight in Syria, multiple U.S. sources told CNN on Thursday.

But Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird told CNN's Christiane Amanpour there is "no evidence at this stage" that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was linked to a wider group, or network, of jihadists.

There have been troubling incidents in the nation recently.

On Monday, a man Canadian authorities said was a "radicalized" Muslim hit two soldiers with a car in Quebec, killing one of them. Police later killed the man. There was no immediate indication that the incidents were related.

The United States heightened security at its Embassy in Ottawa as well as another consulate in the country after jihadist chatter indicated an attack could be in the works, according to officials.

What we don't know: With the gunman's death, the true motive may never be known.

ACCOMPLICES:

What we know: Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said the gunman was acting alone. "It appears there was just one shooter, and that shooter is dead," he said.

What we don't know: Whether he had any ties to any group or groups.

"In the days to come, we will learn more about the terrorist and any accomplices he may have had, but this week's events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere in the world," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

THE VICTIM:

What we know: Nathan Cirillo was the strong, smiling type. The Canadian army reservist could look the part of the intimidating soldier, but loved snuggling with his dog, enjoying music or joking with friends. He was part of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, a reserve unit of the Canadian army.

Jim Cirillo, Nathan Cirillo's uncle, told CBC News that Cirillo's father is in Costa Rica and might not yet know about his son's death.

What we don't know: Why the gunman shot Cirillo in the back -- "in cold blood," as Harper put it, while he stood guard at Canada'sNational War Memorial.

THE HERO

What we know: Kevin Vickers, sergeant-at-arms of Canada's House of Commons, is credited with bringing down the gunman. "Kevin is definitely a hero," said Matt Miller, the Vancouver Observer's parliamentary bureau chief, who was in his office just above the shooting.

On Thursday, Vickers received a standing ovation from Parliament. He regularly leads a procession into the House as sessions begins while holding a ceremonial mace.

What we don't know: Details on how he stopped the gunman.Several officers had weapons drawn, and most of the dozens of shots aimed at the gunman appeared to have been fired by officers. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said more information would be provided in a news conference Thursday.

THE SECURITY:

What we know: Shortly after the shooting at the memorial, a gunman entered the nearby building on Parliament Hill. Gunfire first erupted in the building's foyer. Then a second round of shooting happened about a minute later in a hallway or near the entrance to the Parliament's library.

Another disturbing incident occurred Thursday. As the Prime Minister and his wife laid a wreath in memory of Cirillo, a man yelled and wrapped a white scarf around his face, an eyewitness said. Police quickly subdued him.

What we don't know: Why the security agencies at the Parliamentdid not tighten security after Ottawa police received a 911 call at nearby National War Memorial. We also don't know how the gunman slipped past the metal detectors and into the building.