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Pakistani Muslims Beat Elderly Christian Couple Unconscious
Posted on October 22, 2010 by particularkev
80-year-old's bones broken after he refused prostitute that four men offered.
SARGODHA, Pakistan, October 21 (CDN) — An 80-year-old Christian in southern Punjab Province said Muslims beat him and his 75-year-old wife, breaking his arms and legs and her skull, because he refused a prostitute they had offered him.
From his hospital bed in Vehari, Emmanuel Masih told Compass by telephone that two powerful Muslim land owners in the area, brothers Muhammad Malik Jutt and Muhammad Khaliq Jutt, accompanied by two other unidentified men, brought a prostitute to his house on Oct. 8. Targeting him as a Christian on the premise that he would not have the social status to fight back legally, the men ordered him to have sex with the woman at his residence in village 489-EB, he said.
"I turned down the order of the Muslim land owners, which provoked the ire of those four Muslim men," Masih said in a frail voice. District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Vehari officials confirmed that he suffered broken hip, arm and leg bones in the subsequent attack.
His wife, Inayatan Bibi, said she was cleaning the courtyard of her home when she heard the four furious men brutally striking Masih in her house.
"I tried to intervene to stop them and pleaded for mercy, and they also thrashed me with clubs and small pieces of iron rods," she said by telephone.
The couple was initially rushed to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Burewala in critical condition, but doctors there turned them away at the behest of the Jutt brothers, according to the couple's attorney, Rani Berkat. Burewala hospital officials confirmed the denial of medical care.
Taken to the hospital in Vehari, Inayatan Bibi was treated for a fractured skull. The beatings had left both her and her husband unconscious.
Berkat said the Muslim assailants initially intimidated Fateh Shah police into refraining from filing charges against them. After intervention by Berkat and Albert Patras, director of human rights group Social Environment Protection, police reluctantly registered a case against the Jutt brothers and two unidentified accomplices for attempted murder and "assisting to devise a crime." The First Information Report (FIR) number is 281/10.
Station House Officer Mirza Muhammad Jamil of the Fateh Shah police station declined to speak with Compass about the case. Berkat said Jamil told her that the suspects would be apprehended and that justice would be served.
Berkat added, however, that police appeared to be taking little action on the case, and that therefore she had filed an application in the Vehari District and Sessions Court for a judge to direct Fateh Shah police to add charges of ransacking to the FIR.
Doctors at DHQ Vehari said the couple's lives were no longer in danger, but that they would be kept under observation.
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Muslim Mob Targets Christian, Family in Murder Case
Villagers beat young man and his relatives, as well as burn their crops and press charges.
SHEIKHUPURA, Pakistan, October 11 (CDN) — A young Christian has been jailed for nearly eight months and his family was attacked after a Muslim friend framed him for murder, he said.
Yassir Masih, 18, has been locked up at Sheikhupura District Jail since his arrest in late February. In an interview at Narang Mandi police station at that time, Masih said that on Feb. 17 his Muslim friend Muhammad Mubashir came to his house late at night and asked him to accompany him on "an urgent piece of work."
Residents of Pandori village in Sheikhupura district, Mubashir and Masih went to the home of Muhammad Imran, who was in love with the same girl as Mubashir; Masih said the two one-time friends often quarreled over her, with bitter enmity eventually developing between them.
"Being a friend, I went with him, reluctantly, and we soon arrived at the door of Muhammad Imran," Masih said. "Muhammad Mubashir knocked on the door, and as soon as Muhammad Imran opened the door, Muhammad Mubashir opened fire with his pistol, killing Muhammad Imran on the spot."
The gunfire awakened villagers, who gathered and began to search for the killer, Masih said. Frightened of the mob and not wanting to put his family in danger, Masih did not return home but fled with Mubashir. The two young men hid in a field of crops, where they decided to leave the village until passions cooled, he said. As Masih left the village, however, he was unaware that Mubashir had melted into the mob that was looking for the killer, he said.
"Later Muhammad Mubashir went to his house and slept in his warm bed that shivering cold winter night," Masih said.
The next day villagers discovered Masih was missing and therefore accused him of killing Imran, he said.
They didn't stop at that, said Khalid Gill, chief organizer for Punjab Province of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. Gill said that in order to deprive the wealthy Christian family of their profitable strawberry, wheat, corn and other crops, Mubashir's father, Muhammad Gulfam, filed murder, arms possession and terrorism charges not only against Masih but also against his 50-year-old father Abid Masih, as well as brothers Khalid Masih, 30; Asif Masih, 23; Ashir Masih, 15; Faisal Masih, 13; and two others unnamed.
"Most of the Muslims in the area harbored jealousy against the prosperous Christian family," Gill pointed out, explaining why Gulfam also pressed charges against members of Yassir Masih's family.
Additionally, the angry villagers on Feb. 18 overran the property of Masih's grandfather, Rehmat Masih, where four of the late patriarch's sons lived; the mob beat women and children with clubs and looted appliances, clothes and other household items, Gill said.
"Nothing was left of use for the Christian family," Gill said.
He added that the villagers ransacked Yassir Masih's home and burned 20 acres of his fields on Feb. 18. The village comprises about 2,000 Muslim families and only 15 Christian homes, he said.
Officers from Narang Mandi police station arrested Yassir Masih later than month. He and his family members told officers that Mubashir shot Imran, but police listened only to the lies of the plaintiff, Masih said.
On Feb. 19 Yassir Masih's mother, Shamshad Bibi, went to the Narang Mandi police station to file a complaint against the Muslim villagers for attacking and looting their house and burning their crops, Gill said. Police filed a case against the attackers but so far no one has been arrested, and "all the Muslim leaders who instigated the Muslim mob to attack are still at large," Gill said.
At the same time, Narang Mandi police have arrested not only Yassir Masih but his brothers Ashir Masih and Asif Masih, 15 and 23 years old respectively, Gill said. While Yassir Masih has been incarcerated at Sheikhupura District Jail, Ashir Masih and Asif Masih were interrogated by Criminal Investigation Agency officers and have been kept at an undisclosed location since Feb. 18.
The accused Christian's father, Abid Masih, as well as Khalid Masih, were still in hiding at press time. Police exonerated young Faisal Masih of all charges on Sept.1. Gill said that the 13-year-old boy had moved to an undisclosed location.
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Buddhists in India Assault Christian Aid Worker, Friend
Posted on September 7, 2010 by particularkev
Assailants, still at large, abduct and threaten blind volunteer, associate and pregnant wife.
NEW DELHI, September 6 (CDN) — A visually impaired Christian and his friend accused drunken Buddhists of abducting and assaulting them last week after the blind volunteer distributed relief material in a Buddhist-majority town in a region of India devastated by recent floods.
The attackers are still at large after the assault on Wednesday (Sept .1) in the town of Leh in Jammu and Kashmir state's Ladakh region, where flooding and landslides destroyed hundreds of houses and killed around 200 people on Aug. 6.
The attackers, identified as members of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), one of the region's largest and most influential Non-Governmental Organizations, abducted Ram Kumar Thapa, Stanzin Chosphel and his pregnant wife Putali Sherpa because of their Christian faith and beat the men, the victims said.
Thapa, a blind music teacher in his 30s, was abducted from Mahabodhi Gate in Choglamsar area in Leh, where he was distributing relief material, at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the complaint he filed on Thursday (Sept. 2) with the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission.
LBA members were upset that Thapa was preaching Christianity to displaced residents, according to his complaint. The Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief, a Christian relief agency, is rebuilding homes for the displaced people, mostly Buddhists, in the area.
"I was attacked physically by several unknown assailants before other witnesses nearby," Thapa stated in the complaint. "Then these men forced me into a vehicle and continued beating me all over my body as they spoke in Ladakhi to each other."
Thapa, from the eastern state of West Bengal, also stated that the Buddhists contemplated killing him. "They discussed whether to take my life or return to the 'office,'" he said.
The assailants took Thapa to the office of the LBA in Soma Monastery, where a Buddhist monk was also present, and beat him again, he stated. He was then moved to a room where he could hear the voice of his friend, Chosphel, with his pregnant wife.
Chosphel, a convert from Buddhism, is from Ladakh and his wife is from Nepal. The Buddhist assailants had taken them from their house in the Skalzaling area in Leh after Thapa, under pressure from the LBA members, identified them as his associates, according to the Christian victims.
The attackers showed Thapa's bruised and bleeding face to Chosphel to warn him against continuing as a Christian, Thapa stated. He was then taken back to the vehicle.
"They placed a gunny sack with a rope onto my lap and explained that this would be my last bed … [after] they throw me into the Indus River and see if a blind man can swim and save himself," Thapa stated. "I became terribly afraid, since I could smell alcohol on their breath as we sat in the vehicle."
Thapa begged that his life be spared "so I could see my wife, who must be worried since it was late now." The kidnappers replied, "Your wife will see you when she finds your body by the river bank," he stated.
Thapa and his wife, also visually impaired, teach and live at Mahabodhi Residential School for handicapped children.
Thapa stated that when he asked what they wanted from him, "they said I had to leave Ladakh with my family within two days or else they would kill me and my family. It was around 1 a.m. when they dropped me back to my house, bruised and trembling."
Thapa went to the Housing Colony Police Station on Thursday (Sept. 2) and found out that Chosphel also was there to file his complaint.
Chosphel confirmed that the "office" they were taken to belonged to the LBA. In his complaint to the commission, Chosphel said that around 15 "heavily drunken" men came to abduct him and his wife in their black Bolero, a mid-size SUV.
In the courtyard of the LBA facility, the Buddhists beat Chosphel before his wife, who pleaded for them to stop and asked why they were being assaulted.
"They threatened to beat her as well if she did not keep silent," Chosphel stated. "Then they dragged me into a room and gagged my mouth so I could not cry out as they beat me with rubber pipes and rods and fists continuously. All along they kept telling me to leave my wife and also renounce my faith in Christianity and return to Buddhism."
The men released the couple at around 12:30 a.m. after giving them two days to leave Leh or convert to Buddhism, Chosphel stated, "or else they will chop my wife into pieces and kill me and also kill my family … who are still practicing Buddhists."
The attackers also confiscated their mobile phones.
The victims told Compass that they were still facing a threat on their lives even after filing complaints with police.
Additional Superintendent of Police Stanzin Nurboo told Compass that no one had been arrested because the victims could not name the accused.
Chosphel and his wife, however, told Compass that they would be able to identify the attackers if they saw their faces; at press time, however, they said police had not contacted any of them to do so.
Religious conversion is a sensitive issue in Leh, which borders Pakistan and Tibet, as it is seen as an attack on its distinct religious and cultural identity.
Citing religious and cultural differences with the otherwise Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir state, some residents of Ladakh have been asking for union territory status for the region.
As a concession, the Ladakh region was bifurcated into Muslim-majority Kargil district and Buddhist-majority Leh district in 1979, and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council was also created in 1995 to grant some autonomy to Leh and Kargil districts.
The government of Jammu and Kashmir continues to have responsibility for maintaining law and order and is in charge of the judicial system, communications and higher education.
Of the population of 117,232, over 80 percent of the people in Leh are Buddhist. Muslims make up around 15 percent of the population, Hindus 3 percent and Christians 0.2 percent.
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Attacks in Punjab, India Similar to Orissa Mayhem, Report Says
Posted on March 7, 2010 by particularkev
Hindu nationalists try to burn Christians alive for protesting offensive Jesus banners.
NEW DELHI, March 3 (CDN) — Attacks on Christians last month in Punjab state following protests against banners depicting Jesus drinking and smoking were eerily similar to the anti-Christian violence in Orissa state in 2007 and 2008, according to a fact-finding mission.
"I was struck by the similarities between the attacks in northern Punjab state and the violence in eastern Orissa state in 2007 and 2008," said Dr. John Dayal, a member of the All India Christian Council (AICC) fact-finding mission, which released the report yesterday.
Dayal pointed out that factors such as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being part of the ruling coalition, police inaction, coordination of attacks and support of the local merchant community for Hindu nationalist groups in the anti-Christian attacks in Punjab reminded him of mayhem in Orissa's Kandhamal district.
"I have been in Orissa almost a week a month since December 2007 and have become quite familiar with the range of right-wing groups' violence techniques," Dayal, a member of government's National Integration Council, told Compass. "The strategy of the assailants in Punjab was eerily reminiscent of what was practiced and perfected against churches in Orissa."
Violence erupted in Orissa state's Kandhamal district during Christmas week of 2007, killing at least four Christians and burning 730 houses and 95 churches. The attacks came in retaliation for an alleged attack on a Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. More blood was shed there in August-September 2008, after the assassination of Saraswati by a Maoist group, as Christians were falsely blamed for it. The attacks killed more than 100 people and burned 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions.
Following the Feb. 20 attacks, the AICC fact-finding team visited the affected region from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25. In its report, it gave an account of the attacks in Batala town near Amritsar city in Gurdaspur district in west Punjab, where most Christians are from Dalit (formerly "untouchable" according to Hinduism's caste hierarchy) backgrounds.
It reported that supporters of the Hindu extremist Sangh Parivar burned the 1865-built Church of the Epiphany belonging to the Church of North India (CNI) denomination on Feb. 20. They also tried to destroy a nearby Salvation Army church, built in 1958, and attacked its pastor, Gurnam Singh, leaving him seriously injured.
The Sangh Parivar is the family of outfits under the umbrella of India's chief Hindu nationalist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), seen also as the parent body of the BJP.
"Even as the larger group of attackers focused on burning the CNI church, a group of men armed with sticks and rods came to the house of the CNI deacon," the report notes. "The deacon, Victor Gill, and his wife Parveen, hid themselves under the bed. The assailants damaged the doors, tried to enter the room forcibly, and told the couple they would be burnt alive if they did not come out."
At the same time, the report notes, Hindu nationalists at a second CNI house overturned a scooter, took gas from it and doused teacher Christopher Morris and his daughter Daisy with the fuel while her mother, Usha, cringed in their home.
"They tried to set the two on fire, but the matchbox had also been soaked in the petrol, and despite three attempts to strike a match, the matchsticks would not ignite, saving the family from being burnt alive," the report states.
Provoked and Attacked
Christians were attacked while they were trying to enforce an area-wide closure of markets to protest a picture of Jesus Christ holding a can of beer in one hand a lit cigarette in another. It appeared on roadside banners in preparation for a Hindu festival, Ram Navami (the birthday of Rama), which falls on March 24 this year.
"The banners were sponsored by a coalition of local political, media and business leaders, together with the trading community, which is almost entirely Hindu," said the report without identifying the sponsors.
"The Sangh Parivar reacted to the Christian protest by mobilizing shopkeepers and youth 'to teach a lesson to Christians,'" the report states. "Otherwise, local shopkeepers routinely enforce closures.
The Rev. Madhu Chandra, AICC's regional secretary, also a fact-finding team member, told Compass that the banners were apparently put up to provoke Christians and then launch attacks on them. The fact-finding team included attorney M. Adeeb of the Human Rights Law Network and Marang Hansda of the AICC.
The offensive picture of Jesus was taken from a cursive writing exercise book for Class I of a private school in Shillong, the capital of the northeastern state of Meghalaya, reported the Press Trust of India on Feb. 18. Published by Skyline Publication, the book used the picture to illustrate the alphabet "I" for the word "Idol."
When some parents of the students noticed the picture, they reported it to the school authorities, which reported it to police. Christians, who constitute 80 percent of Meghalaya's population, protested. On Feb. 18, police registered a case against the Delhi-based publisher and confiscated the books.
In Batala town in Punjab more than 1,500 miles away, however, the same picture was appeared on banners, causing tensions.
The Tribune, a regional newspaper, reported on Feb. 20 that Christian youth tried to forcibly implement the market shut-down, or "closure," and looted shops. But Chandra of the AICC said the district officials the fact-finding team met were not sure if the allegation was true.
"The officials asked us if the newspaper reports were true," he said. "But we also read it in newspapers only."
Dayal said that Hindu nationalists used the market shut-down to attack Christians.
"Instead of sympathizing and cooperating with the protest – as merchants do when the Sangh Parivar or the ruling Shironami Akali Dal party calls for closures on routine intervals – they sought to teach the Christians a lesson," said Dayal.
He added that in Orissa state's Kandhamal district, Hindu nationalist groups likewise befriended merchants, mostly tribal or aboriginal people, and turned them against Dalit Christians.
Police Inaction
The fact-finding report deplored police inaction. When the mob tried to burn Morris and his daughter Daisy, said the report, "police were watching" but did nothing to help.
It quoted Pastor Gurnam Singh as saying, "We pleaded with the police to help, but they did not."
Police were outnumbered by rioters, as happened in Kandhamal in Orissa, remarked Dayal.
Despite intelligence reports of Christian anger and the Hindu nationalist groups' plans to counterattack, authorities said they "could not enforce a quick curfew until late on Feb. 20 because most of the police were sent to the Pakistani border nearby, where Home Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated a defence outpost."
By the time the police returned and a curfew was imposed, "violence had already occurred," the report states.
"No police report has been filed on the attempted murders, even as the top police and administrative officers enforced a one sided 'peace accord' on the local Christian leadership," the report notes. "Christians were instructed not to press for charges immediately so that a number of Christian youth who were arrested – together with a few Hindu men – could be released. Police forcibly cleaned up the Church of the Epiphany. They removed burnt furniture and made the presbyter whitewash the walls to remove traces of fuel oil used in the blaze. This was done before a formal enquiry could be conducted by the government."
Referring to the police inaction, Dayal pointed out that "the BJP, as in Orissa during 2007 and 2008, is in power in Punjab as member of the coalition government with the regional Shironami Akali Dal party.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Prakash Singh Badal has asked his officials to unravel the "entire conspiracy," the report states.
There are around 300,000 Christians in Punjab, or roughly 1.2 percent of the total population.
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China Releases Uyghur Church Leader from Prison
Posted on November 27, 2009 by particularkev
Osman Imin freed after two years; concerns remain over incarcerated Alimjan Yimit.
LOS ANGELES, November 24 (CDN) — A Uyghur Christian in China's troubled Xinjiang region was released last week after serving two years in a labor camp for alleged "illegal proselytizing" and "leaking state secrets," according to Compass sources.
House church leader Osman Imin (Wusiman Yaming in Chinese) was freed on Wednesday (Nov. 18), sources said. Authorities had called for a 10-15 year prison sentence for Osman but significantly reduced the term following international media attention.
An outspoken leader of the Uyghur church in the northwestern region of China, Osman was first arrested in 2004 and kept at a detention center in Hotan, southern Xinjiang. Local sources said his arrest was almost certainly related to his church work.
There he was chained to a metal bed in winter and frequently beaten while interrogated. Osman was released on bail on Nov. 18, 2004, but bail was canceled in October 2006. On July 26, 2007, he was again placed under supervised house arrest and finally detained by police on Nov. 19 of that year on the charge of "revealing state secrets."
Authorities denied him access to a lawyer, and in June 2008 a court rejected his appeal without explanation.
Authorities eventually moved him to the labor camp outside Kashgar. While in prison Osman was forced to work 12 to 15 hours a day, and his health quickly deteriorated. He was reportedly suffering malnutrition throughout his confinement.
Osman and his wife Nurgul have two young daughters.
Still in arbitrary detention in the region is another Uyghur Christian, Alimjan Yimit (Alimujiang Yimiti in Chinese). Officials initially closed the foreign-owned business Alimjan worked for in September 2007 and accused him of using it as a cover for "preaching Christianity." He was then detained in January 2008 on charges of endangering state security and was formally arrested on Feb. 20, 2008 on charges of "inciting secession" and leaking state secrets.
Court officials returned Alimjan's case to state prosecutors in May 2008, citing lack of evidence. Last May 21, government sources told Alimjan's mother that the Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Kashgar planned to quietly sentence him to three years of re-education through labor, thereby circumventing the court system.
Under Chinese law the PSB, which originally filed the case against Alimjan, may authorize such sentences without approval from the court or other state agencies.
Court authorities have returned Alimjan's case to state prosecutors, citing lack of evidence for charges of "leaking state secrets" and "inciting secession." Family, friends and work colleagues have insisted that Alimjan is a loyal citizen with no access to state secrets, and that his arrest was due largely to his Christian faith and association with foreign Christians.
In Xinjiang's politically charged environment, Alimjan's family and friends fear he could face execution if he were wrongly linked with alleged Uyghur separatists.
Sources said there appears to be a concerted effort to shut down the leadership of the Uyghur church in a restive region where authorities fear anything they cannot control. The region of ethnic Uyghurs has come under a government crackdown the past two years as long-simmering tensions erupted.
Disputes over ownership of Xinjiang's land and rich mineral resources have led to resentment between Uyghurs – native to Xinjiang – and Han Chinese. Religious differences are also an issue, with a vast majority of Uyghurs practicing Islam, while most Chinese are officially atheists or follow Buddhism or syncretistic folk religions. Only a handful of China's estimated 10 million Uyghurs are known to be Christians.
As part of authorities' apparent effort to clamp down on Christianity, they have disbarred several lawyers involved in the defense of Uyghur Christians, including Alimjan's attorney, Li Dunyong. He was effectively disbarred at the end of May when Chinese authorities turned down an annual application to renew his law license.
Zhang Kai, another Beijing lawyer who had defended Alimjan, suffered the same fate.
Authorities failed to renew licenses for at least 15 other lawyers who had defended civil rights cases, religious and ethnic minorities and political dissidents, according to watch group Human Rights in China.
Posted in Buddhism, China, Christianity, Communism, Islam	| Tagged 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, access, agencies, Alimjan Yimit, Alimujiang Yimiti, alleged, annual, appeal, appears, application, approval, arbitrary, arrest, arrested, association, atheists, attention, attorney, authorities, authorize, bail, beaten, bed, Beijing, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhists, business, called, cancelled, cannot, case, center, chained, charge, China, Chinese, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, circumventing, citing, citizen, civil, clamp down, closed, colleagues, Communism, communist, communists, concerns, concerted, confinement, control, court, cover, crackdown, daughters, defended, defense, denied, detained, detention, deteriorated, differences, disbarred, disputes, dissidents, effectively, effort, endangering, Environment, erupted, ethnic, evidence, execution, explanation, face, failed, faith, family, fate, fear, filed, finally, folk, follow, following, forced, foreign-owned, freed, frequently, friends, government, Han Chinese, handful, health, Hotan, house arrest, house church, Human Rights in China, illegal, incarcerated, inciting, insisted, international, interrogated, involved, Islam, issue, Kashgar, kept, known, Labor, labor camp, lack, land, largely, law, lawyer, lawyers, leader, leadership, leaking, Li Dunyong, license, linked, long-simmering, loyal, majority, malnutrition, media, metal, mineral, minorities, mother, Muslim, muslims, northwestern, Nurgul Imim, officials, Osman Imin, outspoken, ownership, part, Persecution, planned, police, politically, practicing, preaching, prison, prosecutors, proselytizing, PSB, Public Security Bureau, quickly, quietly, re-education, reduced, region, rejected, related, releases, religions, religious, remain, renew, resetment, resources, restive, returned, revealing, rich, rights, secession, secrets, sentence, separatists, serving, significantly, sources, southern, state, suffered, suffering, supervised, syncretistic, system, tensions, term, troubled, Uyghur, Uyghurs, vast, watch group, wife, winter, work, wrongly, Wusiman Yaming, Xinjiang, young, Zhang Kai | Leave a comment
PAKISTAN: TORTURED CHRISTIAN LANGUISHING ON FALSE CHARGES
Police maneuver to keep incapacitated son of preacher in jail – and out of hospital.
LAHORE, Pakistan, June 23 (Compass Direct News) – A 37-year-old Christian is languishing in a Sialkot jail after police broke his backbone because his father was preaching Christ, according to a local advocacy group.
Arshad Masih had been in a hospital – chained to his bed on false robbery charges – after police torture that began Dec. 28, 2008 left him incapacitated. He was discharged from General Hospital in Lahore on Saturday (June 20) and returned to jail despite efforts by the Community Development Initiative (CDI), a support group that is providing Masih legal assistance.
CDI Research Officer Napoleon Qayyum said that hospital personnel treated Masih callously, but that conditions there were better than in the jail in Sialkot. At least in the hospital, Qayyum said, Masih's gray-haired father was able to carry him on his shoulders when he needed to go to the bathroom.
Hospital staff members released Masih even though they knew he would not receive the medical care he needs in jail and could face further abuse, the CDI researcher said.
"We told the hospital administration and doctors that Masih would be released from jail within a few days, so he should not be discharged from the hospital as he would not be taken care of in jail, but they paid no heed to our request," Qayyum said.
He said Sialkot police gave assurances that Masih would be released from jail if he arrived there from the hospital by 10 p.m. A police van left early Saturday morning from Sialkot to bring Masih from the hospital in Lahore to Sialkot jail, but it did not reach the hospital until 6 p.m. even though it is only 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Sialkot to Lahore.
Qayyum said officers also invented delays on the return trip.
"Despite our requests to the police van staff, they reached the jail at 10:30 p.m.," Qayyum said. "The Sialkot police used the delays to demoralize us by creating problems so that we do not file a petition for torturing."
The CDI official said the group's first priority is to "take him out of Sialkot so that police may not further create problems for him."
Murder Threat
Hajipura police detained Masih on Dec. 28 on orders from the Sadar police station in Gujranwala, where Masih's father, Iqbal Masih, had been preaching Christ.
The elder Masih, an itinerant preacher who has traveled to remote areas to proclaim Christ for three decades, told Compass that objections to his ministry led to false accusations of robbery against his son. Area Muslims resented his preaching and his visits to a Christian family in Gujranwala, he said, and told him to stop visiting the family.
"They told me that I was preaching a false religion and should stop doing it, and that I should succumb to their pressure," the elder Masih told Compass.
Area Muslims had complained to Gujranwala police of the elder Masih's efforts, and officers there first sought to arrest him in a case filed against "unidentified people," he said. Later, he said, Gujranwala police told Hajipura police to charge his son in some robbery cases, as Arshad Masih lived in the Hajipura precincts.
When police arrested Arshad Masih on Dec. 28, they tortured him for several days, the younger Masih said.
"They hung me upside down all night, beat me and used all inhumane torture methods, leaving me permanently paralyzed," he said.
Police falsely named him in a robbery case, according to CDI. All others named in the case were released after paying bribes, advocacy group officials said. Police officers also asked Masih's father for a bribe of 50,000 rupees [US$620], the elder Masih said.
"They asked me as well for 50,000 rupees, but I refused to pay on the grounds that it was illegal and additionally I hadn't that much money," Iqbal Masih said.
The complainant in the robbery case eventually testified that Arshad Masih hadn't been among the robbers, and he was granted bail. Before court orders reached the jail, however, Sialkot police informed Sadar police officers in Gujranwala, who arrived at the jail and had Masih remanded to them for a robbery case filed against "unidentified people."
"Because of that, Masih could not be freed for one moment," CDI's Qayyum said.
Gujranwala police also threatened to kill Masih in a staged police encounter if he told the court that he had been tortured, according to CDI. They also warned him that he should not act as if he were in any pain in court.
The court, however, found him unable to stand and sent him to Allama Iqbal Memorial Hospital in Sialkot for medical examination. Gujaranwala police therefore had to leave him. But police did not tell Masih or CDI staff which police station was keeping Masih in its custody at the hospital.
With the help of the American Center for Law and Justice, CDI filed a case in the Gujranwala Sessions court for Masih's bail and also provided some assistance for his medical treatment.
On June 16, the Sadar police station investigating officer told the court that police under his command were not detaining Masih, but that the Sialkot police were. Because the Gujranwala police were not detaining him, he argued, bail orders issued on March 23 for Masih's release pertained to Sialkot and therefore Masih's police custody in the hospital was illegal.
"The police have been keeping us in the dark so that we could never pursue the case in the right direction," said CDI's Qayyum. "How can a brutally tortured patient even heal their wounds in such mental agony when his hand is always tied in chains, and two policemen are maintaining a 24-hour watch over him?"
The researcher said he maintained hope that the judicial system would provide Masih relief from his agony, which has taken its toll on his family as well. Masih has three children that he has pulled from school due to lack of money.
His wife is illiterate and cannot make a living, CDI officials said, adding that Masih's four married sisters are the main sources of his financial support.
Posted in Christianity, Islam, Pakistan	| Tagged abuse, according, accusations, additionally, administration, advocacy, agony, Allama Iqbal Memorial Hospital, American Center for Law and Justice, areas, argued, arrest, arrived, Arshad Masih, asked, assistance, assurances, backbone, bail, bathroom, beat, bed, better, bribe, bribes, broke, brutally, callously, care, carry, case, CDI, chained, chains, charge, charges, children, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Christians, command, Community Development Initiative, complainant, complained, conditions, court, creating, custody, dark, delays, demoralize, detained, direction, discharged, doctors, efforts, elder, encounter, examination, face, false, falsely, family, Father, file, filed, financial, freed, General Hospital, granted, grey-haired, grounds, group, Gujranwala, Hajipura, hand, hospital, hung, illegal, illiterate, incapacitated, informed, inhumane, invented, investigating, Iqbal Masih, Islam, issued, itinerant, jail, judicial, keep, keeping, kill, lack, Lahore, languishing, leave, leaving, led, legal, living, local, main, maintained, maintaining, maneuver, married, medical, members, mental, methods, ministry, moment, money, Muslim, muslims, named, Napoleon Qayyum, objections, officers, official, orders, paid, pain, Pakistan, paralyzed, patient, paying, people, permanently, Persecution, personnel, pertained, petition, police, police station, policemen, preacher, preaching, precincts, pressure, priority, problems, proclaim, provide, providing, pulled, pursue, reached, receive, relief, religion, remanded, remote, request, Research Officer, researcher, resented, return, returned, right, robbers, robbery, rupees, Sadar, school, sessions, shoulders, Sialkot, sisters, son, sought, sources, staff, staged, stand, stop, succumb, support, system, testified, threatened, tied, toll, torture, tortured, torturing, traveled, treated, treatment, trip, unable, unidentified, used, van, visiting, visits, warned, watch, wife, wounds, younger | 1 Comment
TURKEY: EFFORTS TO TIE MALATYA MURDERS TO 'DEEP STATE' FIZZLE
Posted on May 31, 2009 by particularkev
Alleged ring-leader retracts testimony implicating suspected link to 'masterminds.'
MALATYA, Turkey, May 28 (Compass Direct News) – Prosecution efforts to tie the murderers of three Christians here to state-linked masterminds were set back on Friday (May 22) when the alleged ring-leader unexpectedly contradicted his previous testimony implicating a suspected "middleman."
As the suspected middleman between the murderers and "deep state" elements, Huseyin Yelki, was testifying at Friday's hearing, Emre Gunaydin – whose previous private testimony led to Yelki's arrest – stood up and said, "Huseyin Yelki is not guilty, he's being held in prison for no reason."
The prosecuting team and judges at the Malatya Third Criminal Court froze at the statement, and then demanded to know why he had previously implicated Yelki. Gunaydin said he did so because Yelki was a Christian missionary.
Gunaydin has also implicated Varol Bulent Aral, a journalist allegedly attached to a far-reaching political conspiracy known as Ergenekon. Aral is the second suspected middleman.
For his part, Yelki testified during the court hearing that he had met Gunaydin only once prior to the murders. According to Gunaydin's previous testimony, Yelki's brother facilitated various meetings between Gunaydin and Yelki in which they planned the knife attack on the three Christians at a Christian publishing house. During a private hearing this past winter, a judge showed Gunaydin photos of different people, and he immediately identified Yelki's brother.
Gunaydin's retraction raised suspicion among the judges that in recent months he has received visits in prison from those behind the murders who have pressured him to change his statement.
"Tell me the truth, have you spoken to anyone?" the judge barked at him.
"I swear to God, I have not!" said Gunaydin.
The judges requested a list of everyone who has visited Gunaydin and the other four suspects – Salih Gurler, Cuma Ozdemir, Hamit Ceker, and Abuzer Yildirim – while they've been in prison over the last two years. Further questioning of Yelki failed to yield clear and incriminating answers, and the judges released him.
Lead prosecuting lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz told Compass that records of the jail visits to Gunaydin may be inconclusive.
"These visits might be off the record [unofficial], we don't know," Cengiz said. "But we have a tiny hope that we may catch something through these records."
Yelki, a former volunteer at Zirve Publishing Co., was taken into custody in February on suspicion that he had incited the five young suspects to kill the three Christians, Turkish Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, and German Tilmann Geske, in April 2007.
Cengiz called Yelki's testimony a "disaster." Even though it is apparent to the court that Yelki has had many contacts with gendarmerie intelligence, Cengiz said, he was not able to explain the nature of his calls, claiming that he wanted to speak to them about the Bible.
"We are very suspicious about him," Cengiz said. "Everyone is suspicious."
As a result of the last hearing, the court also asked for a record of all of Yelki's bank statements over the past few years to see if they point to ties with gendarmerie or other suspicious activities.
"To us it is obvious that Yelki is one of the links that connects these youngsters to upper levels," said Cengiz. "But he refused to cooperate, and in my view it is also obvious that Emre was pressured to change his statement, because in his earlier statement that he gave the prosecutor, he accused Yelki of instigating them to commit this crime. But he changed after that."
Cengiz said that Yelki made other misrepresentations, such as his claim in court to have stayed in bed for two months recovering from leg surgery, when telephone records showed he hopped between different southeastern Turkish cities during that time.
"It was obvious that he was telling a lot of lies, because he said that after the release from the hospital he rested for two months," said Cengiz, "but according to his telephone he was traveling and very intensively, actually."
Missionaries as Criminals
An undercover gendarme who works in drug and gun enforcement, Mehmet Çolak, also took the stand on Friday (May 22). Phone records show that he may have been one of the communication links between alleged masterminds and others, and his name was mentioned in an informant letter sent to the court.
His testimony, however, yielded no information helpful to prosecutors. When defense lawyers asked him which bureau of the gendarmerie follows missionary activities in Turkey, Çolak replied, "Counter-terrorism." The response typified the defense argument that the Christian victims brought the murder upon themselves by undertaking missionary activity.
In their concluding statements, defense lawyers requested that the court conduct a thorough investigation involving police, the army and gendarmerie to establish whether missionary activities are a crime. The judges rejected their request.
Prosecuting lawyers said that the lawyers have been trying to vilify missionary activities from the beginning of the case in an attempt to gain a lighter sentence for the five young men and also to make a nationalist political point.
"It is a very poor tactic," said Cengiz. "At the final hearing, they would like to make a defense that states, 'This attack was provoked … You see these people [missionaries] are trying to divide our country.' They want to say that this is an unjust provocation, and as a result these youngsters were very angry and lost their temper. But this is rubbish."
Ergenekon Trial
Hearings and investigations of Ergenekon, a clandestine nationalist group believed to have sought to overthrow the government by engineering domestic chaos, continue apart from the Malatya trial.
Two suspects arrested in relation to the case, Aral and Veli Kucuk, a retired general, have also been implicated in the Malatya murders. They were both questioned by Ergenekon prosecutors and judges earlier this month.
Nearly 140 people have been arrested in connection to the case. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticized for allegedly allowing indiscriminate arrests of people who oppose his political line and who are not connected to the "deep state" cabal.
Kemal Kerinçsiz, a Turkish lawyer famous for filing court cases and complaints against dozens of Turkish journalists and authors for "insulting Turkishness," has also been arrested in relation to Ergenekon. Kerinçsiz is responsible for the cases opened against Turkish Christians Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal, who have been on trial for two years for "insulting Turkishness" because they spoke openly about their faith.
In the next Malatya court hearing scheduled for June 19, judges expect to hear the testimony of Aral and others who have been implicated.
Although it was expected that the Malatya hearings would become part of the Ergenekon trials, Cengiz said that chances are slim if the thin evidence thus far does not become more substantial.
Yelki's release, he said, showed that although his testimony tainted his credibility, there was not enough evidence that he is connected to the case.
"My conclusion is that we're going nowhere," said a tired Cengiz, "because the powers behind the scenes were very successful in organizing everything. They organized everything, and we're going nowhere."
In order for the Malatya and Ergenekon hearings to merge, Cengiz said, the court will need something more solid than implicated names.
"We don't have something concrete," said Cengiz. "All these names are in the air … all connections show gendarmerie intelligence, but there is no concrete evidence yet, and apparently there will be none. The trouble is that it's very frustrating – we know the story but we cannot prove it."
Posted in Christianity, crime, Islam, Turkey	| Tagged Abuzer Yildirim, activities, activity, alleged, allegedly, allowing, angry, answers, apparent, Aral Kucuk, argument, army, arrest, attached, attack, attempt, authors, bank, barked, bed, beginning, behind, believed, Bible, brother, bureau, cabal, calls, catch, chaos, Christian, Christianity, Christians, cities, claiming, clandestine, clear, commit, communication, complaints, concluding, conclusion, concrete, connected, connection, conspiracy, contacts, contradicted, cooperate, counter-terrorism, country, credibility, crime, criminals, criticized, Cuma Ozdemir, custody, deep, defense, demanded, different, disaster, divide, domestic, drug, efforts, elements, Emre Gunaydin, enforcement, engineering, Ergenekon, establish, evidence, explain, facilitated, failed, faith, famous, filing, Final, fizzle, former, froze, frustrations, gendarme, gendarmerie, general, Germna, God, government, group, gun, Hakan Tastan, Hamit Ceker, hearing, helpful, hope, hospital, house, Huseyin Yelki, identified, implicated, implicating, incited, inconclusive, incriminating, indiscriminate, informant, information, instigating, insulting, Intelligence, intensively, investigation, journalist, journalists, judge, judges, Kemal Kerincsiz, kill, knife, lawyer, lead, leg, letter, levels, lies, lighter, link, Links, list, lost, Malatya, Malatya Third Criminal Court, masterminds, meetings, Mehmet Colak, mentioned, merge, middleman, misrepresentations, missionary, murderers, murders, nationalist, nature, Necati Aydin, not guilty, obvious, openly, oppose, organized, Orhan Kemal Cengiz, overthrow, people, Persecution, phone, photos, planned, point, police, political, poor, powers, pressured, previous, Prime Minister, prior, prison, private, prosecuting, prosecution, prove, provocation, provoked, publishing, questioning, reason, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, records, recovering, rejected, relation, requested, response, responsible, rested, result, retired, retraction, retracts, ringleaders, rubbish, Salih Gurler, scenes, scheduled, sentence, showed, slim, solid, southeastern, speak, spoken, stan, state, statement, statements, story, substantial, successful, surgery, suspected, suspicion, swear, tactic, tainted, team, telephone, temper, testifying, testimony, tie, Tilmann Geske, tiny, traveling, trial, trouble, truth, Turan Topal, Turkey, Turkish, Turkishness, typified, Ugur Yuksel, undercover, undertaking, unexpectedly, unjust, unofficial, upper, various, Varol Bulent Aral, Veli Kucuk, victims, view, vilify, visits, volunteer, works, yielded, youngsters, Zirve Publishing Co. | Leave a comment
BANGLADESH: PASTOR THREATENED FOR RAPE ACCUSATIONS
Posted on February 21, 2009 by particularkev
Christian, human rights advocates call medical exam report false.
DHAKA, Bangladesh, February 19 (Compass Direct News) – Christian and human rights advocates said doctors likely fabricated a medical report that falsely concluded there were no signs of rape in the wife of a Bangladeshi pastor whom village Muslims have now threatened for pressing charges.
The Rev. Shankar Hazra of Chaksing Baptist church in Gopalganj district, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Dhaka, said influential area Muslims have used threats to try to force him and his wife to withdraw charges of robbery and rape; he delined to name them out of fear of reprisals.
"If I do not withdraw the case, they said they will make a 'Ganges [river] of blood' here," Rev. Hazra said.
Resident medical officer Dr. Ali Akbar of Sadar Hospital in Gopalganj told Compass that a report given to police on Thursday (Feb. 12) stated that a medical examination indicated the wife of Rev. Hazra was not raped.
"There was no sign of forceful intercourse in her body at the time of examination, which means the victim was not raped," Dr. Akbar said.
Rev. Hazra told Compass that villagers said the examining doctors had been paid to falsify the medical report.
"I heard from some people in the locality that 50,000 taka [US$740] had been given to the doctor to twist the report," he said.
The pastor accuses area Muslims of tying him up, robbing their living quarters at the church property and gang-raping his wife on Jan. 6. Rev. Hazra said that before leaving, the assailants also desecrated the church building.
Human rights advocate Rosaline Costa, coordinator of Hotline Human Rights in Bangladesh, told Compass that she would not trust the medical report.
"What my long experience as a human rights activist says is that these sorts of medical reports are always distorted by the accused if the victim is poor or a minority," she said. "Police and medical doctors are influenced financially to give negative reports."
Such false medical reports are a common phenomenon in Bangladesh for both minorities and also for poor majority people, Costa said.
"The victim is very poor and a minority Christian, so the report could be manipulated by the doctors," said Costa. She said a DNA test not subject to bias would be conclusive.
The Rev. Milton Biswas, general secretary of Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha, also suggested a DNA test.
"I am gob-smacked and shocked at how the report became false," he said. "She might not have been raped, but a DNA test is needed to say whether she was raped or not."
Rev. Hazra, 55, said he and his 45-year-old wife had gone to a toilet outside their home at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 6 when a man suddenly thrust a rifle at him. Seven or eight people tied him to a pillar on the porch, blindfolded his wife and took her inside the house, he said.
After the assailants had robbed the house of valuables and raped his wife, Rev. Hazra said, he managed to untie himself and found his wife lying unconscious on the bed.
Rev. Hazra and his wife said all of the assailants were Muslims, but that villagers tried to implicate non-Muslims and portray the attack as resulting from internal conflicts among Christians.
Police, influential villagers and local Muslim-owned media are trying to conceal likely anti-Christian motives for the crime, he said, by falsely accusing two Christians and a Hindu of participating. Police wrote the First Information Report (FIR) implicating the Christians and Hindu based on lies from villagers, and Rev. Hazra signed it without reading it due to his shaken state, he said.
Rev. Hazra's wife, Depali Hazra, later filed an affidavit contesting the FIR in which the two Christians and one Hindu, along with a known criminal who is Muslim, were accused of the gang rape and theft. The Christians and Hindu were not involved in the rape and robbery, she reported in the affidavit.
"I was seriously ill after [the] gang rape, and my husband's mind was unhinged at that time," she reported. "Only [the] Muslim man Ilias Mridha and his yes-men did it. When I recuperated a little bit from illness, I came to know about the names of the Christians and Hindu in the case. Spontaneously and knowledgably I did this affidavit to get rid of those Christian and Hindu names from the case copy."
Local Christians said Mridha, 38, who has been jailed several times, commits crimes under the direction of influential Muslims in the area.
Posted in Bangladesh, Baptist, Christianity, crime, Hinduism, Islam	| Tagged accusations, accused, accuses, activist, advocate, advocates, affidavit, anti-Christian, assailants, attack, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha, Bangladeshi, based, bed, bias, blindfolded, blood, body, building, call, Chaksing Baptist Church, charges, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, commits, common, conceal, concluded, conclusive, conflicts, contesting, coordinator, crime, crimes, criminal, declines, Depali Hazra, descrated, Dhaka, direction, distorted, district, DNA, doctors, Dr. Ali Akbar, exam, examination, examing, experience, fabricated, false, falsely, falsify, fear, filed, financially, FIR, First Information Report, force, forceful, gang, gang-raping, Ganges, General Secretary, gob-smacked, Gopalganj, Hindu, home, Hotline Human Rights in Bangladesh, house, human rights, Ilias Mridha, ill, illness, implicate, implicating, indicated, influential, intercourse, internal, involved, Islam, jailed, knowledgably, leaving, lies, living, local, locality, lying, majority, man, managed, manipulated, means, media, medical, medical report, Milton Biswas, mind, minorities, minority, motives, Muslim, muslims, name, names, negative, non-Muslims, officer, paid, participating, Pastor, people, Persecution, phenomenon, pillar, police, poor, porch, portray, pressing, property, quarters, rape, raped, reading, recuperated, report, reprisals, resident, resulting, rifle, river, robbery, robbing, Rosaline Costa, Sadar Hospital, seriously, shaken, Shankar Hazra, shocked, sign, signd, signs, south, spontaneously, state, stated, subject, taka, test, theft, threatened, threats, thrust, time, toilet, trust, twist, tying, unconscious, unhinged, untie, valuables, victim, village, villagers, wife, withdraw, wrote, yes-men | Leave a comment
AUSTRALIA: FLASH FLOOD IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA CAUGHT ON FILM
Just something a little different that I found on YouTube –a flash flood in a dry river bed.
Posted in Australia, Western Australia	| Tagged Australia, bed, caught, different, dry, film, flash flood, river, Western Australia, youtube | Leave a comment
BANGLADESH: PASTOR'S WIFE GANG-RAPED, HOME ROBBED
Posted on January 22, 2009 by particularkev
Influential Muslim villagers, local media said to falsely blame Christians, Hindu.
VENNABARI, Bangladesh, January 20 (Compass Direct News) – The pastor of a Baptist church in this village about a 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Dhaka said that earlier this month local Muslims tied him and his wife up, robbed his living quarters on the church property and gang-raped his wife.
The Rev. Shankar Hazra, 55, of Chaksing Baptist church in Gopalganj district, said that before leaving, the assailants desecrated the church building.
The night of the attack, the pastor said, he and his wife, 45, went out to a toilet outside their home at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 6.
"Suddenly a man loomed up from the darkness and thrust the snout of a homemade rifle at my chest and told me to keep mum, otherwise both of us would be killed," Rev. Hazra told Compass. "Around seven to eight people swooped on us and tied me and my wife. They blindfolded my wife and took her inside the house."
While Rev. Hazra was tied to a pillar on the porch of his house of corrugated tin and wood, the assailants took the keys of chests and trunks and looted valuables: gold and silver jewelry worth US$500, cash totaling US$300, a mobile phone, television, CD players, all their clothes except his cassock, and utensils.
"They even looted my daughters' dresses," Rev. Hazra told Compass. "After looting everything, they gang-raped my wife."
The assailants also asked about the whereabouts of his two grown daughters, who had left the previous day after spending the Christmas and New Year holidays with their parents. Their daughters, ages 22 and 20, had returned to their studies in separate districts.
"If my daughters had been present in the house at that night, they would have been victims as their mother was," Rev. Hazra said.
After the assailants left, Rev. Hazra managed to untie himself and found his wife lying unconscious on the bed, he said.
"My neighbors came and rushed her to a nearby hospital, and that hospital referred my wife to another big hospital in Gopalganj district because her condition was very serious," he said.
The assailants also broke the door of the church building and urinated and defecated there, Rev. Hazra added.
Non-Muslims Blamed
Police, influential villagers and local Muslim-owned media are trying to conceal likely anti-Christian motives for the crime, he said, by falsely accusing two Christians and a Hindu of participating – and labeling a local Baptist pastor as the "mastermind" of the attack. Police wrote the First Information Report (FIR) implicating the Christians and Hindu based on lies from villagers, and Rev. Hazra signed it without reading it due to his shaken state, he said.
Local police inspector Liakat Ali confirmed to Compass that non-Muslims had been implicated in the rape and theft charges filed at the police station. Other statements in the FIR – such as the number of assailants, four, rather than the seven or eight cited by the pastor – are at odds with Rev. Hazra's account, further indicating that police relied on second-hand information from villagers rather than the experience related by the victims.
"We have arrested three people so far in connection with gang rape and looting out of four people mentioned in the FIR by Hazra," said Ali. "Among those mentioned, two people are Christians, one Hindu and one Muslim. According to the case information, the mastermind of the incident is Monotosh Banarjy, a pastor of a Baptist church, who might not have been present at that time."
There is no criminal record against the Christian arrested, Sushil Baroi, a Catholic, he said.
"But the arrested Muslim man, Ilias Mridha, is a criminal who had been arrested several times before," said Ali.
Local Christians said Mridha, 38, who has been jailed several times, commits crimes under the direction of local influential persons.
Father Jacob Gobbi, head priest at Baniarchar Catholic Church, told Compass that Baroi was not involved in the gang rape and robbery.
"He is innocent, and we want that he should be released as soon as possible," Fr. Gobbi said.
Rev. Hazra said he and his wife are living temporarily with her relatives as protection from further attacks at their church quarters.
Posted in Bangladesh, Baptist, Christianity, Islam, Roman Catholicism	| Tagged account, accused, accusing, affidavit, anti-Christian, arrested, assailants, attack, Bangladesh, Baniarchar Catholic Church, Baptist, based, bed, blame, blamed, blindfolded, broke, building, cash, cassock, CD player, Chaksing, charges, chest, chests, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Christmas, church, cited, clothes, commits, conceal, condition, confirmed, conflicts, connection, contesting, corrugated tin, crime, crimes, criminal, darkness, daughter, defecated, Depali Hazra, desecrated, Dhaka, direction, district, door, dresses, experience, falsely, Father, filed, FIR, First Information Report, found, gang, gang-raped, gold, Gopalganj, grown, head, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindus, holidays, home, homemade, hospital, Ilias Mridha, ill, illness, implicate, implicated, incident, indicating, influential, information, innocent, inspector, internal, involved, Islam, Jacob Gobbi, jailed, jewelry, keys, killed, labeling, leaving, Liakat Ali, lies, living, local, looted, man, mastermind, media, mentioned, mind, mobile phone, Monotosh Banarjy, mother, motives, mum, Muslim, muslims, names, neighbors, New Year, number, parents, Pastor, Persecution, persons, pillar, police, porch, portray, present, priest, property, protection, quarters, rape, reading, record, recuperated, referred, related, relatives, released, resulting, returned, Rev, rifle, robbed, robbery, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, second-hand, separate, serious, seriously, shaken, Shankar Hazra, signed, silver, snout, south, state, statements, studies, Sushil Baroi, swooped, television, theft, thrust, tied, toilet, trunks, unconscious, unhinged, untie, urinated, utensils, valuables, Vennabari, victims, village, villagers, wife, wood | Leave a comment


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Pootatuck State Forest is a Connecticut state forest located mainly in the town of New Fairfield with a small fraction in Sherman. Recreational activities include hiking, mountain biking, letterboxing, hunting, birdwatching, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing. The main forest property borders on and can be accessed via trails from the adjacent Squantz Pond State Park.

There are two smaller Pootatuck State Forest property parcels in New Fairfield, Connecticut near to but disconnected from the main property and  Squantz Pond State Park.

The Western Pootatuck State Forest parcel is located north of Beaver Bog Road just west of the intersection of Beaver Bog Road and Short Woods Road. (GPS: 41.493866, -73.490825)
The Southern Pootatuck State Forest parcel is located between Short Woods Road and CT Route 39 slightly south of the intersection of Beaver Bog Road and Short Woods Road. (GPS: 41.494402, -73.484836)

References

External links
Pootatuck State Forest Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Pootatuck State Forest Map Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Connecticut state forests
Parks in Fairfield County, Connecticut
New Fairfield, Connecticut
Sherman, Connecticut
Protected areas established in the 1920s
1920s establishments in Connecticut

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Welcome to Oakwood High School
oakwood schools MISSION
Doing what is best for students is our guiding principle. To this end, the Oakwood School community commits the resources, support, expertise and experiences needed for all students to achieve.
Learn More About the School:
Total Enrollment for students 9-12: 693
85% of students participate in extra curricular activities
OHS offers 17 AP classes, 8 College Credit Plus courses
Ranked #1 STEM school in the Miami Valley by Dayton Business Journal
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Announcements are Back!
Daily announcements are back. To stay up to date, check out our daily feed and you will know the latest from OJH and OHS.
COVID-19 District Update
To see the latest District update, visit the COVID-19 web page.
Regular Schedule
Two-Hour Delay/Testing Schedule
Pep Assembly Schedule Beginning at 2:45
Period 1.................................................... 8:15 - 9:00 a.m.
Period 2................................................... 9:04 - 9:49 a.m.
Period 3.................................................. 9:53 - 10:38 a.m.
Period 4................................................. 10:42 - 11:27 a.m.
Timber.....................................................11:31 - 11:52 a.m.
Lunch..................................................... 11:52 - 12:52 p.m.
Period 5.................................................... 12:52 - 1:37 p.m.
Period 6..................................................... 1:41 - 2:26 p.m.
EARLY DISMISSAL SCHEDULE
Period 1.......................................................8:15 - 8:42 a.m.
Period 2...................................................... 8:46 - 9:13 a.m.
Period 4.................................................... 9:48 - 10:15 a.m.
Period 5................................................... 10:19 - 10:46 a.m.
Period 6.................................................... 10:50 - 11:17 p.m.
Period 7..................................................... 11:21 - 11:48 p.m.
Period 3.................................................... 11:25 - 11:59 a.m.
Lunch....................................................... 11:59 - 12:59 p.m.
Period 4..................................................... 12:59 - 1:30 a.m.
Period 5....................................................... 1:34 - 2:05 p.m.
Period 6...................................................... 2:09 - 2:40 p.m.
Period 1....................................................... 8:15 - 9:03 a.m.
Period 3...................................................... 9:59 - 10:51 a.m.
Period 4..................................................... 10:55 - 11:43 a.m.
Lunch........................................................ 11:43 - 12:43 p.m.
Period 5...................................................... 12:43 - 1:20 p.m.
Period 6........................................................ 1:24 - 2:01 p.m.
Assembly Begins........................................... 2:45 - 3:15 p.m.
Checking Grades and Assignments
Homework, grades and other student information, such as attendance and schedules, are available online through ProgressBook Suite ParentAccess for parents with students in 5th through 12th grade. Parents of students in grades K thru 4th can log into ParentAccess to view student report cards.
On the sign in screen, click the link below the sign in button that says "Forgot your user name or password?" A reset password link will be sent to the email address entered during the account creation process. If you no longer have access to the email address entered when the account was created, please contact the technology department, who will be happy to connect a new email address to your established account.
Thu Feb 3
CURRICULUM NIGHT
Fri Feb 18
Early Dismiss for Students
EARLY DISMISSAL PD 1/2 DAY
DISMISSAL @ 11:48
Mon Feb 21
No School - Presidents' Day
NO SCHOOL/PRESIDENTS' DAY
Tue Feb 22
No School - Winter Break
NO SCHOOL/WINTER BREAK
Wed Feb 23
Thu Feb 24
Classes Resume
Thu Mar 10
PTO MEETING
Fri Mar 11
Sat Mar 12
END OF 3RD QTR
End of Grading Period
OHS Debaters Qualify for State
Read More about OHS Debaters Qualify for State
Messages: Our Group Email System
January PTO Newsletter
Calamity Day Information
OHS Newsletter 1/14/22
Load More Messages
Did you miss information coming from OHS? Now you can review the Message Archive by date.
If you need to update your Messages account, please visit our Email Mailing List page.
OHS Twitter
Oakwood Facebook
Oakwood Twitter
Oakwood Schools Partner with State of Ohio
Oakwood Schools is partnering with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Department of Public Safety to provide an anonymous tip line that could prevent a school safety crisis. Calls and text to the tip line, 844-SaferOH (844-723-3764), are answered 24 hours a day by trained professionals who can help.
This tip line allows students and adults to anonymously share information with school officials and law enforcement officials about threats to student safety—whether that involves a threatened mass incident or harm to a single student.
If you see something or have concerns, say something. Don't wait until it's too late.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Empire State Development Announces Pratt & Whitney to Establish New Operations and Create 100 New Jobs in Hudson Valley
Editor's Note: Pratt & Whitney's investment in Walkill, N.Y., is an expansion of existing work that is currently done in New York.
Empire State Development (ESD) today announced Pratt & Whitney, a leading designer, manufacturer and servicer of engine and propulsion systems, will invest approximately $140 million to establish new operations in the Town of Wallkill, Orange County. The company will fit out an existing facility to expand its manufacturing and services operations and create 100 new jobs, as well as retain 95 existing jobs at Advanced Coating Technology (ACT) – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pratt & Whitney already operating in the area.
"Under Governor Cuomo's leadership, we are seeing companies with a global presence – like Pratt & Whitney – choose the Empire State as the place they want to do business. Pratt & Whitney's decision to make a major investment in the Hudson Valley is great news for the Town of Wallkill and Orange County, and for the advanced manufacturing industry in New York State," said Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Kenneth Adams. "The company's commitment represents a $140 million investment and 100 new jobs for the region – demonstrating both the quality of the local workforce and the attractiveness of the area for businesses looking to grow and thrive. ESD is proud to support Pratt & Whitney's exciting project and we look forward to a continued partnership that will create new jobs for New Yorkers."
Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp., is a U.S.-based aerospace manufacturer with global service operations that designs, manufactures, services and supports aircraft engines, auxiliary and ground power units, and small turbojet propulsion products. Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially commercial airlines) and military aviation. The company, which was founded in 1925, has been a pioneer in the industry and was involved in most major advances in both military and commercial aviation.
Among many factors, Pratt & Whitney chose the Wallkill location for the project due to the area's skilled workforce, close proximity to its existing ACT operation, and an attractive incentive package from the State of New York. The project will see Pratt & Whitney create 100 new jobs over the next five years while retaining 95 jobs at ACT, and invest $140 million in an existing 71,500-square-foot facility. The transformed facility will perform a new, proprietary engine blade coating process that gives new engines added life, less wear, and better efficiencies – a potential game-changer for the industry.
"Pratt & Whitney is making significant investments in our global manufacturing network as we enter a period of growth," said Joe Sylvestro, vice president, Manufacturing Operations at Pratt & Whitney. "This expansion of thermal barrier coatings in New York is an example of our effort to expand our capabilities and capacity while also improving the robustness of our manufacturing network. All of these elements will enable us to deliver on our customer commitments."
ESD has offered the company various incentives including, a $900,000 capital grant and up to $1.6M in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits, both of which are directly tied to job-creation and investment commitments, as well as other incentives. Also, in order to enhance the area to make the site more attractive, the Town of Wallkill advanced the repair of drainage and paving systems on the project site.
Additional benefits Pratt & Whitney may receive include: potential energy efficiency grants from NYSERDA, an electric delivery rate discount of 20 percent for five years from Orange & Rockland Utilities, lower cost electricity under Governor Cuomo's ReCharge NY power program (the New York State Economic Development Power Allocation Board, at a later date, will consider an allocation), and a potential sales tax abatement from the Orange County IDA.
Senator John Bonacic said, "We welcome Pratt & Whitney to Orange County and we thank them for their confidence and investment in our region by expanding their manufacturing and services operations and creating 100 new jobs."
Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther said, "I'm excited and thrilled to welcome Pratt & Whitney to the Town of Wallkill. Economic development and investment such as this is the best of what we hope for – high-paying, high-tech jobs that will continue to distinguish the Town of Wallkill, and the entire Hudson Valley region, as a great place to locate a business. I commend Governor Cuomo, Empire State Development and Supervisor Depew for leading this team effort to bring Pratt & Whitney to our neighborhood."
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said, "Economic development remains a top priority for my administration, and that's why I'm pleased to welcome Pratt and Whitney to Orange County. This project will create 100 new jobs and represents a $140 million capital investment for our area. This is only the beginning of my '1,000 jobs in 1,000 days' commitment to our residents, and I look forward to working with the Governor's office and Supervisor Dan Depew as we develop new opportunities for businesses in Wallkill and across Orange County."
Town of Wallkill Supervisor Dan Depew said, "The Addition of Pratt & Whitney to our town is extremely welcome. High end companies like this are not easy to land but a strong team, including the Town of Wallkill, the Orange County Partnership, and Governor Cuomo's office, worked together to make this happen. This company and what it offers helps put Wallkill on the map as a true job creation town."
Maureen Halahan, president and CEO, Orange County Partnership said, "This high-tech manufacturing project is among the most significant attraction projects in over a decade. It brings advanced manufacturing jobs to Orange County and expands our high-tech manufacturing base in the Town of Wallkill. This project represents new technology with a company who is an innovator in its field."
Robert Armistead, chairman, Orange County IDA said, "The County IDA and the Town of Wallkill IDA are working together to present the best economic development incentive package to ensure the success of this premier attraction project. We are delighted to be a part of an advanced manufacturing success story."
Empire State Development (ESD) is New York's chief economic development agency (www.esd.ny.gov). The mission of ESD is to promote a vigorous and growing economy, encourage the creation of new job and economic opportunities, increase revenues to the State and its municipalities, and achieve stable and diversified local economies. Through the use of loans, grants, tax credits and other forms of financial assistance, ESD strives to enhance private business investment and growth to spur job creation and support prosperous communities across New York State. ESD is also the primary administrative agency overseeing Governor Cuomo's Regional Economic Development Councils and the marketing of "I Love NY," the State's iconic tourism brand. For more information on Regional Councils and Empire State Development, visit www.nyworks.ny.gov and www.esd.ny.gov
• Pratt & Whitney to Invest $140M in Orange County Facility (GlobeSt)
• Pratt & Whitney to invest in Orange County (Poughkeepsie Journal)
• Pratt & Whitney to open N.Y. turbine-coating plant (UPI)
• Pratt & Whitney Aerospace Company moving to Town of Wallkill (Time Warner Cable News)
• Pratt & Whitney to expand Wallkill operations (Mid-Hudson News Network)
• $140 million aerospace project coming to Town of Wallkill (Times Herald Record)
Ismael Rhissa named new head of Pratt & Whitney Customer Service Centre Europe (CSC) at MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg
Military Engines Chamberlain Award: Nomination Period Extended


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Make Facebook Live Streaming Work for You
By adminApril 4, 2016digital marketing
If you're unsure of what Facebook live streaming is, it's the new way of entertainment and news to share information. Many digital marketing companies have used this to show behind the scenes footage, that is live, and viewers will stop what they're doing on Facebook and see the latest of what's happening in Utah.
Facebook live streaming creates a real time video for viewers to watch, much like a live show, but the live streaming can be done from someone's phone or lap top. It's free to set up but there are some steps that need to be taken to use it, so you can have more than 50 viewers at a time. This is really done to limit piracy. Digital marketing companies have used this to stream live announcements, and behind the scenes at their companies, allowing their followers to feel more connected.
In Utah, many news stations used the live streaming to show speeches from the presidential candidates and of course have used it to show the behind the scenes on their sets. Celebrities have used Livestream to create an interaction between them and their fans. And if a person misses the video, they can play it back even though it's not live.
Periscope and Meerkat Related
But don't Preiscope and Meerkat do the same thing? Yes they do, but Facebook has more of a public outreach and that is where most of your followers are going to be. Using the streaming service on Facebook will allow you to reach out to more of your followers from Utah, and around the world.
With Facebook Livestream, you can tag yourself in your video and your followers can too. This can help your digital marketing without having to do much work, except come up with a live video people will want to watch.
/kailo
Quick Tips for Professional-Looking Videos
Social Media Marketing in 2020
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samson on Bridging the Generational Gap: Targeting Millennials and Baby Boomers
dimple on 5 Facebook Marketing Tips for Frustrated Social Media Strategists Looking to Improve
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Brandon's Blu-ray Wishlist – June 6, 2014
June 6th, 2014 by Brandon Peters
I hope you enjoyed my May double feature editions of the Blu-ray wishlist. We're back now to single movies. And today is one of my favorite comedies and movies in general and big time cult classic I guess you'd say. Today, we're boldly going where no wishlist has gone before!
Free Enterprise (1999)
Pitched and sold as the geek answer to Doug Liman and Jon Favreau's Swingers, Free Enterprise is much much much more than that (though they both feature Patrick Van Horn). And as a 17 year old film geek when this movie came out, it truly spoke to me. It was almost like a sort of fun and somewhat dark look at what my future could possibly hold. And also, this film actually gets geeks and geek culture right, something it would take almost 10 more years before mainstream movies and television caught on to what Free Enterprise had going from the start (And no, I'm not talking about The Big Bang Theory which gets all this stuff horribly wrong).
For those of you who don't know, Free Enterprise tells the tale of two Trekkie best friends living in LA and trying to make it in the entertainment industry. Both are approaching 30 and are at different ends of maturity. One has his professional career are all together, but doesn't have much in terms of relationships. The other has the relationships, but his career and finances are all sort of out of disorder. One night while at a bookstore they run into childhood hero William Shatner and end up getting to have a chance to hang out with him only to find he's a little screwy and wants to them to help him put on a musical production of Julius Caesar with him playing all the parts.
Believe it or not, Free Enterprise was produced by Halloween 4's Rachel Corruthers herself, Ellie Cornell (who cameos!). Its a shame nobody behind the camera has yet to pop up with a major role in projects of this caliber. Writer Mark A Altman wound up writing House Of The Dead for Uwe Boll (as well as the sequel) and director Robert Meyer Burnett looks like he does a lot of "behind the scenes" bonus feature type work. It stinks because this is solid directorial effort and an absolutely stellar script. Eric McCormack was probably the person who launched the biggest from this movie as he went on to Will & Grace following this movie. And I must say, McCormack is actually pretty damn amazing in this movie. It may be one of my favorite straight man in a comedy performances of all time. He's that good.
While they are the basis for a lot of the geekiness, the film isn't limited to just Star Trek jokes. Many other notable sci fi properties are referenced as such. There's even a great sequence in which a character has a dream sequence involving Logan's Run (a side note, for my 30th birthday my wonderful wife made me a Logan's Run birthday cake). Gosh, they even talk about those lame Tombs Of The Blind Dead movies in this. One of my favorite things that happens and recurring conversation topics is that of movie collecting. There's plenty of talk of box sets, criterion editions, seeing revival screenings and all sorts of stuff that hits quite close to home for me and my passion in movie collecting. Hell, Phil LaMarr's character even ditches the opportunity to hang out with everyone at one point because he's got plans to watch his new Criterion DVD by himself which is totally something I would do. There's even a sequence where one character tries to pick up a girl by bragging about his surround system and Japanese Import Laser Disc Planet of the Apes box set. If you're a film geek and collector like me, and you maybe were growing up at the same time as I did, it almost feels like someone wrote this movie for us.
There's actually some real engaging and serious drama going on. Especially in the dating realm and having a disconnect between someone who's a film geek collector and someone who's not. The character of Robert feels like he wants to have the friendships and romances outside of his geek realm, but they are always damaged and end because while they show a desire to sort of learn these things about him, they'll never ever really understand it and its a point of conflict which usually is the means to the end of his relationships. While there's a lot of comedy played with it, there's plenty of real life going on there.
I really wish this one would come out on Blu-ray. The last studio to release it was Anchor Bay in a special edition in 2006. That was 8 years ago, so they might not have the rights anymore. Originally it was released by Geneon (which is a division of Pioneer), who I'm not sure even exists anymore. The fact is that SOMEBODY needs to pick up this bad boy and distribute it. It might reach and resonate more with people now than it ever did before do to a lot of geek lore being at the forefront of our culture nowadays. Oh and let's not forget how damn funny Shatner is in this movie. I'll leave you with what this movie is probably most notable for…and that's Bill Shatner rapping!
Written by: Brandon Peters on June 6, 2014.
Tags: Eric McCormack, Phil LaMarr, William Shatner, wishlist.
1 Response to "Brandon's Blu-ray Wishlist – June 6, 2014"
Never heard of this one but I am interested!
Comment on Jun 6th, 2014	at 10:53 am
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Here at Shirtworks we love our planet and believe in helping to save it through ethical business. 'Organic' and 'Fairtrade' have become bywords, certainly in the t-shirt printing industry, and many customers are becoming much more discerning about the garments and products that they buy. Businesses are being compelled to consider what impact their business is having on the planet - both socially and environmentally.
One industry that is under scrutiny is the cotton clothing and t-shirt printing market as it seems to have encompassed many of the areas of concern: sweatshops, child labour, pesticides and deforestation. It is not surprising therefore that many of our customers are starting to take a real interest in the 'purity' of their printed t-shirts and promotional clothing lines.
We're proud to offer a wide range of ethical t-shirt options, from selling plain ethical t shirts to offering a range of ethical t shirt printing services, including screen printing, digital printing, embroidery and more. We work with a wide variety of the leading ethical t shirt suppliers and manufacturers to ensure we can offer to best prices while continuing to fight the good fight in providing ethically sourced t shirts.
Check out our range of eco friendly t shirts by clicking on the banner below, and take a look at our eco friendly t shirt printing options here.
We're proud to stock both Fair Trade t shirts and Fair Wear t shirts and are often asked what the difference is between the two. The truth is, they're essentially the same thing, in that they have a shared goal of helping to ensure clothing producers are treated fairly. They do differ slightly in terms of how they approach different areas of the clothing supply chain, but overall they're pretty similar.
We offer a wide range of Fair Trade t shirts (and other Fair Trade garments) which can be used for custom t shirt printing. We also have an in-house team who can support you with your Fair Trade t shirt design. For more information, feel free to give us a quick call on 0800 072 5334 and one of our friendly advisors will be able to help.
Looking to buy in bulk? We can provide wholesale Fair Trade t shirts at competitive prices. Simply identify the Fair Trade t shirt you wish to purchase, and use our easy quote form to get a free no obligation quote for your bulk order.
We offer a complete range of men and women's organic cotton clothing, from organic cotton t shirts to polo shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, pants and bags. One of the main reasons consumers are opting for organic t shirts over standard t shirts is that they are free from allergenic, carcinogenic and toxic chemical residues, which is good for both the customer and the cotton farmers.
Shirtworks has worked hard to add to our corporate and social responsibility charter. We are proud to announce that we have achieved certification by the Soil Association as a supplier of organic clothing and products using decorated organic processes.
In December 2009, Shirtworks became recognised as Europe's ONLY garment decorator that has Soil Association Accreditation for BOTH Screen Printing and Embroidery and we are still proud to hold that badge.
The Fair Trade Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation and their aim is to give a sustainable livelihood to the workers that are involved in all aspects of the production of goods and in our case, clothing. When you see the Fair Trade Foundation Mark you know from the production of the raw material to the finished product that the product has been certified and the workers have been treated fairly.
The Fair Wear Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation that has been set up specifically to improve working conditions in the garment industry. More and more customers are demanding to know what goes into the production of their garments. When you purchase a Fair Wear certified product you know that the pay and conditions in the local market are fair and just.
The Living Wage Foundation sets an hourly rate that employees can earn to ensure that they can live poverty free. At Shirtworks we are proud that we are members of the Living Wage Foundation and our employees are able to earn the living wage that is set by the foundation. We believe in rewarding our employees fairly and by doing so we feel we maintain an exceptional high service and value for money to our customers.
Their mission is the development, implementation, verification, protection and promotion of the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). This standard stipulates requirements throughout the supply chain for both ecology and labour conditions in textile and apparel manufacturing using organically produced raw materials. Organic production is based on a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility without the use of toxic, persistent pesticides and fertilisers. In addition, organic production relies on adequate animal husbandry and excludes genetic modification.
Shirtworks is a member of GOTS and our membership details can be found here. We now are able to offer a fantastic selection of organic clothing for printing and embroidery that has been designed with style in mind and colours to suit all tastes. GOTS requires our printing to use approved inks which are not as vibrant as oil based inks. Our sales team can advise you on what will work for your project.
Sedex is a ethical data exchange that is a not for profit members organisation and is dedicated to showing a transparent responsible and ethical supply chain. Shirtworks are proud to be members of Sedex and means that you can purchase from us with confidence.
WRAP is an independent, non-profit team of global social compliance experts. Their main aim is to visit facilities that are involved in the production of clothing and certify the facility complies with local laws, workplace regulations, universal workers rights and environmental regulations.
Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 is mark given to textiles that have proved that harmful substances are not used in manufacturing and that the workforce are not exposed to any. The garment has been proven safe to wear and will not cause harm to the skin when worn.
PETA, people for the ethical treatment of animals have approved Earthpositive and Stanley/Stella range of organic certified clothing, making them Vegan approved.
No bags please, we're British!
YOU CAN HELP! Ask us to provide you with your garments, UNBAGGED! This will help reduce the amount of plastic in our processes and also reduce our carbon footprint.