QURAN & TORTURE - QURANIC TORTURE -
ISLAMIC TORTURE
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IDEOLOGY
Torture in the Quran and early Islam
By James Arlandson
January 08,
2006
Three main purposes of torture are to punish criminals, to extract
information, and to exact revenge. It is at least one of these three purposes
that Muhammad, the founder of Islam, had in mind when he tortured two criminals:
a treasurer who would not disclose where Jewish wealth lay hidden, and an
enemyan old woman taken as a prisoner in a Muslim raid.
Violence and brutality are embedded in the origins of Islam, including the
Quran. Islamic websites that preach justice and human rights too often do not
substantially (or do not at all) confront this legacy. For example, these three
articles, among many others, preach 'peace and love' and 'human rights':
But a presentation of Islam as peaceful is not full disclosure.
In apparent reply to the unpleasant facts about original Islam, one of the
oddest interpretive gymnastics performed by Muslim polemicists and missionaries
asserts that Jesus also endorsed torture and summary executions. So who are
Christians and the West (though the two are not identical) to complain about
Islam? But ...
The Quran commands crucifixion and mutilation
The Quran in Sura 5:33 says:
5:33 Those who wage war against God and His Messenger and strive to spread
corruption in the land should be punished by death, crucifixion, the amputation
of an alternate hand and foot or banishment from the land: a disgrace for them
in this world, and then a terrible punishment in the Hereafter . . . . (MAS
Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford UP, 2004)
It is important to realize that this verse appears in a legal context;
Muhammad is laying down the law. The verse is not a parable or an illustration.
It is intended to be carried out in real life, and it was then and it is today,
as this article demonstrates.
In this verse, Allah says that the criminal who strives to spread
corruption in the land can be (1) executed, (2) crucified, (3) mutilated, or (4)
expelled. The problems lie in the second and third punishments. In crucifixion a
criminal dies a needlessly painful death, and in mutilation (cutting off an
alternate hand and foot), the criminal has no chance to redeem himself for the
vague crime of corruption. These two punishments are torturous, so they are
unjust. It is one thing to execute a firstdegree murderer, for example, but to
torture him by crucifixion is unacceptable.
At first glance, the clause 'those who wage war' denotes an offense much
larger than a crime like murder. However, as we shall see, the historical
context of this verse comes nowhere near a war, so the clause is
overblown.
The key word, then, is 'corruption.' How should it be defined?
An article published by the journal alTawhid (Oneness or Unity) in Qum,
Iran, the seat of learning for Shi'ites, uses Sura 5:33 and defines the crimes
broadly (scroll down to Point Three), as follows: prostitution and the
disintegration of family relationships; narcotics and the disintegration of
individual's rational personality; colonialism and the undermining of peoples'
dignity and plundering of their resources; racism and the disintegration of
human brotherhood; violation of all recognized rights and the breaking of
covenants; bombardment of populated areas, use of chemical weapons; attacks on
civil aviation, national railways, commercial and tourist vessels, and similar
methods which are universally condemned in war.
This broad description of crimes opens the door to all manner of
justifications for applying the punishments in Sura 5:33. Oddly, the Iranian
scholar places his definition and the punishments in the verse in a discussion
of human rights. But should a human have his alternate hand and foot cut off for
prostitution, pimping, or racism? Should he be crucified for disintegration of
the family? For colonialism? (Islam itself has been a terrible perpetrator of
colonialism.) Rather than questioning this verse, the author of the article and
many in the Islamic world seem to accept it as coming from God and so
matteroffactly interpret it for society today.
For more translations of this verse, the readers may go to these three
sites: this one has multiple translations; this one has three; and this
conservative translation is subsidized by the Saudi royal family. See this
article on another related Islamic atrocity: the Quran's command in Sura 5:38 to
chop off the hands of male or female thieves.
The next three historical examples take place in AD 628, when Muhammad was
strong enough militarily to inflict torture on people without fear of
substantial retaliation. He grew in strength since his victory at the Battle of
Badr in AD 624, and it was then that he started down the path of misusing his
power.
Splitting an old woman in two
Raiding was part and parcel of seventhcentury Arab culture, and Muhammad
incorporated this dubious custom and elevated it to jihad. Sometimes the raids
took ugly, nasty turns.
In early AD 628, during a raid, Zayd, Muhammad's freedman and adopted son,
was wounded and some of his men were killed by a tribe. Zayd vowed to abstain
from sex until he took revenge. After Zayd recovered from his wounds, Muhammad
sent him and a raiding band back to the tribe. An old woman named Umm Qirfa was
taken prisoner. Would a Muslim leader spare her from death, not to mention from
torturing her? No. Her death was cruel, says an Islamic source,
matteroffactly.
The executioner appointed by Zayd 'tied each of her legs with a rope and
tied the ropes to camels, and they split her in two.' (Tabari)
It is not hard to imagine her screams. From the Islamic sources it is
unclear why she, an old woman, had to die in the first place. But assuming only
for the sake of argument that the initial raid was justifieda big assumption
based on the belief that the old woman's tribe was collaborating with the Jews
of Khaybarassuming this is true, did an old woman have to die in such a
gruesome wayby torture? It may be argued that Muhammad himself did not order
this torture, but that misses the point. The whole expedition was conducted
under his orders. Thus, he was ultimately responsible for the behavior of his
men. If this atrocity went against his instructions, if he did not agree with
such cruel methods (even though he himself committed cruelties), then why did he
not punishlike for likeZayd and his executioner? He did not even reprimand
them. But Zayd was his adopted son, so apparently family loyalty won out over
justice.
The following hadith, though not mentioning the torture, recounts the
aftermath of the raid. One of the raiders kept the daughter of Umm Qirfa for
himself, and brought her back to Medina, where Muhammad lived. Once Muhammad saw
the girl, he shouted to the Muslim raider that he wanted her. What did he do
with her? Sell her back to her family? Did he give her family the option to
ransom her?
I [Salama, a Muslim raider] drove [captives] along until I brought them to
Abu Bakr [Companion of Muhammad] who bestowed that girl on me as a prize. So we
arrived in Medina. I had not yet disrobed her when the Messenger of Allah . . .
met me in the street and said: Give me that girl, O Salamah. I said: Messenger
of Allah, she has fascinated me. I had not yet disrobed her. When on the next
day, the Messenger of Allah . . . again met me in the street, he said: O Salama,
give me that girl, may God bless your father. I said: she is for you, Messenger
of Allah . . . By Allah, I have not yet disrobed her. The Messenger of Allah . .
. sent her to the people of Mecca, and surrendered her as ransom for a number of
Muslims who had been kept as prisoners in Mecca. (Muslim no. 4345)
Early Islamthe one that Muhammad foundedtrafficked in slavery and allowed
sex with women prisoners of war, in their most helpless condition. This hadith
gives a sad snapshot of slavery and abuse in early Islam. It is disappointing
that Muhammad did not stop this trade with firm commands: No more slavery and no
more sex with prisoners of raids! This prohibition is doubly needed when a
religion traffics in this trade, as original Islam did. But why would such a
command come down from on high, since the trade generated a lot of money and
satiated male sexual lust for women?
Muslim activists and missionaries make much of Islamic justice. But how is
cruelly killing an old woman anywhere close to appearing like justice?
Sources: Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, trans. Guillaume, (Oxford UP,
1955), pp. 664665; Tabari, The History of alTabari: the Victory of Islam,
trans. Michael Fishbein, vol. 8, SUNYP, 1997, pp. 9597. Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) is
an earlier biographer of Muhammad who is considered an important source by
modern scholars except the miraculous elements and some chronology. Tabari (d.
923) is an early historian who is also considered reliable.
Mutilating Arab tribesmen
The following event supposedly provides the historical context of Sura
5:33. Shortly after Umm Qirfa's horrible death (perhaps only a few weeks or
within the same month), some Arab tribesmen visited the Prophet and at some time
converted to Islam. But they fell sick in the uncongenial climate of Medina. So
Muhammad told them to follow a shepherd outside of the city, recommending to
them an old folk belief: drinking the milk and urine of a camel, rather than his
healing them through the power of Allah. Subsequently, they are reported to have
felt better. However, for some reason, they killed the shepherd, turned
apostate, and drove off the camels for themselves. This news reached Muhammad,
and he ordered them to be hunted down and brought before him. He decreed that
their hands and feet should be cut off. Then he added these excesses on top of
the others:
Then he ordered for [sic] nails which were heated and [the tribesmen] were
branded with those nails, their eyes, and they were left in the Harra (i.e.
rocky land in AlMadina). And when they asked for water, no water was given them
till they died . . . . (Bukhari, Book of Jihad, no. 3018; cf. online source
)
Though this passage is awkwardly translated, it is one of many that should
shock everyone of a sound mind. Muhammad actually pierced their eyes with nails
(one version says with needles). Then their bodies were thrown on stony ground,
dying of dehydration. One version says they died from the battering they
suffered from being thrown on rocky ground; another says they died from loss of
blood, for Muhammad did not cauterize their amputated limbs. Regardless of the
specific cause of their unnatural death, torturing them is excess multiplied by
excess, and this is never just.
Sources: Bukhari, Book of Punishments (Hudud), vol. 8, no. 680205 (online
source and passages below this linked one); Muslim nos. 41304137; Sunan Abu
Dawud nos. 43514359 (online source; Ibn Ishaq, pp. 67778. For more information
on this gruesome torture inflicted by the Allahinspired prophet, please see
this article.
Burning the treasurer of the city of Khaybar
Muhammad conquered Khaybar in AD 628 (only a few months after the gruesome
deaths of Umm Qirfa and the Arab tribesmen), but in AD 625, he had besieged and
exiled the Jewish tribe of Nadir in Medina. They immigrated to Khaybar to the
north. Now Muhammad wanted their treasure, not to mention the rest of the entire
city.
Ibn Ishaq the biographer writes about the torture of the treasurer, to
extract information:
Kinana b. alRabi, who had custody of the treasure of B. alNadir, was
brought to the apostle [Muhammad] who asked him about it. He denied that he knew
where it was.
Then Muhammad finds some of the treasure:
A Jew came to the apostle and said that he had seen Kinana going around a
certain ruin every morning, early. When the apostle said to Kinana, 'Do you know
that if we find you have it, I shall kill you?' he said Yes. The apostle gave
orders that the ruin was to be excavated and some of the treasure was
found.
Here is the torture that Muhammad permitted:
When he [Muhammad] asked him about the rest, he refused to produce it, so
the apostle gave orders . . . 'Torture him until you extract what he has,' so
[the torturer] kindled a fire with flint and steel on his chest until he was
nearly dead.
Michael Fishbein, a translator of the early historian Tabari, disagrees
with a phrase in the above translation of Ibn Ishaq. The fire was not kindled on
the treasurer's chest with 'flint and steel,' but with a 'firestick on his chest
. . . The firestick (zand) was a stick of wood that could be twirled rapidly in
an indentation in a second piece to produce fire' (note 510). Whether by flint
and steel or a firestick, such torture to find material wealth is wrong and
misguided.
So how does the story of the treasurer and Khaybar end? Kinana was beheaded
in revenge for a killing, and Khaybar was conquered. The citizens, mostly Jews,
could work the lands that now belonged to Islam by conquest, but they had to
turn over half of the resources to Muhammad and his special Muslim
recipients.
Sources: Ibn Ishaq, p. 515; Tabari, vol. 8, pp. 122123. For the tense
relations between Muhammad and the Jews during the ten years that he lived in
Medina, please see this article. For more information on the torture of
the treasurer...
Muslim defenses of these atrocities
The defenses take many forms, but three are the most common.
For the first defensive strategy, Muslim polemicists seek to discredit Ibn
Ishaq and Tabari as being less reliable than the hadith collectors and editors
Bukhari (d. 870), Muslim (d. 875), and Abu Dawud (d. 875). It should be noted
that the explicit information about two victims of torture (Umm Qirfa and Kinana
the treasurer) comes only from Ibn Ishaq and Tabari.
In reply, however, this effort to discredit is a oneway street. These same
polemicists value Ibn Ishaq and Tabari when they portray Muhammad as heroic and
noble. Also, modern western scholars, using modern standards of western
scholarship, take these acts of torture seriously, and these scholars almost
always defend Muhammad and Islam.
Plus, simple coherence supports the two acts of torture recorded only by
Ibn Ishaq and Tabari (Umm Qirfa and the treasurer). That is, the hadith records
the torture of the Arab tribesmen, and the hadith records other violent,
stealthy actions done by Muhammad, such as assassinations. (Also go here).
Many acts of violence cohere together in describing early Islam, and thus the
accounts about the two torture victims are pieces that fit into the big picture
puzzle.
Finally, the most unpleasant events in early Islam have the strongest
probability of really having occurred because it is inconceivable that a Muslim
would make them up on his own or receive them from nonMuslims. These harsh
anecdotes and accounts, therefore, cannot be explained away in terms of the
(alleged) unreliability of the source documents. In fact, those accounts in the
hadith and Ibn Ishaq and Tabari that praise the prophet to high heaven, such as
his working miracles, are the most suspect, especially since the Quran says that
he could not perform miracles, except for producing the Quran itself (though
this 'miracle' has been easily duplicated by native speakers of Arabic).
The second line of defense shows that Muslim polemicists deflect our
attention away from torture in Islam, making a false comparison. For instance,
Abul Hamid Siddiqi translated the hadith collection Sahih Muslim and provided
some commentary. He describes the renegade Arab tribesmen (see the second
historical example, above) in the worst way possible so that the Quranic
punishments seem to fit the crime. He also reviews the opinions of classical
legal scholars. Then he writes this about western law:
Lest some of these penalties may appear barbarous to some hypersensitive
Western reader, let him cast a glance on drawing and quartering: a penalty of
the English criminal code maintained as late as the eighteenth century,
inflicted on those found guilty of high treason against the King or government.
The person committed was usually drawn on a sledge to the place of execution;
there he was hung by the neck from a scaffold, being cut down and disemboweled,
while still alive; his head was cut from the body and his corpse divided into
four quarters . . . . (vol. 3, p. 894, note 2121)
Like many Muslims, Siddiqi deflects the brutality in the origins of his own
religion by criticizing later western civilization. He seems to say, 'Who are
you 'hypersensitive western' readers to complain? You have your own excessive
punishments.' But this is a tacit admission that Sura 5:33 is in fact cruel and
brutal. However, since it came down from Allah, Siddiqi and many others are not
allowed to deny its validity. In fact, they have to deny or explain away its
barbarity. This is like a husband deflecting his wife's accurate observations of
his cruel flaws with the retort that she is not perfect, either. With that
attitude, the husband will never reform. Can or will Islam reform? How can it
when the sacred book, brought down by Gabriel from Allah, endorses
atrocities?
Next, Siddiqi makes a false comparison and fails to make the right one. He
compares the founding documents of Islam with much later, but now outdated
western laws. However, this comparison is asymmetrical. It is always better to
compare the founder and the source documents of a religion (Islam) with the
founder and the source documents of another religion (Christianity). This
comparison will developed in the next section, but suffice it to say here that
never did Jesus endorse such brutality in a penal code or as an example for
society in order to impose external righteousness. He sought to change people,
even criminals, from the inside out, so that they can lead moral lives. He did
not come to physically maim and torture people.
Finally, though this is not a defense, Siddiqi informs us that classical
jurists decreed that if a criminal is being killed in retaliation or for
committing a grave crime, he should be supplied with water, if he asks for it.
'Callousness should not be shown even to a person who is undergoing capital
punishment. The criminal must receive punishment according to the law of the
Shariah, but he should not in any way be treated brutally' (vol. 3, p. 894, note
2123). This is a remarkable observation and admission, even though Siddiqi does
not mention his Prophet by name, the one who committed these atrocities in the
first place.
In effect, Siddiqi and these classical jurists correct and improve on
Muhammad's 'callousness' and 'brutality.' Siddiqi and these jurists should be
applauded. Using clear reason and (apparently) not depending on bygone
revelations, they have moved past the origins of Islam. They follow justice more
closely than their Prophet did.
Readers can see more replies to Muslim polemicists in this article (scroll
down to 'Modern explanations of Sura 5:33'). For the source of the two options
concerning the reliability of Islamic documents (an early Muslim author would
neither fabricate on his own the questionable behavior of Muhammad nor receive
this from a nonMuslim), go to this article, and scroll down to the subsection
'Satanic verses,' searching for W. M. Watt's assessment)...
This is far different from Sura 5:33 and the life of Muhammad. This verse
is not a parable; it is law. It legitimizes and commands crucifixion and
mutilation. Also, Muhammad and his close followers actually inflicted torture in
real life, so he was consistent with the Quranic law dreamed up by the god of
the Arabian Peninsula. Moreover, Muhammad believed Muslim angels helped him kill
his enemies at the Battle of Badr (Sura 8:12)...
Conclusion
Muslim missionaries boast that Islam is the best and most complete religion
in the world, because it specifies duties and requirements for every aspect of
life. But what happens if this control is oppressive? What if it is rooted in a
harsh and outdated holy book and traditions? This is seen in the specific area
of punishing criminals and enemies and extracting information and exacting
revenge, all by torture.
It is a sad fact that too many Islamic websites and
literature seem unwilling to confront the violent origins of Islam, and they
whitewash the hard truths. This is deceptive at best and dangerous at worst.
What happens when or if Islam gets a foothold in a new region on the basis of
peace and love, but later on, conservative and strict Muslims (not to mention
nonviolent and violent fanatics) cite the numerous violent verses and passages
in the Quran and in the hadith in order to defend the infliction of a harsh law,
like mutilation or crucifixion in Sura 5:33?
Besides the present article,
this one challenges the Islamic version of human rights and justice: top ten
reasons why sharia (Islamic law) is bad for all societies...
http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/01/torture_in_the_quran_and_early.html
The religion of Islam fulfills each and every criteria of the
above-mentioned definition of terrorism. The following irrefutable facts and
deductive logic will amply demonstrate this statement. Ever since Islam was
founded it has left behind a legacy of violent atrocities and horrible crimes.
The holy book of the Muslims, the Koran, contains specific instructions on how
to loot, pillage, plunder, rape, torture and murder in order to further the
interests of Islam . It can clearly be called a specific instruction manual of
terrorism.
The "Holy" Koran is full of very unholy and terrorist
ambitions...
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/terrorist1.html
_____________________________
BIN
LADEN
_____________________________
SADDAM
HUSSEIN
"Al-Anfal" refers to a chapter in the Koran invoking Muslim armies to
recompense themselves for their efforts in war by seizing the properties of
infidels. It speaks of striking terror "into the hearts of the enemy of Allah
and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth
know."
Saddam probably interpreted this verse from the Koran as sufficient
to justify a vicious two-year crusade of extermination of the Kurds. The Kurds,
it should be remembered, are also Muslims (but not Arabs, and hated in racist
Pan-Arabist Saddam's eyes).
http://www.int-review.org/terr35a.html
Seeing, and Believing
The torture tapes the media are
ignoring.
June 17, 2004, 8:46 a.m.
By Nick Schulz
EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier this month, National Review Online obtained a
four-minute video of Saddam-era torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Many
of us here who discussed the matter are ourselves unable to watch the whole
video. Some could not get beyond the furious, ecstatic chanting of torturers as
they raised swords, celebrating their own dementia in the depths of a man-made
hell. What to do with the video was a matter of debate here. On principle this
is newsworthy and weighing heavily on our deliberations was the fact that a
group of United States senators held a press conference on June 2 during which
they showed the horrific video and near no one covered it in fact, to this
date, I am aware of no mainstream news organization other than the New York Post
yesterday in an opinion column that has even mentioned that this new,
Department of Defense-provided, video exists and has been shown on the Hill. We
also considered this: Some Westerners, including some who did not support the
war in Iraq, frankly may not understand the evil that was the Saddam Hussein
regime. You watch or try to the four-minute video and you see the unbearable
evil that was and that is no more because of the sacrifice of American and
Coalition blood...
"You don't appreciate what happened in that prison until you see it."
"In the name of Allah the merciful," intones the beret-topped loyalist to
Saddam's "secular" regime in the next segment. He introduces to the viewer and
the assembled butcher squad to another prisoner. The loyalist-narrator reads
from Koran, Sura 2:179: "And there is a saving of life for you in the Law of
Equality in punishment. O men of understanding, that you may become the
pious."
"The Fedayeen, Saddin Ezzedin al-Arousi," he goes on, "was charged with a
special mission in which he betrayed his duty in the mission. The head of the
Fedayeen has ordered the following: He is expelled from Fedayeen work and his
arms are to be broken in front of his unit. Tarik Juman will personally
undertake the breaking of his arms. Thank you."
The camera jumps to al-Arousi sitting with one arm tied behind him as his
right arm is extended out to his side. His right elbow rests on a cinderblock
and his right fist is supported by another cinderblock. Nothing supports his
forearm in between. While a Fedayeen holds the prisoner's elbow in place, Tarik
Juman crashes a three-inch-thick pipe down on his old compatriot's forearm,
bending the forearm in a 'V' shape and shattering the bones within. This
procedure is repeated for his left arm as well.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/schulz200406170846.asp
The ritualized aspects of the video include the Fedayeen rhythmically chanting their loyalty to Saddam and clapping throughout the torture, the Fedayeen wearing their characteristic ninja-like black uniforms, and group participation in the violence. The religious aspect is evident in the praising of Allah and the recitation of the Quran during the torture of a supposed Fedayeen traitor. Finally the beheading entails ritualized singing and praising of Saddam while the head is cut off with a sword, held up, and then placed on the prisoner’s back. Placing the head on the back of the decapitated body is similar to the body disposition of the classic al-Qaeda signature.
http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap1102/muja.htm
__________________________________
IRAN
THE IRANIAN: Islam and reform, Hashem Aghajari The religious leaders taught
that if you understand the Koran on your own, .... Under ordinary interrogation
he isn't confessing, so we must torture him so ...
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id4/ip.htm
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran student protests... [Jul 9, 2004] ... Five
years on from pro-reform protests which rocked Iran, a student who was there ...
four continuous days and I was also subject to psychological torture for a
month. ... you should not even read Koran after his death." ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3879535.stm
Iran: Freedom of Expression and Association in the Kurdish Regions ...Jan
9, 2009 ... The doctor recorded all the signs of torture that were evident from
the .... The Maktabe Koran (Quran School, in the sense of a school of ...
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/79044/section/7
__________________________________
SAUDI ARABIA
__________________________________
TALIBAN
Afghan girls fearful after acid attack - Afghanistan- msnbc.com Nov 14,
2008 ... Acid attack keeps Afghan girls away from school ... Girls were banned
from schools under the rule of the Taliban, the hard-line ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27713077/
__________________________________
HEZBOLLAH
"South Lebanese Face Abductions, Torture and 90-Second Show Trials ...A
Hezbollah guerrilla guards former SLA militiamen in the village of ... torture,
at various camps under the control of Syrian and ...
http://www.meib.org/articles/0007_l3.htm
...To which work is Jihad Darrell referring? Is it 1986 Hezbollah's
torturing to death of Ibrahim Benesti, aged 54, of Beirut, and his elderly
relatives, Yehudah and Yosef, whose only crime was being Jewish? Benesti, whose
family – like many Lebanese Jews – had been in Lebanon since 2,000 B.C. (before
the birth of Mohammed), was a charitable and kindly candy store owner who gave
free candy to children of all religions. Or maybe Jihad Darrell was referring to
the "humanitarian" 1985 Hezbollah torture-murder of Isaac Tarab, 63, and Chaim
Halala Cohen, 39, also guilty of being Jewish.
http://www.politicalusa.com/columnists/schlussel/schlussel_003.htm
'Dearbornistan' Shi'ia capitol of America - Thousands of American ...Jul
26, 2006 ... And not before the 1984 Hezbollah torture-murder of CIA station
chief in Lebanon William Buckley. And not before the 1985 Hezbollah ...
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2165
____________________________
AL
QAEDA [in Iraq]
Torture chamber found in Iraq
Saturday, 22 December , 2007,
00:12
Last Updated: Saturday, 22 December , 2007, 00:15
Baghdad: Blood-splotches on walls, chains hanging from a ceiling
and swords on the killing floor the artifacts left a disturbing tale of
brutalities inside a suspected al-Qaeda torture chamber in Iraq.
But there was yet another chilling fact outside the dirt-floor dungeon.
Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists
to tell authorities until now.
Stories such as these claims of insurgent abuses and the silence of
frightened Iraqis have emerged with increasing frequency and clarity recently.
The reports and tips now pouring in build a harrowing portrait of rule under
al-Qaeda and its backers: mass graves, ruthless punishments, self-styled Islamic
courts ordering summary executions.
Such a lead brought soldiers earlier this month to the hidden room in
Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, the US military said Thursday.
Graffiti on the building proclaimed Long Live the Islamic State a reference
to the Islamic governance, or caliphate, sought in Iraq by Sunni extremist
groups that include al-Qaeda.
Scrawled in white paint above a bed in the torture area was a Quranic
phrase in Arabic normally used to welcome a guest. But the context suggested
only sadistic mockery: "Come in, you are safe."
The floor was littered with food wrappers, plastic soda bottles and
electric cables that snaked to a metal bed frame, presumably where detainees
were shocked, according to the US account of the discovery during a December
8-11 mission.
The rooms "had chains, a bed an iron bed that was still connected to a
battery knives and swords that were still covered in blood," said US Army Maj
Gen Mark P Hertling, the top US commander in northern Iraq.
Nearby were nine mass graves containing the remains of 26 people, he said.
Villagers knew about the torture site, but did not tell authorities as they
were afraid of reprisals from the militants, a local policeman told The
Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was still afraid of
being targeted by extremists.
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14579402
Al-Qaeda Torture Manual Found & Released by DoD (***Warning
Graphic***)
[24 MAY 07]
Torture, Al-Qaeda Style
Drawings, tools seized
from Iraq safe house in U.S. military raid
MAY 24--In a recent raid on an
al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq, U.S. military officials recovered an assortment of
crude drawings depicting torture methods like "blowtorch to the skin" and "eye
removal." Along with the images, which you'll find on the following pages,
soldiers seized various torture implements, like meat cleavers, whips, and wire
cutters. Photos of those items can be seen here. The images, which were just
declassified by the Department of Defense, also include a picture of a
ramshackle Baghdad safe house described as an "al-Qaeda torture chamber."
It
was there, during an April 24 raid, that soldiers found a man suspended from the
ceiling by a chain. According to the military, he had been abducted from his job
and was being beaten daily by his captors. In a raid earlier this week,
Coalition Forces freed five Iraqis who were found in a padlocked room in Karmah.
The group, which included a boy, were reportedly beaten with chains, cables, and
hoses. Photos showing injuries sustained by those captives can be found
here.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0524072torture1.html
Mujahideen Blood Rituals: The Religious and Forensic Symbolism of Al Qaeda Beheading...
http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap1102/muja.htm
______________________________
The Arab immigrants who call
themselves as "PALESTINIANS"
PALESTINIAN MUSLIM CLERIC URGES ALL ARABS TO KILL JEWS,
CHRISTIANS ...Now, Allah says he wants the Muslims to torture the Jews in their
.... shared by the Muslim until the explosion of Palestinian outrage on Rosh
Hashanah over ...
http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/n1418.cfm
Islams Torture of Lebanon By Jamie Glazov ... That situation
was aggravated by the influx of the Palestinians coming from Jordan after King
Hussein kicked ...
http://www.jnnnews.com/media/jamie/
Are Palestinian Leaders Preaching Nazi-like Hatred of Jews?The
Koran is plain... the worst enemies of the Islamic Nation are the Jews ... and
mental torture of Palestinians; and sexually exploiting Arab children. ...
http://hnn.us/articles/743.html
PALESTINE Palestinian human rights center accuses Hamas of
...Aug 8, 2008 ... Gaza (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Mistreatment and torture are
alleged to have been ... 06/15/2007 PALESTINE Hamas, the era of Islamic law in
full ...
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12961
_____________________________
PAKISTANI JIHADISTS
..the kidnappers being Moslem and Danny Pearl being tortured and killed because he was Jewish.... Pearl, 38, the Journal's South Asia bureau chief, disappeared on Jan. 23 while researching a story about Islamic radicals in Pakistan. Two days after his death was confirmed, investigators still had not found his body or tracked down four additional suspects.... The fact that Daniel was forced to accept that he and his father were Jewish gives a hint that the same Arab might also be present when Pearl was killed...
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/tapeof.htm
Pakistan and the Growing Threat of a Sharia Mini-State
By Jeffrey Imm
[June, 2008]
The Pakistan Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or TTP) is in the process of gaining territory and power within Pakistan, as a result of numerous "peace treaties" and agreements to empower the Taliban to enforce an anti-freedom theocracy based on Sharia law in Pakistan. This is a critical American national security issue that requires revisiting the very ideologies that provide the foundation for jihadist action itself, and answering difficult questions regarding the role of Sharia law and the reliability of Islamic republics in a global war against jihad... Seven Christians arrested in false blasphemy cases and men tortured to extract false confessions"... Muslims torture for hours Christian “blasphemer” now in jail...
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/06/pakistan_sharia_threat.php
Mad Dogs Off The Leash! a/k/a Islamic Terrorists
...an interview with the relatives of the Jewish Rabbi and others who were targets of Islamic terrorists in Mumbai, India. Now I want you to consider that the terrorists are a new breed of bad guys -- the next generation terrorist. Consider also that the United States needs to be prepared for this upgrade evil. The torture the Jews endured was so bad, that even the medical examiner could not speak of it, he could not get the images of what these people had endured out of his mind.
Consider also that these twenty-first century barbarians chose Western, Jewish, non-Muslim people to brutally torture -- just for the fun of it.
http://righttruth.typepad.com/right_truth/2008/12/mad-dogs-off-the-leash-aka-islamic-terrorists.html
_____________________________
ISLAMIC FASCISTS BARBARIANS
on ILAN HALIMI
The Murder of Ilan Halimi - WSJ.com ... Ilan's uncle Rafi Halimi told
reporters that the gang phoned the family on several occasions and
made them
listen to the recitation of verses from the Quran, while Ilans tortured screams
could be heard in the background.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114064452021880485.html
The victim, whose full name is Ilan Halimi, was Jewish......verses from the
Quran, while Ilans tortured screams could be heard in the background. ... he
slow torture of Ilan Halimi, a Jewish youth, kidnapped and tortured to ...
http://israpundit.com/2006/?p=211
Muslim killers relatives and neighbors 'dropped in' to torture ...
Feb
25, 2006 ... MIM: Had the murdered man been a Muslim, or a Koran been found
discarded on .... orchards and national forests in the areas by Palestinians.
...
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1684
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