May 20
TAIWAN:
Indonesian worker admits murdering Taiwan employer; blames bullying
An Indonesian worker, known only as Ani, who allegedly murdered the owner of a
breakfast shop where she was employed on Monday, revealed during police
questioning yesterday that she carried out the homicide due to unfair working
treatment and claimed that her former boss had slashed her salary.
According to the police, Ani was introduced to the owners of the breakfast shop
in Zhubei, Hsinchu City through an agent last August. She began working there
illegally with a promised monthly wage of NT$26,000 (S$1,140), but was later
fired in December.
Ani admitted to stabbing Lin Ting-yi with a steak knife 3 times in the left
chest before running off early Monday morning. The incident took place at the
entrance of the shop. She was discovered by other shop workers, and was sent to
the hospital. Lin later died from blood loss.
Workplace Bullying Spawned Homicide?
Ani claimed that she was taunted by the shop owners, who said that she had
mental problems, and was often called "stupid," "trash" and "dog." Only
recently did the Ani decide to carry out murder in revenge.
The Indonesian worker said that the she had worked there for almost half a
year, but had received only NT$22,000 per month in wages, lower than the
discussed NT$26,000. Yet, she claimed that the main reason behind the murder
was Lin's "workplace bullying."
Lin's husband, said that after illegally employing Ani through an agent last
August, she began to show disturbing signs of a mental disorder, such as often
muttering to herself. In the end they decided to lay Ani off. The husband
claimed that they had "never cut the worker's pay."
A relative of Lin said that Lin gave Ani's wages to her agent every month on
time, but did not know whether she received the money or not.
Possible Death Penalty
Police authorities yesterday found that the Indonesian suspect deliberately
murdered her former boss after examining the corpse. The suspect not only
stabbed Lin's heart, but twisted the knife as well.
Officers also reported that the suspect had been wearing gloves at the time,
and cleaned the steak knife after committing the murder.
The Indonesian worker was sent to the Hsinchu District Prosecutor's Office
yesterday afternoon suspected of homicide. Attorney Liao Fang-hsuan said that
the worker could face the death penalty.
The Labor Affairs Department in Hsinchu County said that fruit stands,
restaurants, and construction sites cannot employ illegal foreign workers.
(source: Asia One)
NIGERIA:
Murder charges against 15-year-old girl accused of using rat poison to kill a
35-year-old man she was forced to marry are dropped by Nigerian court
Prosecutors had sought death penalty for accused Wasila Tasi'u
Said it was 'with a heavy heart' they dropped the case against her
Umar Sani, who had 2 wives, died days after marrying her in Kano state
Human rights campaigners maintained she was victim of abuse
A child bride accused of murdering her husband with rat poison has had the
charges against her dropped, Nigerian prosecutors confirmed.
Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki asked the High Court in Gezawa, Kano state,
to 'terminate the case of culpable homicide against Wasila Tasi'u, who was 14
when she married Umar Sani.
'With a heavy heart, I apply that the accused be discharged,' he said.
Legal sources in Kano said the country had been under pressure to drop the case
which angered human rights groups.
Police previously said Wasila had 'admitted' murdering her 35-year-old husband
by signing a confession she could not read - with her thumbprint.
Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty for the teenager, whose farmer
husband was found dead just days after marrying her in April last year.
If she had been found guilty, the teenager - who is from a poor and deeply
conservative Muslim family and cannot write - could have become the 1st child
in Nigeria to be executed in 18 years.
Human rights campaigners continually expressed outrage over her treatment,
saying she should be seen as a victim of abuse.
But the case prompted mixed reactions in her impoverished home state of Kano,
where Sharia (Islamic) law is in place alongside the laws of the government.
That, claim some followers, allows child marriage - and 14 is a normal age for
a bride.
She could not write her name so 'she had to use a thumbprint,' he added.
One of the prosecution witnesses was the farmer's 2nd wife Ramatu, who told how
her 'co-wife' prepared him dinner before being due to go to bed with him.
The court had heard the murder victim had married Ramatu previously in the
village of Unguwar Yansoro, which sits in a region where polygamy is
widespread.
Ramatu said she got along well with the 14-year-old and the two had prepared
food together on April 5, 2014 the day Sani died.
Because it was Wasila's turn to share a bed with her new husband, she was also
entitled to serve him his meal.
'After putting the food in the dish I didn't see anybody put anything in it,'
Ramatu said - but later she saw her husband foaming at the mouth and unable to
walk.
Previously a 7-year-old girl who Wasila allegedly sent to buy rat poison was
called to give evidence.
Identified only as Hamziyya, the young girl - believed to be Ramatu's sister -
was living in the same house as the 14-year-old and her new husband at the time
of his death.
'She said rats were disturbing her in her room,' Hamziyya told the court.
Shopkeeper Abuwa Yusuf confirmed selling poison to the girl, and neighbour
Abdulrahim Ibrahim said: 'When [Sani] brought the food I noticed some
sandy-like particles, black in colour'.
The neighbour ate 4 of the small balls made of bean paste but 'was not
comfortable with the taste', he said, adding: 'It was only Umar (Sani) who
continued eating.'
Previous court reports suggested 3 other people had died after allegedly eating
the contaminated food, but all 4 deaths had been combined into 1 murder charge.
The case has raised the spectre of child marriage in Nigeria, where campaigners
say almost 2/5 of children are married off before their 18th birthday.
Some 16 per cent are married before they turn 15, according to the campaign
group Girls Not Brides - and the rates are the highest in the north, near where
Wasila lived.
Hussaina Ibrahim from the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), who
is representing the teenager, previously told The Guardian: 'We are against the
trial. The whole process violates her fundamental rights.
'The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says she should be in education.
She should be in school'.
But others including the 14-year-old's own relatives have rejected the notion
she was forced into marriage.
They have said that 14 is a common age to marry in the deeply impoverished
region and that she chose Sani from among many suitors.
A motion by defence lawyers to have the case moved to juvenile court was
rejected, despite claims by human rights activists that she is too young to
stand trial for murder in a high court.
The use of Sharia law has also made the case more complicated, because there
are no guidelines saying where Islamic law ends and state law begins.
According to Human Rights Watch, Nigeria is not known to have executed a
juvenile offender since 1997, when the country was ruled by military dictator
Sani Abacha.
(source: Daily Mail)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Saudi Arabia risks revolution with execution of activist Sheikh al-Nimr
With over 30,000 political prisoners languishing in prison, Saudi Arabia has
become the epitome of oppression. Now, newly crowned King Salman is set to
paint the Kingdom red with the blood of Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, a prominent
Shia cleric.
Sheikh al-Nimr, arguably one of the fiercest and most vocal critics of the
monarchy, was condemned to death in October 2014 on charges of sedition. His
crime: the denunciation of Saudi Arabia's brutal and reactionary theocratic
system.
A cleric, a man of letters and community teacher, Sheikh al-Nimr has dedicated
his life to advocating peaceful change, interfaith tolerance, social justice
and political self-determination. Born in a country that strictly segregates on
the basis of one's social standing, religious affiliation and even gender,
Sheikh al-Nimr has become both a symbol of resistance and a hope that peaceful
change in the country is still possible.
An independent mind and a charismatic man, Sheikh al-Nimr has never cowered
before adversity, especially when it meant abandoning an entire people - his
people - to suffer religious oppression at the hands of the Kingdom's Wahhabi
establishment. In a country where all which is not Wahhabi Islam is considered
heresy, Sheikh al-Nimr stood tall for Saudi Arabia's Shia population, a group
that for centuries has endured a brutal and often bloody sectarian-motivated
crackdown.
In 2011, hope came to the Saudis by way of the Arab Spring as millions across
the Middle East and North Africa rose in unison to depose autocracies,
determined to reclaim power from their respective despots. And while revolution
burned bright for a while, the grip on power was but briefly displaced. As
people's resolve wavered and democracies faltered, chaos spread and military
leaders stepped out of the shadows and into the revolutionary vacuum. From
Egypt to Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen popular rule remains an
elusive concept.
Saudi Arabia never got its revolution!
Sheikh al-Nimr is one of the unwarranted casualties of a movement that bore
such promise and yet fell flat on its face under the weight of political
manipulation.
For daring to speak against the monarchy and demanding equal rights for all
Saudis, Sheikh al-Nimr was struck down by the regime, branded to suffer the
wrath of a system that only tolerates absolute submission. Keen to make an
example out of him and stifle dissent through his trial, al-Saud's Royals
handed this one cleric a punishment worthy of the Spanish Inquisition.
Al-Nimr was not just condemned to death, he was sentenced to be beheaded, then
crucified in a public square; his body to be paraded before all, as one would
do a hunting trophy.
But Saudi Arabia's clear desire to punish those who defy its authority could
actually end up costing the monarchy more than it bargained for. Again, Sheikh
al-Nimr is more than just a political dissident; he has become the vessel of
Saudi Arabia's discontent, an inspiration for all those men and women who
continue to oppose al-Saud's hegemony in the region.
As Ali al-Ahmed, an expert on Saudi Arabia from the Institute for Gulf Affairs,
warned in comments to MintPress, the killing of al-Nimr will likely mark a
point of no return for the Kingdom. "You'd see huge protests, you'd see huge
clashes ... This would be a turning point."
Amid the warnings and cries for reprisals, Western powers have retreated behind
their walls of silence, the public's apathy only broken by the admonition of
rights organizations. "Saudi Arabia's wave of executions since the start of
this year has provoked widespread disgust. But these killings, if they are
allowed to go ahead, will mark a new low," said Maya Foya, director of
Reprieve's death penalty team, in a post to the NGO's website.
With a new generation of princes holding the rod of power in Riyadh, the
Kingdom has become, if ever it was possible, a much darker and oppressive place
indeed.
As Prince bin Naif now heads the Interior Ministry, any form of activism,
whether political or religious, has been construed as terrorism; at the same
time, calls for democratic reform are likened to treason. Utilizing specialized
criminal courts and a terrorism law that effectively criminalizes free speech,
Prince bin Naif, the new darling of the United States, has worked to squash the
very concept of civil liberties. With rights advocates such as Fadhil
al-Manasif, Waleed Abu al-Khair, Raif Badawi and Sheikh al-Nimr now languishing
behind bars, one could argue the Kingdom is at war with its own people.
But as is usually the case where repression has become the main institutional
axis, the opposition needs only to find a rallying cry, one pivotal moment
where the collective fear of persecution is overcome to turn one movement into
a revolutionary storm. While 2011 provided an opportunity to break the shackles
that burdened millions across the Middle East and North Africa, Saudi Arabia
needs its revolutionary spirit to come alive. As it stands, Sheikh al-Nimr
could become that impetus the Saudis have been waiting for.
If Saudi Arabia often presents itself as an oasis of calm and stability against
the tumult of a region racked by wars, poverty and terror, we might want to
consider the fact that it could be because it stands at the epicenter of such
ongoing chaos - the generator of violence that has swept the region and brought
misery to millions.
When political power can only be asserted through the spilling of blood and
gruesome displays of violence, when legitimacy can only be gained through
vicious oppression, it is often such regimes that are on the brink of collapse.
Change is inherent to the reality of our universe, and not even the Kingdom
will be able to weather that storm. And it's coming!
(source: Catherine Shakdam is a political analyst and commentator for the
Middle East with a special emphasis on Yemen and radical movements; rt.com)
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