Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Gatestone Update :: Soeren Kern: Muslim Forced Marriages in Spain, and more


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Muslim Forced Marriages in Spain

by Soeren Kern
August 14, 2012 at 5:00 am
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Children, on their own initiative, have even approached the police for help. As forced marriage is not an offense under the Spanish Criminal Code, police have been trying to use other legal avenues such gender violence and kidnapping, but as often happens in Spain, the judge orders the man released from jail.
Police in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia have intervened to prevent the forced marriage of a 13-year-old girl belonging to a Muslim immigrant family from Morocco.
The girl was one of nine reported victims of forced marriage in Catalonia during the first six months of 2012. Seven of the reported cases involved minors, but in several instances when police were alerted, they were unable to intervene in time to prevent the marriages from taking place.
Catalan police, known locally as Mossos d'Esquadra, have reported a cumulative total of more than 50 forced marriages involving minors since the regional government began compiling official data in 2009. Police, however, say this figure represents only "the tip of the iceberg"; many victims are unaware of their rights and most of the cases go unreported.
The issue of forced marriage is especially acute in Catalonia, where the Muslim population has skyrocketed in recent years. Catalonia, a region with 7.5 million inhabitants, is now home to an estimated 400,000 Muslims, up from 30,000 in the 1980s.
The Muslim population in many Catalan towns and cities now exceeds 20%; and the town of Salt, near Barcelona, where Muslim immigrants now make up 40% of the population, has been dubbed the "new Mecca of the most radical Islamism" because of efforts by Muslims to enforce Islamic Sharia law there.
According to Catalan officials, the majority of forced marriages in Catalonia involve Muslim girls from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. The majority of the cases involve immigrants from Morocco, followed by Pakistan, Gambia, Guinea and Senegal. Marriages are often arranged with a cousin or another family member to continue the tradition, to prevent the Europeanization of the girls, or to pay outstanding debts.
According to Catalan police, four of the cases of forced marriages during the first six months of 2012 occurred in the Catalan province of Gerona, one of the most heavily Islamized regions of Spain. Police say they were able to prevent only two of the four weddings. Three of the others occurred in the city of Barcelona, and two were within the province of Barcelona. All nine involved Muslim immigrants.
Children, on their own initiative, have even approached the police for help. The situation involving the 13-year-old girl, for example, began in January 2012, when the girl's mother, with whom the child had been living in Gerona, died, and the father, who was residing in neighboring France, took the girl to live with him in Toulouse.
Once in France, the girl discovered that her father was planning to marry her off to a man in Morocco in early July. The girl alerted police in Toulouse, who transmitted the information to the Spanish consulate in the city. Spanish authorities then devised a scheme in which the girl persuaded her father to take her to Gerona on the pretext of completing some official paperwork. Once across the border in Spain, police arrested the father, and the girl was transferred to a foster home in Gerona.
As forced marriage is not an offense under the Spanish Criminal Code, police have been trying to use other legal avenues such as pursuing crimes involving sexual assault, unlawful detention, gender violence and kidnapping. In the instance of the 13-year-old, police determined that the girl was being subjected to physical violence, and arrested the father for child abuse. But as is often happens in Spain, the judge overseeing the case ordered the father to be released from jail.
Many reports of forced marriages of children reach police through schools: victims often confide in a trusted teacher. In one such case in 2011, police in the Barcelona suburb of L'Hospitalet arrested a 27 year old Moroccan man for forcibly marrying a minor.
The case came to public attention after a former teacher of the girl, who lives in the same apartment complex as she, alerted the police. A subsequent investigation found that the girl's family had taken a trip to Morocco where the child was forced to marry against her will. Once back in Spain, the girl contacted the teacher, who then called the police.
Investigators found that the girl was being detained in her new husband's apartment against her will and that she was a victim of rape. Once again, the judge hearing the case ordered the husband released from jail.
In another case, a young Pakistani girl subjected to forced marriage escaped from her husband and wandered alone on the streets of Barcelona for ten days until gathering the courage to report her situation to the police.
In some cases, the trigger for forced marriage comes when young women from Muslim immigrant families find a boyfriend in Spain and angry parents intervene. A 17-year-old girl in Gerona, for instance, was coaxed by her family to travel to her native country for a family reunion. Once there, she was forced to marry her cousin. Although she resisted because she had a boyfriend in Gerona, she relented when her family threatened to prevent her from returning to Spain if she refused to sign the marriage certificate.
Catalan police say they prevented 21 forced marriages in 2011, 13 of which involved minors; 15 forced marriages in 2010, and 13 in 2009. They also say that in 2011, they prevented the genital mutilation of 36 girls aged between two years to 12. Most of the cases (27) occurred in the province of Barcelona, eight in Gerona and one in Lérida. In 2010, Catalan police prevented the genital mutilation of 28 girls, and in 2009, 55 genital mutilations. Catalonia accounts for 80% of the girls in Spain who are at risk of genital mutilation.
Local police say that many Muslim girls in Catalonia live in fear of the so-called family reunion in disguise and that they often speak of friends who left Spain, but never returned.
Soeren Kern is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook.
Related Topics:  Spain  |  Soeren Kern

Pharaoh Morsi? Not so fast

by Pepe Escobar  •  Aug 13, 2012 at 2:37 pm
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So the "new generation" generals were into it from the start. Very important point; my sources confirmed that Major General Mohamed El Assar, the new second in command at the Ministry of Defense, is actually Washington's man in Cairo. So none of this would have happened without Washington at least being informed.
Mubarak loyalists (a la House of Saud) and secular, anti-MB Egyptians may be stunned or even fearful. But check out this level-headed analysis:
Key point; it was a reshuffle - while the Egyptian military as an institution remains intact. Sure, there was some movement within SCAF. And who didn't want to get rid of old and universally derided Tantawi? So the Pentagon, Israel and even the House of Saud should not lose their sleep - at least for now. Bibi-Barak certainly won't. As for would be Pharaoh Morsi, he still has not solved his problem, as David Goldman summarized; he's broke, and he can't pay Egypt's bills.
Related Topics:  Pepe Escobar

Saudi newspaper warns Muslim Brotherhood

by David P. Goldman  •  Aug 13, 2012 at 11:52 am
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Writing in the Saudi English-language news site Asharq Alawsat, senior editor Osman Mirghani issued a sharp warning to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Under the headline "Who is trying to set Egypt ablaze?" Mighani wrote:
Egypt has been experiencing a state of complete shock since the attack on its border crossing in northern Sinai during which 16 Egyptian officers and soldiers were killed and many others injured, whilst breaking their Ramadan fast. This treacherous operation, not to mention the fact that it occurred whilst the Egyptian soldiers were breaking their fast, has inflicted a deep wound on all of Egypt, which further intensified the sense that Egypt is now completely exposed, whether to armed militias moving freely across the Sinai Peninsula or external forces seeking to carry out their own plots. This is all happening at a time when Egypt's political elite are preoccupied with the manoeuvring that has dominated the scene since the eruption of the revolution, the success and joy of which has turned into frustration as a result of the deteriorating living conditions and services in the country. This is not to mention the continuous accusations that the Muslim Brotherhood is attempting to dominate the political scene and implement a secret agenda.
[snip]
Politically, Egypt seems to be in a state of disorder and instability, with all parties experiencing a tug-of-war over power, not to mention the general concerns regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and the unclear nature of the military's role in the political sphere. Some people are championing the military as a balancing power that can frustrate the Brotherhood's hegemony, whilst others are calling for its withdrawal from the political scene. Such political disorder reflects negatively on Egypt and demonstrates that the country is vulnerable to infiltration from all directions.
[snip]
The Egyptian forces reaction to the killing of the soldiers, attacking the tunnels at the Egyptian-Palestinian border and closing the Rafah Border Crossing, reflects the country's shock and anger. This also reflects the Egyptian people's suspicions that Hamas provided the attackers with support; or at the very least turned a blind eye to them and allowed them freedom of movement. However the results and impact of this reaction will remain limited unless Egypt takes serious action to eradicate extremist armed groups that are being allowed to move freely across the Sinai Peninsula, and who are gradually transforming the region into a centre for struggle, outside the control of the central government. This is also conditional upon ending the internal political struggle that is making Egypt vulnerable to infiltration and unrest. Perhaps, the Muslim Brotherhood will also get the message that what Egypt requires today is consensus and stability, rather than attempts to gain political hegemony or talk about moving towards the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate! [emphasis added]
Related Topics:  David P. Goldman

Caroline Glick comes to the same conclusion as our August 12 Call

by David P. Goldman  •  Aug 13, 2012 at 11:31 am
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Our weekly call with our regular journalists (transcript posted here) concluded that Egyptian President Morsi's purge of military leaders made an Israeli strike on Iran more probable. Writing today, Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick offers the same conclusion.
According the the Israel media, the IDF was surprised by Morsy's move. Clearly our esteemed generals believed reassurances they received from their Egyptian military counterparts that Israel had no reason to be concerned with the election of Hamas's big brother to Egypt's presidency.
[The Israeli general staff's] failure to understand Egypt speaks all the more strongly for the full justification and necessity of Barak and Netanyahu's current media campaign to force the IDF to fall in line on attacking Iran.
Related Topics:  David P. Goldman

Qatar's Check to Muslim Brotherhood Makes Egyptian Stability LESS Likely

by David P. Goldman  •  Aug 13, 2012 at 7:55 am
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As we discussed in the weekly Call posted above, the Muslim Brotherhood leader and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi received a $2 billion pledge from the visiting Emir of Qatar Sunday morning, and on Sunday afternoon fired the military leadership and announced a constitutional revision reducing the military's role in the Egyptian government. Whether this is manic overreach or the spring of a diabolical plot remains to be seen. Egypt has a $36 billion annual trade deficit, against earnings of about $5 billion a year from the Suez Canal, an undetermined amount (probably about $7 billion) from tourism, and a few billion workers' remittances--that is, an annual financing requirement of over $20 billion.
Qatar's $2 billion is a drop in the bucket; it just replaces the reserves that Egypt lost last month. So is a $3.5 billion IMF loan, under discussion for a year. The Obama administration has been telling people quietly that the Saudis will step in to bail out Egypt, but the Qatari intervention makes this less likely. The eccentric and labile Emir is the Muslim Brotherhood's biggest supporter; its spiritual leader, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (who supports suicide bombings against Israel) lived in exile during the Mubarak regime. Qatar funds al-Jazeera television, the modern face of Islamism. The Saudis hate and fear the Brotherhood, which wants to overthrow the Saudi Monarchy and replace it with a modern Islamist totalitarian political party. Qatar has only about $30 billion in reserves and can't sustain Egypt for long.
Qatar is something of a wild card: it is ruled by an Emir without even the checks and balances that arise from having a large family behind a monarchy, as in Saudi Arabia. The whimsical Emir just bought the Italian firm of Valentino as a gift for his fashion-conscious second wife -- not a dress, but the entire company. His support evidently emboldened the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to take on the military in the aftermath of the Sinai crisis. But that makes stability in Egypt less rather than more likely, because it gives the Saudis, the only funder capable of bailing out Egypt, reason to stand aside.
Whether the Egyptian military chooses to fight Morsi or to retire to its barracks (or more likely townhouses in London) remains to be seen. But Egypt's root problem is a dysfunctional economy (it imports half its food), a population that is nearly half illiterate, a tribal social structure (nearly a third of Egyptians marry cousins), and a bloated university system that can't train a competent civil engineer. My bet remains that the military will let Morsi take the fall for a big devaluation by the end of this year and move back into power. The alternative is that the military leaders will take their loot and leave, and Egypt will fall into chaos.
Related Topics:  David P. Goldman

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