Guestbook

Pages: 1 (1)

Name: Ian Abbott
E-mail: ian@ianzere.demon.co.uk
City: Lancashire Secular Humanists

Congratulations on such a bright and welcoming web-site.
I’m Chair of the newly formed Lancashire Secular Humanists (our inaugural meeting was Jan 2008) we already have 21 paid up members and many 'others' who come along and participate in our (open) monthly meetings.
I am in fact coming to the island on 10th May to deliver a Baby-Naming Ceremony for a lovely couple whose wedding I officiated at two years ago.
IF possible I'd like to meet any IOM Freethinkers to chat about ceremonies if that is possible.
Also, rather than taking pot-luck (and I 'always' choose the wrong one) can I pick your brains and ask you to a recommend a B & B somewhere between the airport & The Calf of Man?
Many thanks
Ian Abbott ian@ianzere.demon.co.uk

Name: Houzan Mahmoud
E-mail: houzan2007@yahoo.com

NO MORE STONING,    NO MORE HONOUR KILLINGS. END THE TERROR OF WOMEN!!

A statement on the anniversary of Du’a Khalil’s gruesome stoning

April 7th 2008

It has been almost a year since teenage girl Du’a Khalil was stoned to death by a baying mob in Iraqi Kurdistan. The 17 year-olds’ “crime” was to have fallen in love with a boy outside the Yazidi tribe and religion. Betrayed by her family, she was dragged to a summary execution in the centre of Bashiqa city where a 2,000-strong mob, including her relatives, cheered as they hurled rocks.

When footages of the barbaric killing were broadcast people around the world were shocked.  That was on 7th April 2007 but a year later the situation is even more dangerous for the women and girls of Iraq.

Thousands more, from Basra to Baghdad and through to Kurdistan, have become victims of murder, violence and rape – all backed by laws, tribal customs and religious rules.  Each day there are reports of women or girls being murdered by their relatives in the name of “honour”. More than ever they are subject to daily humiliations, are being forced into marriages – sometimes as children, are suffering female genital mutilation and are being driven to suicide.

In Basra just removing a veil can cost a woman her life. Iraqi police report at least 15 women are murdered every month for breaching Islamic dress code.

Meanwhile, Sharia law is being used to underpin government rule, denying women their most basic human rights.  Du’a was a victim of religious bigotry. According to the Yazidi faith she was only allowed to marry within her own religion and tribe. When it emerged that the boy she’d been dating wasn’t a Yazidi it spelled her death.

But despite extensive evidence, including the boasts of many involved in her stoning, Du’a’s killers have not been brought to justice. Police were among the crowd at her stoning and there have been accusations of the law turning a blind-eye. In a society where men are encouraged to claim ownership of women, crimes like this are becoming the norm.

This brutality must stop.

This can only be achieved through your support in a struggle for unconditional equality and freedom for these women and girls.
Religion is a personal choice and should never be allowed to override our rights and liberties. We must stand up against those who want to subjugate our lives, education and political choices to their religious bigotries.
We will not budge, we will continue to mobilise public opinion against the murder of women and girls in the name of “honour”. We will struggle for the creation of a movement to separate religion from the state and its laws, and for women’s rights.
The horrific crime of honour killings and the stoning of women is a crime we must all denounce. It must be consigned to the past.

Houzan Mahmoud

Abroad Representative of Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq

Name: Zelda
City: Douglas

Very impressed by improvements to your website, especially this Guestbook. I hope you get more responses.

Name: Mirjam Slagter
E-mail: w.bosman30@upcmail.nl

Hi eveveryone,

Great to see this all updated website. I hope you are all ok. I have settled in well now, but as yet not joined a humanist group here, there are a number of them and I haven't decided which one suits me. I am still thinking of you all. Take care,

Mirjam

Name: Carol Jempson

Thanks for this Roy

Name: Roy
City: Douglas

Welcome to our new guestbook, please feel free to add any comments you wish to make.