R.I.P MAYA ANGELOU

The caged bird who helped free the minds of racist America: Poet Maya Angelou is found dead aged 86 after final prophetic tweet

Maya Angelou, the groundbreaking poet and author who inspired millions of Americans with her moving memoirs and works of fiction, is dead at 86.

A caretaker found Angelou dead at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Wednesday morning when she arrived to check on the ailing poet

She was known as a poet and an author, but also wowed audiences as a dancer, singer, actress and director - appearing on stage, in film and on TV

·         She worked as a fry cook, a nightclub dancer, a civil rights activist and even a prostitute before she found fame

·         Her 1970 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became one of the first best-sellers written by a black woman

·         Tributes are pouring in from all corners of public life - from politicians like Nancy Pelosi to musicians like Mary J. Blidge and authors like J.K. Rowling

·         President Barack Obama revealed his own sister was named Maya as a tribute to her

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2641702/Maya-Angelou-dead-86.html#ixzz334uaM3Py
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HONOR KILLINGS- A PERSISTENT BARBARIAN PRACTICE IN PAKISTAN

Mohammad Iqbal sits next to his wife Farzana's body. He told reporters that they had been in love but her family did not agree with their marriage
A pregnant woman has been stoned to death by her own family in front of a Pakistani high court - for marrying the man she loved. Nearly 20 members of the woman's family, including her father and brothers, attacked her and her husband with batons and bricks in broad daylight. Farzana Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was killed before a crowd of onlookers in front of the high court of Lahore, police have reported.

Police official Naseem Butt said the 25-year-old had married Mohammad Iqbal, with whom she had been engaged for years against the will of her family. Arranged marriages are considered normal among conservative Pakistanis, who view marriage for love as a transgression

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a private organisation, said in a report last month that some 869 women were murdered in so-called honour killings in 2013.

But the Pakistani rights group, The  Aurat Foundation, has said the figure could be closer to a thousand and some estimate the true number could be higher still.Campaigners say few cases come to court, and those that do can take years to be heard. Even those that do result in a conviction may end with the killers walking free. Pakistani law allows a victim's family to forgive their killer.

But in honour killings, most of the time the women's killers are her family, said Wasim Wagha of the Aurat Foundation. The law allows them to nominate someone to do the murder, then forgive him.'This is a huge flaw in the law,' he said. 'We are really struggling on this issue.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2640632/Stoned-death-marrying-man-loved-Woman-attacked-sticks-bricks-20-members-OWN-family-broad-daylight-Pakistan.html#ixzz32ytHoh5M
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WHEN RELIGION IS USED TO DENY WOMEN THEIR FREEDOM TO LOVE

While the Islamic Law in Sudan provides unlimited freedom to Muslim men to marry whoever they wish, it denies the same freedom to women. It’s time that the International Society introduced stern measure to end these uncouth and draconian Laws that are nothing but rather means designed by jealous men to quench their sexual ego the detriment of innocent women. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim’s case manifests the evil nature of these Laws.

This is the picture that could cost a pregnant woman in Sudan her life after being sentenced to death for converting to Christianity to marry her husband.

Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, had been ordered to abandon her newly adopted Christian faith and return to Islam.

She had also been charged with adultery for marrying a Christian man. During yesterday's sentence hearing, Judge Abbas al Khalifa asked the pregnant mother whether she would return to Islam. But she said 'I am a Christian,' and the death sentence was handed down, judicial sources say.After the verdict her husband, Daniel Wani told CNN: 'I'm so frustrated. I don't know what to do. I'm just praying.'

A government spokesman said the ruling could be appealed in a higher court.

Outside the court, around 50 people held up signs that read 'Freedom of Religion', while some Islamists celebrated the ruling, chanting 'God is Greatest.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2628895/Sudanese-woman-eight-months-pregnant-flogged-death-unless-she.html#ixzz31qmAn17V
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WOMEN TORTURE IN NEPAL

A seven-months pregnant Nepalese woman was set on fire by her husband after her family failed to pay him a dowry, which included a buffalo and a motorbike.

Rihana Shekh Dhafali, 25, lost her baby after her husband Farid Sheikh poured kerosene over her body and set her alight.

She also says her husband burned her genitalia with cigarettes and would assault her on a regular basis over the undelivered dowry.

Ms Shekh Dhafali, who had been living with her husband in Miyapur, India, was taken to hospital by members of her husband’s family on the premise that she would tell doctors that she had set fire to herself, a local human rights group said

When her father Mohammad Samim Shekh Dhapali found out about her injuries, he travelled to the hospital in India and brought her back to Nepal where she revealed the truth about her horrific burns.

She later miscarried her baby at seven months as a result of her injuries and the traumatic experience.

Ms Shekh Dhafali told human rights organisation Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) that her husband’s family had tied her hands behind her back and poured kerosene over her body before setting her on fire.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2621766/Seven-months-pregnant-wife-set-fire-Nepalese-husband-family-failed-motorbike-water-buffalo-dowry.html#ixzz311o6NH5M