Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Fifteen-Year-Old Hena Begum Dies after Receiving 100 Lashes


According to the Qur'an, the penalty for fornication is 100 lashes.

Qur'an 24:2—(As for) the fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them, (giving) a hundred stripes, and let not pity for them detain you in the matter of obedience to Allah, if you believe in Allah and the last day, and let a party of believers witness their chastisement.

Notice that the verse commands Muslims not to be swayed by "pity" when they inflict Allah's punishment. Then notice that, according to the following report, teenage Hena Begum was beaten "mercilessly." She later died from the injuries inflicted by Muslims obeying the Qur'an.

BANGLADESH—Bangladeshi police arrested four people including a Muslim cleric today after a teenage girl, who was accused of having an extra-marital affair with her cousin, was whipped to death.

Fifteen-year-old Hena Begum died in hospital on Monday after a village court in the southern Bangladesh district of Shariatpur sentenced her to 100 lashes, said local police chief A.K.M Shahidur Rahman.

"We have arrested one of the clerics (who sat on the village court) and three villagers including the wife of the man who Hena Begum had an illicit relationship with," Mr Rahman told AFP.

According to Mr Rahman, the teenage girl was "beaten mercilessly" by the family of the married man, who was also Hena's cousin, after the affair was discovered.

The teenager was then handed to the village court, which publicly whipped her until she passed out and was taken to hospital, where she died seven days later, he said.

In conservative rural parts of Muslim-majority Bangladesh, rights groups say it is common for women to be publicly whipped for "crimes" such as adultery despite a ban on such religious punishments.

In some documented cases, rape victims have been flogged for being a "participant" in their sexual assault.

Last July, Bangladesh's High Court outlawed punishments handed down by religious edict, or fatwa, following a series of public interest litigation cases lodged by local human rights groups.

But the ruling has had little effect, rights groups say, pointing to a case in December where a woman died after being whipped 40 times after she was accused of sleeping with her stepson by a similar village court.

Some 90 per cent of Bangladesh's 146 million people are Muslims and most live in rural areas. (Source)

And yet it's "racist," "bigoted," and "Islamophobic" to object to Sharia law.

***UPDATE*** It turns out that Hena wasn't guilty of fornication or adultery. She was raped. As happens so often in the Muslim world, the rape victim was punished for being raped. Doctors tried to cover up what happened, but a second autopsy revealed what happened.

A second autopsy showed that a 14-year-old rape victim who was publicly flogged for adultery bled to death, Bangladeshi officials said today.

Hena Begum was sentenced under Islamic Sharia law to receive 100 lashes. She collapsed after enduring about 80 lashes. Her family took her to a hospital, where she died Jan. 31.

Police have opened a murder investigation into the case, which has caused shock and outrage both in Bangladesh and abroad, the BBC said.

An initial autopsy conducted after Hena's death said the girl suffered no external or internal injuries. The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper, made the results public and suggested there was a cover-up in the teen's death. The High Court subsequently ordered her body exhumed for a second autopsy.

That examination was carried out by a team of doctors at a hospital in Dhaka, the capital.

"Multiple injuries were found. The girl died because of bleeding," Deputy Attorney General Altaf Hossain told the BBC's Bengali service.

Hena was sentenced to the public whipping for adultery after she was accused of having sex with a 40-year-old married cousin named Mahbub Khan. But Hena's family and neighbors said the girl had been raped.

Khan was also found guilty of rape by elders in the village of Chamta, in Shariatpur district, about 55 miles from Dhaka, the BBC said. But despite this finding, Hena was flogged. Khan was sentenced to a whipping but he escaped.

Khan has now been arrested by the authorities, the BCC and Daily Star reported. He is expected to be charged with rape and could face murder charges if the court finds his actions led to his young cousin's death, the BBC said.

Four other people, including a Muslim cleric, have been arrested in the case, and more arrests are possible.

Bangladesh's high court last year outlawed punishments under Sharia. Hena is the second person to die since that ruling. A 40-year-old woman died in December after she was publicly beaten for allegedly having an affair with her stepson. (Source)

***2ND UPDATE*** It took Hena six days to die of the injuries she suffered.

A Bangladeshi girl who was publicly whipped for an alleged affair with a married man bled to death, according to a fresh post-mortem examination.

Doctors in Dhaka found multiple injuries on the body of Hena Begum, the deputy attorney general told the BBC.

The High Court ordered her body to be exhumed and taken to the capital after a local autopsy recorded no injuries.

Miss Begum died in hospital six days after last month's beating, which has caused shock in Bangladesh and abroad.

Police have opened a murder investigation.

The doctors who carried out the initial investigation have been summoned to explain their findings in the High Court on Thursday.

The second post-mortem examination was carried out by a team of doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

"Multiple injuries were found. The girl died because of bleeding," deputy attorney general Altaf Hossain told the BBC Bengali service. (Read more.)

14 comments:

armand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
armand said...

I'm sorry I don't know what happened to me last time I was typing out the comment that I just deleted. I meant to say "Bangladesh is my homeland and this is a very common occurrence"

I have lived in that country for around 25 years on and off, off and on

Unknown said...

Adultery (which this sounds like) and fornication are not solo sins. And yet we hear nothing about her "partner in crime." The disgusting hypocrisy of a system that would murder a young 15 year old while letting the (most likely much older) man off easy is beyond contempt.

Deen said...

Unfortunately, the girl was raped by her 40 yr old cousin-in-law. Rape is not the same as fornication/adultery in Islam.

Rape in Islam is a crime of Hiraba. The victim is not punished at all. the rapist is sentenced to death. It is in Hadith and it has been a part of Fiqh since at least 800 AD or so.

Shame on this ignorant cleric for not knowing this and murdering this innocent girl. Allah (swt) will send him to the hell-fire for eternity for this sin he has committed.

http://www.muslimaccess.com/articles/Women/rape_in_islam.asp

armand said...

Deen, unfortunately, lying to kafirs is halal in Islam too, which is why you have to begin your comment by stating a blatant lie. The victim was not RAPED. She was engaged in a extra-marital affair. Read the article before posting lies.

Gabriel said...

Animals.

Unknown said...

Facebook: "Remember Hena Begum". Let the world know that this must stop. Now. Let her name never be forgotten.

Unknown said...

Pyem, Deen does not lie. This beautiful young CHILD was RAPED by a vicious man who had RAPED BEFORE. that innocent child was then beaten, slandered, and ultimately killed by a mob of sick people who ought to be jailed for life for what they have done. Stop defending killers; you're no better than they are.

sufi said...

What happened was a vigilante justice made by village elders who asked the local masjid imam to accompany them. Yes, in slang language, they call it a fatwa but its not at all a Islamic religious ruling or judgment. The US annual Report on International Religious Freedom last year said, Although Islamic tradition dictates that only muftis (religious scholars) who have expertise in Islamic law are authorized to declare a fatwa, village religious leaders at times made declarations in individual cases. Sometimes this resulted in extrajudicial punishments, often against women, for perceived moral transgressions.---http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148789.htm.
You could have contacted the Ministry of Religion of Bangladesh to get their opinion on if it were a case of Islamic justice. Did you? Or did you go to the scholars of Islamic Foundation, a government entity. Did you?
We would like to know from the reporter: Names, Designations and qualifications of the Members of the Village Council referred in the report. Usually rural leaders are local government members or village leaders who have no religious educaton. If one or group of qualified Mufti (s) or a recognized Darul Ifta (Scholarly Grooup qualified to give fatawa) has Issued Fatwa, only then it may be considered that the decision was made under Islamic Shariah. If there is any injustice or misuse or excess, then the matter may be referred to more qualified Mufti(s) or Dariul Ifta. Its the same as in Judaism--- only if a valid rabbanical court issues the judgment, then it could said to be according to the Jewish law, Halakha.
Your report said:
1.Four people including a Muslim cleric have been arrested in Bangladesh.
2.the punishment was given under Islamic Sharia law.
3.a village court consisting of elders and clerics passed the sentence.
4.we are also looking for another 14 people including a teacher from a local madrassa
5.fatwas - or religious rulings - are issued under Sharia law each year by village clergy
6. those who gave the fatwa and demanded action against them.
7.This is the second reported fatality linked to a Sharia law punishment since the practice was outlawed last year by the High Court.

REBUTTAL
1.Your #1 and #3 conflict each other. #1 is true --- it was one single teacher from a local madrasa. The way you wrote $3, it gives the impression that there were several clerics.
2.In #3, You claimed “a village court consisting of elders and clerics passed the sentence”, and that leads one to believe that it was not a sharia court. If it were so, common sense dictates that all judges will have Islamic credentials as sharia scholars. Was it true?
3.Police is looking for 14 people including one single low-level local madrasa teacher --- how is that then an Islamic verdict or an Islamic act.
4.You claimed “the punishment was given under Islamic Sharia law”, how do u know it? Did u consult a sharia expert? Did u go to the Bangladesh Ministry of religion? Or to the Research wing of the ministry at the Islamic Foundation?
5.How do u know that a fatwa really mean a “religious ruling”? Did u research on it?
6.You claimed that “.... the Sharia law punishment since the practice was outlawed last year by the High Court.” How do you know that it was a sharia law punishment? Also,If you read the High Court judgment, or consult a lawyer, or even consulted the website of the NGO BLAST, you'd have known that “In a landmark verdict, the Bangladesh High Court has ruled as criminal offence handing down of punishments like caning or beating to women in the name of "fatwa" or Islamic decrees.”, they only outlawed fake fatwas that punished people giving the false impression that it is a religious ruling.

Unknown said...

Hena was 14 years old

lashed 100 times

She paid with her life

for a married man's crime

He raped her then denounced her

and her family members beat her

Sharia demands blood

"Sharia," cried the village leaders



Oh, God must be blind

God must be dead

To allow you to do what you do

Who are you to kill the children?



People protest in Shariatpur

to prosecute the clerics and elders

Why do old men tell us how to live?

Why do old books tell us not to give

the same respect to women as to men

to kill the vitim and blame it all on them?



Oh, God must be blind

God must be dead

To allow you to do what you do

Who are you to kill the children



A woman never came out of a man

Let's put that lie in the grave

Let's retire all so called holy books

Think of how many lives we'd save

I'm standing with Hena Begum

So throw your stone, throw your stone at me

How many more children have to die

before we wake up from this religious insanity?



Oh, God must be blind

God must be dead

To allow you to do what you do

Who are you to kill the children

Unknown said...

this is stupid and this is children abuse she is a kids what in hell give any court the right to to hit her this is children abuse in our country the courts does not hit children for a 15 year old girl to have sex is wrong but what in hell gives this court right to hit her at all house arrest is okay but she is still a kid. yes so punishment this girl that step father has abuse what the hell is wrong with you people. God will punish you for this and I will pray that he does this is wrong very very wrong. someone need to put a stop to this.



A 15-YEAR OLD GIRL IS TOO YOUNG TO GIVE CONSENT — that is the case in most CIVILIZED countries. What an abominable law! Shariah law should be outlawed–it is uncivilized, repugnant, and downright EVIL!

Robert Laity said...

Islam is despicable and Anathema.

Carla Van Walsum Ph.D c LSHC said...

Horrific, barbaric and primitive. How often the concept "Compassion" in the Quran? I couldnt find it...

Unknown said...

This is SHAR'IAH LAW the RAPE VICTIM IS PUNISHED WITH 100 LASHES but it is Quiet Common that the VICTIM DOESN'T LAST THAT LONG & DIES AT OR BEFORE 80 LASHES Anyway in this Case she Passed Out Due to BLOOD LOSS & PAIN. SHAR'IAH LAW Never gets any better than this Only WORSE, she was a CHILD but UNDER SHAR'IAH SHE HAS HAD JANUB (Menstration) SO IS AN ADULT so she got the FULL FORCE OF SHAR'IAH 9-99yo it's the SAME & IT'S *ALWAYS THE WOMANS FAULT* the MEN can Do WHATEVER They PLEASE to a WOMAN. SHAR'IAH MUST BE OUTLAWED IN ALL WESTERN NATIONS, This EVIL MUST NOT BE TOLERATED Before you know it it will KILL YOU, SEIZE YOUR PROPERTY, RAPE & ENSLAVE YOUR FEMALE CHILDREN, & DESTROY OUR CIVILIZATION.