sexual abuse

Teenage thieves abused by vigilantes

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:16:16 +0100

Several hours after five teenagers were caught stealing from a luxury apartment in the Mexican city of Tepic two weeks ago, they were found half naked and severely beaten on one of the city's main thoroughfares. A week later, mobile phone footage documenting the psychological abuse they were subjected to surfaced on YouTube. Who was behind this brutal incident and what role did the police play in it? So far, there's no one answer.

One of our Observers in Mexico, Gabriel Infante brought our attention to this footage.

Fighting sexual harrassment in Egypt

Team Observers — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:49:50 +0200

Asser Yasser, a young Egyptian woman, was insulted and brutalized by a group of young men in Cairo on her way home from work. Although incidents of sexual harassment happen daily in Egypt, the prominent blogger decided to press charges to draw attention to the widespread problem. Her case was filed by the police, but ruled out in court. However, she and various women's groups are determined to pursue their anti-harassment campaign.

According to a 2008 survey of 1,010 Egyptian and foreign women conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights "83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women reported being sexually harassed, regardless of age, class, style of dress or appearance."

The study's conclusions emphasize that harassment, contrary to what is often believed, is not linked to the way a woman is dressed: 71.5 percent of women who reported sexual harassment were wearing veils and covering clothes(19.6% were in fact wearing full burkas).

The problem is tarnishing Egypt's reputation as a tourist destination to the point that the Tourism Ministry has released video clips warning men of the consequences of harassment.
The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights launched a nationwide campaign called "Making our Streets Safer for All", lobbying for a law which would crack down on harassers.

"Fritzl of Mumbai" arrested

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:53:44 +0100

A man arrested on Tuesday has hit the Indian headlines as "the Josef Fritzl of Mumbai". Under the watch of his wife, the businessman raped his teenage daughter for nine years, apparently following orders from a tantric.

Published by Sakaaltimes.

One of our Indian Observers, Arnab Das alerted us to this story.

Businessman Kishore Chava is from a relatively wealthy area around 50 km from Mumbai. He was arrested after his 21-year-old daughter, who he had been sexually abusing since 2000, broke her silence about her ordeal. She decided to confide in her grandmother (on her mother's side) after her father began targeting her younger sister, who is 15.

The police also arrested a practitioner of black magic, Hasmukh Rathod, and the wife of the rapist. According to The Times of India, the guru advised the father that raping his daughter would make him rich. The tantric also regularly abused the girl.

The story is clearly different from that of Josef Fritzl, who has just been sentenced to life imprisonment in a psychiatric institution for having imprisoned and raped his daughter for 24 years. But as long as the Austrian trial dominates international headlines, the Indian press will talk of their own "Fritzl", who is both fascinating and revolting the country.

Berlusconi: offensive or hilarious?

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:02:37 +0100

A dispute has broken out in Italy after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the women there are "so beautiful" that the country doesn't have enough soldiers to prevent them from being raped. Offensive or funny? Our Observers in Italy comment on the most recent blunder from the king of gaffes.

The comment in question was made on Sunday, when Berlusconi announced that 30,000 troops would be deployed on the streets after a rise in sex crimes, including several brutal rapes in Rome. The idea has received mixed reactions: the 3,000 soldiers placed on the streets since August have failed to cut crime, and critics say Berlusconi is creating a police state. But what has really riled the public is the PM's joke, which opposition lawmaker Giovanna Melandri called "profoundly offensive". It's not the first time Berlusconi has been criticised for sexism. And it's not only he who's guilty. In response to his comments, granddaughter of fascist dictator Alessandra Mussolini said: "The fact is we need so many soldiers because there are so many ugly men".

China loses its grip on information, riots break out

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:39:11 +0200

Image posted on QQ.com.

The Chinese authorities momentarily lost control over public information this weekend when their desperate endeavours to cover up the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl lead to violent riots in the south-western Guinzhou province. Web users destroyed officials' attempts to downplay the enormity of events by continuously posting images and accounts of the protests.

Online accounts say that after her body was found in the river, local residents said that Li Shufen had been raped and murdered by three relatives of Yuhua county officials. However, the three accused were released without charge after eight hours following the results of a basic autopsy which reported that she had committed suicide. When her uncle, who she lived with, complained about procedures, he was so badly beaten that he was taken to hospital. Information about the attempted cover-up soon got onto the internet and people started speaking about it on forums and chat sites such as Baidu and Tainya. Asian TV went to interview Li's uncle, a teacher, in hospital. Three hours later he died. Discussions escalated until Saturday, when a reported 10,000 people took to the streets to protest the handling of the case.

Videos and photos of the riots (below) show chaos as a local administration building burns and cars lie overturned in the road. Web users managed to keep the documents online for 24 hours by constantly re-posting comments about the events onto different sites as the censors worked to remove them. Today, however, accounts of the incidents have completely disappeared. The only information available to the public comes from official news agency Xinhua, which states: "some people who did not know about the exact context of what had happened were instigated to mob the police station and the office buildings of the county government and Communist Party committee". The authorities are appealing for rioters to turn themselves in and have so far arrested almost 200 people.

Flashing flashers

Julien — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:49:00 +0200

Tired of seeing people turn a blind eye on sexual assault and intimidation in India, one woman has decided to tackle the taboo subject head on. Her answer to a flasher is to snap a photo of him and post it online. And somebody has.

Jasmeen Patheja founded the website Blank Noise in 2003 to tackle sexual intimidation through active protest. She encourages women to post their accounts of assault online, no matter how "trivial" they may seem. She's also asking women to document men who "eve tease" them - an Indian phrase used to cover anything from unwanted glances to spitting. Her initiative has already attracted a collection of photos. One step further is to snap a man who indecently exposes himself. One woman was brave enough to take the step, and post the pic on Flickr.

The return of the chastity belt

Julien — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:55:34 +0200

Photo: AFP (we didn't manage to find an amateur image of the trouser padlock)

A belt with lock and key is the newest accessory in some Indonesian massage parlours. But it’s not out of choice that the masseuses don these chastity belts.

Drummed up by the local authorities of Batu, a tourist resort to the east of Java, this stern measure was hoped to prevent prostitution and keep up local appearances. Despite strong criticism from Meutia Fardia Hatta Swasono, minister for women’s rights, the new measure could even be on its way to the capital. Indeed, according to the Jakarta post, the city’s tourism agency is now thinking of following’s in Batu’s footsteps.

"Polygamous relationships tend to be very successful"

Julien — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:07:58 +0200

Image taken from Mormon Polygamy: A History

Following a call from a 16-year-old girl claiming she was sexually abused and assaulted by her 50-year-old husband, a fundamentalist Mormon compound where men have several wives has been raided and 419 children taken into temporary custody by Texan authorities.

The raid took place last Thursday after a teenager called social services on March 19, saying she was forced to marry at 15 and was beaten and choked by her husband while he forced her to have sex with him. The ranch is the base of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day (FDLS), an off-shoot of the mainstream Latter-day Saints (LDS) who denounced polygamy over 100 years ago.