{"id":1957,"date":"2014-05-05T07:50:34","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T11:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=1957"},"modified":"2014-05-17T08:12:19","modified_gmt":"2014-05-17T12:12:19","slug":"human-rights-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=1957","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights at Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1894\" style=\"width: 388px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Istanbul_LGBT_Protest_converted.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1894\" class=\" wp-image-1894\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Istanbul_LGBT_Protest_converted.jpg?resize=378%2C252\" alt=\"gay pride, LGBT\" width=\"378\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Istanbul_LGBT_Protest_converted.jpg?w=915&amp;ssl=1 915w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Istanbul_LGBT_Protest_converted.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Istanbul_LGBT_Protest_converted.jpg?resize=450%2C300&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1894\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(photo: upload.wikimedia.org)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Serious readers do not need to turn to fiction to encounter stories full of compelling human drama. Peter Montgomery\u2019s May 3 roundup of international human rights news for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiondispatches.org\/dispatches\/petermontgomery\/7840\/brunei_imposes_sharia__catholics___unionists_block_marriage_in_northern_ireland__saudi_arabia___russia_lecture_norway_on_human_rights_\">Religion Dispatches <\/a>included the following (and much more):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A profound hypocrisy underlies the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/worldviews\/wp\/2014\/04\/29\/saudi-arabia-and-russia-blast-norways-human-rights-record-wait-what\/\">critique<\/a> of Norway\u2019s human rights record recently leveled by Russia and Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is a crime\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/worldviews\/wp\/2014\/02\/24\/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death\/\">punishable by death<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The Sultan of Brunei announced the first phase of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2616585\/Brunei-East-Asian-country-adopt-Sharia-law-alcohol-punished-whipping-adulterers-stoned-death.html\">Brunei\u2019s new Sharia law<\/a>, which includes fines or jail for out-of-wedlock pregnancy, failure to perform Friday prayers, and propagating other religions; phase 2, coming into effect next year, will address theft and alcohol offenses, punishable by whipping and amputations; phase 3, a year later, will cover sodomy and insulting the Koran or the Prophet Muhammad, which are offenses punishable with the death penalty, including death by stoning. Most of these laws will apply to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.<\/li>\n<li>Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has signed a new law <a href=\"http:\/\/www.afp.com\/en\/news\/kenyan-president-signs-polygamy-law\">legalizing polygamy<\/a>. \u201cWhen you marry an African woman, she must know the second one is on the way, and a third wife,\u201d MP Junet Mohammed told the house during the debates.<\/li>\n<li>Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, <a href=\"http:\/\/worldnews.nbcnews.com\/_news\/2013\/03\/18\/17357139-outcast-ruler-robert-mugabe-dodges-eu-travel-ban-for-popes-installation?lite\">banned from travel<\/a> to the European Union because of alleged human rights abuses and election rigging, traveled to Vatican City for the ceremonies making saints of two former popes. Mugabe and his wife <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/religion\/the-pope\/10791160\/Robert-Mugabe-meets-Pope-Francis-at-sainthood-ceremony-in-Rome.html\">met Pope Francis<\/a> after the canonization mass, attended Pope Francis\u2019s inaugural Mass last year, attended Pope John Paul\u2019s funeral in 2005 and his beatification in 2011.<\/li>\n<li>Wisconsin state senator Glenn Grotham and GOP congressional candidate recently said on a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/glenn-grothman-says-john-kerry-upset-god-condemning-ugandas-anti-gay-crackdown\">Christian radio program<\/a> that Secretary of State John Kerry had \u201cupset God\u201d by criticizing Uganda\u2019s anti-gay law, asking, \u201cwhat must God think of our country?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>By contrast, Akie Abe, wife of Japan\u2019s conservative Prime Minister, attended Tokyo\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/japandailypress.com\/japans-first-lady-akie-abe-joins-annual-lgbt-parade-in-tokyo-2847836\/\">third annual Pride Fest<\/a>, posting photos on her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/akieabe\/photos_stream?fref=photo\">Facebook page<\/a>, where she reportedly wrote,\u00a0\u201cI want to help build a society where anyone can lead happy, contented lives without facing discrimination.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serious readers do not need to turn to fiction to encounter stories full of compelling human drama. Peter Montgomery\u2019s May 3 roundup of international human rights news for Religion Dispatches included the following (and much more): A profound hypocrisy underlies &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=1957\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Human Rights at Risk","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35,104],"tags":[416,129],"class_list":["post-1957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-life","category-the-morgue","tag-real-life","tag-wars-and-conflicts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-vz","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1959,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions\/1959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}