How people seeking to tell the truth are treated on campus

Speaker Nonie Darwish Says Female Students Are ?Hamas Trained?

Robert Stacy McCain blogging at The Washington Time?s Fishwrap sends this update on Nonie Darwish.

Nonie Darwish is an Arab-American writer and public speaker. She is the author of the book Now they Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror. Nonie’s message is not about disloyalty but love for her culture of origin. She blames Arab leadership and the media for the endless rage and violence of the Arab street.
Phyllis Chesler describes how Nonie Darwish was treated by the the crowd at Wellesley College last week during her talk at Pajamas Media:

Last week, on October 18, 2007, our hero Darwish spoke at the all-female Wellesley College as the guest of Hillel on campus. She was not treated as a hero; then again, maybe she was, maybe her treatment is precisely how heroes are greeted on American campuses today.
About 80-100 students came. Far more Muslim than Jewish students came and ?so many? of the Muslim girls were wearing head-scarves.
According to Darwish, the female students in head-scarves did the following: As she spoke, they made exaggerated, ?mean girl? faces at her. They rolled their eyes, practiced ?disbelieving? facial expressions?did everything but stick out their tongues. And they continued to talk to each other in loud whispers while Darwish spoke: ?How can she tell such lies!? ?I was never, ever indoctrinated against Jews!? ?Can you believe what she is saying?? ?We do not call Jews pigs and apes, how can she lie about her own people??
In addition to the ?mean girl? faces and the continual loud whispering, one by one, at least four to five head-scarved girls, got up to leave the room during Darwish?s speech. This meant that each girl took two minutes to move to the end of her row, physically causing the other students to get up or twist aside, causing the entire room to look at the departing student, not at their invited guest?and then each girl did precisely the same thing when she returned two minutes later, presumably from a bathroom break.
They quadruple-teamed Darwish and did not stop until Darwish ended her lecture. Twenty to thirty minutes of soft-core, well-choreographed, goon squad behavior. ?They are Hamas-trained? says Darwish.
?And all the while,? Darwish says, ?the Jewish students cringed and cowered, so afraid that they might have hurt Muslim feelings. (Or rather, that the Muslims might physically hurt them afterwards. According to Darwish, one Jewish student told her that ?she ?was locking her door. I am scared.?)
She is probably right to be. During the Question and Answer period, many of the head-scarved students expressed calculated, injured outrage. ?How dare (Hillel) bring this woman to our campus? How dare she insult Islam, tell lies about Islam? etc. ?We are free under Islam, how can she deny this??
?Darwish concludes: ?Muslim girls like these are like gangsters. They know more about their rights in America than the Jewish girls do. The Muslim girls all have a chip on their shoulders.?
And then she is silent. Softly, she says: ?We are fighting an avalanche. We are too few. I am frightened by my culture of origin. I am scared of my own people.?

Nonie Darwish is speaking tonight at UC Berkeley. Andrew Marcus is filming the event and blogger Megan Sego from California Patriot Blog is in attendance.
This is cross-posted at Incorrect U.

Denmark grants asylum to Eritrean Christian.

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Asylum for Eritrean gospel singer
She does not belong to one of the 4 recognized religious groups, but she belongs to the Evangelical Rema church. Helen Berhane is a Gospel singer and she was arrested in 2004 because she belongs to what is termed in Eritrea as an underground and illegal Church. After a lot of pressure was put on the Eritrean government to obtain her release, Helen Berhane escaped to Khartoum in the Sudan.
What is extraordinary about this story is that Helen Berhane and her daughter Eva applied for asylum in the UK in January, but after 7 months of waiting no decision had been made. Yet, it took the Danish officials one month to accept that Helen and Eva were genuine refugees.
After reading about the torture that Helen and thousands like her experienced in yet another Muslim country where there is such “tolerance” for Christians, one has to wonder what is wrong with the British officials. Helen has to use a wheel chair because of her injuries. This is totally scandalous and against all human rights. Here is some more of the story as posted by the BBCL

An Eritrean Christian gospel singer who was tortured and detained without charge for two years in her homeland has been granted asylum in Denmark.

Helen Berhane was imprisoned inside a metal shipping container and beaten in an effort to make her recant her faith.

Freed in December 2006, she took refuge in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, before being granted asylum.

Ms Berhane uses a wheelchair because of severe injuries to her legs and feet sustained in prison beatings.

More than 90% of Eritreans belong to one of four recognised religions – Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Churches and Islam.

All other religions were outlawed by a government decree passed in May 2001, though Jehovah’s Witnesses had been denied their rights as Eritrean citizens as early as 1994.

Helen Berhane is a member of the unregistered Rema Church and had just released a cassette of gospel music when she was arrested in the Eritrean capital on 13 May 2004.

She was one of an estimated 2,000 members of illegal evangelical church groups in Eritrea who have been arrested in recent years, according to the human rights group Amnesty International.

Arbitrary detention

After an international campaign, she was released in December 2006 and fled with her sister to Sudan, fearing she could be killed to cover up what had happened to her at the Mai Serwa prison camp near Asmara.

Among the tortures she endured was the infamous “helicopter” position, in which the prisoner is placed face down with arms and legs tied behind the back.

Her account of the cruel and inhumane treatment she suffered is echoed by the testimony of hundreds of others persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Prisoners say they are routinely subjected to extremes of heat and cold, denied water and sanitation, according to testimony collected from exiles by Release Eritrea, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of religious minorities.

Ms Berhane’s daughter, Eva, who joined her in Khartoum, accompanied her to Copenhagen where the two were greeted by campaigners and well-wishers on Friday.

Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of Release Eritrea, said: “We are relieved that Helen and Eva are finally safe and would like to thank everyone who has supported them.”

“We hope that Helen will now have the peace and space to recover her health and rebuild her life.”

Initially Helen Berhane applied to the United Kingdom for asylum and was interviewed by immigration officials at the British High Commission in Khartoum in January 2007.

Seven months later, with no decision on her case by the British, Ms Berhane sought help from Denmark which took one month to determine that she was a genuine asylum seeker.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Chief Executive, Mervyn Thomas, said: “We are thrilled that Helen has now finally found refuge for herself and her daughter after so many years of suffering.”

“We cannot forget, however, that 2000 other Christians still languish in Eritrean detention centres simply for holding on to their faith,” Mr Thomas said.