Mutilated for being late back to the office

A gruesome story of an employee being mutilated for being late back to work. The website has a picture of Kim Ne's hand after Ly cut off his thumbs and is not for the faint of heart.

Phnom Penh - Authorities were seeking Cambodian garage owner accused of lopping off the thumbs and big toes of an employee for returning to work late, police said Thursday. The police chief of Dombai district in eastern Kampong Cham province, Chout Dearn, said the man, identified only as Mr Ly, 40, lost his temper on Tuesday when mechanic Kim Ne, 22, returned late from a friend's wedding with a motorbike he had borrowed from the garage.

"The worker claims Ly enlisted two of Ne's workmates to help tie him up, then hit him in the throat and chest with an axe handle before cutting his thumbs and big toes off one by one," Dearn said by telephone. "Now he cannot ride a motorbike any more."

Completely bizarre and criminal behaviour. Mutilated for being late after lunch. I have no words.

He says, he says

Yash Ghai, the SRSG for Cambodia, says

There had been some progress towards the rule of law since the adoption of the Constitution, but it had been slow. The lack of independence of the judiciary and prosecution, although guaranteed by the Constitution, remained a major obstacle to the rule of law.

At best, the impact of the [Khmer Rouge] tribunal would be marginal unless the Government took steps to end impunity for gross violations of human rights since 1991. It was particularly ironic that the international community was spending so much effort and money to end the impunity for a few old and broken persons for crimes they committed 30 years ago, while turning a blind eye to the present violations of rights and breaches of the law.

Om Yentieng, the president of the government organisation for the defence of human rights in Cambodia

expressed Cambodia's disappointment at the report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the evaluation of human rights in Cambodia, which did not fairly reflect the reality in the country. The Special Representative had ignored the progress and the efforts made by the Government of Cambodia. The Government also found that many of the cases, related issues and references described in the report were selectively made for sensational purposes and were overly exaggerated. The assessment of the report stating that the "Cambodian judiciary had failed" was not acceptable for the Government nor was it realistic in reflecting the overall context of the country's development process.

Diametrically opposing views. So what's new. TIC

Dark Angel and Serenity

I just finished watching Dark Angel, which rocked. I'm pissed off that it was cancelled after only two seasons. It was replaced by Firefly, a Joss Weedon masterpiece, which was then cancelled after half a season.

What's wrong with this picture? What do they always cancel the good one's when Seventh Heaven and the sin of Reality Television is allowed to endure.

I long for a dystopian cyber punk TV series with a kickass heroine. Or a sci-fi western full of pretty, big damn heroes. Cancelled they were.

Wear jeans, get raped

Three days after International Women's Day the highest court in Italy ruled that a woman wearing jeans cannot be raped.

The Supreme Court of Appeal in Rome on Wednesday overturned a rape conviction, saying that the supposed victim must have agreed to sex because her jeans could not have been removed without her consent.

Yeah it's totally impossible to remove a pair of jeans from someone half your size and perhaps a tad petrified at the impending crime. Impossible to get somebody to take an action under the threat of violence. Who believes this bullshit?

Also it implies that women are raped by strangers in the bushes. The vast majority of rapes are committed by a friend, acquaintance or relative. The clothes that the victim wears do not matter. The ability to remove jeans without consent depends on terror, resignation or the threat of violence. This ruling is ridiculous and has just punched another hole in women's safety.

The Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible to remove a pair of jeans "without the collaboration of the person wearing them", and that the young woman must therefore have consented to sex.

I wonder would the Supreme Court uphold that ruling its its members had a gun to their head and told to remove their jeans. Cooperation under the threat of violence does not imply, constitute or prove consent, in the same manner as a forced confession is not admissible in a court of law (in most developed countries).

If a women wearing jeans cannot be raped, can a man wearing jeans be raped. One might argue that men mostly wear trousers, often jeans. Ten percent of rape victims are men. Is this ruling going to affect men too? Can a man wearing jeans be raped?

In a judgement likely to anger women's rights organisations, the rape conviction was reversed.

The judgement should anger more than woman's rights organisations. It should also anger lawmakers, human rights groups and citizens of the EU. This is truly disgusting. The Italian Supreme Court has basically just ruled that a man can rape any woman (and by extension any man) wearing jeans with impunity.

It's the other side to the slutty dress argument. Women and girls and even children wearing 'provocative' clothes are blamed for their rape. Now women wearing jeans are blamed for their rape. When is the blame going to be put where it belong? When is the rapist going to be blamed for rape?

Driving instructors in Italy have a reputation, deserved or undeserved, for molesting young female pupils, and the case appeared at first to be a familiar story of sexual assault on a lonely country road.

Yeah this was different to the usual sexual assault. This time the woman was wearing jeans. If the norm is sexual assault on a lonely country road then what are police doing about it? If driving instructors have a reputation for molestation then what is being done to prevent this? The police have a responsibility to catch criminals. Rape is a crime. Rape is crime but the justice system and majority of the general public blame the victim and not the criminal.

A rapist is a criminal.
A rapist is a criminal.
A rapist is a criminal.
No ifs. No buts. No 'she was wearing...'

or any other excuses for criminal behaviour. It is a crime. It cannot be excused by circumstances. This ruling is very disturbing and I think it demonstrates some of the latent hate that exists in our society towards female people.

h/t Jeff Fecke

International Women's Day 2008

Happy International Women's Day 2008. Hope it's a great day for women and men.

In a perfect world, there would be no international women's day. There would be no need. And the old argument of "what are you moaning about, you've got rights now, man hating humourless feminist bitch" would just fall away. But, we don't live in that world.

We have Sean Connery, saying it's OK to smack your bitch up



The Washington Post just published its perennial women are dumb article. This article has both the denial of the rape crisis and the "sluts deserve it" attitude. Check out the history of IWD. Sexism hurts everyone. Really. Feminists are not man-hating bitches.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, discusses institutionalised discrimination in her press release today. Go read it all.

GENEVA (OHCHR) – Laws that discriminate against women are still to be found on the statute books of virtually every country in the world, and repeated promises by states to revise or repeal them are not being honoured, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Friday.

Arbour... said a newly released report commissioned by OHCHR shows that “the effects of this failure to create true legal parity between men and women in all sorts of social, economic and political arenas is having a detrimental effect on women in many countries – sometimes to a devastating degree.”

Perhaps the most pernicious and dangerous discrimination involves sexual abuse that is not recognized as such under a country’s laws, or is in effect tolerated by legislation that is either vague or not enforced. “Rape is recognized as a crime in most legal systems,” said Arbour.

“But, even when it is, inadequate legislation or local traditions often mean laws are not properly enforced. In addition, at least 53 states still do not outlaw rape within marriage, and men frequently enjoy total impunity for physical as well as sexual violence against their wives.”...

“Many states appear to have simply ignored the commitments they have made,” Arbour said. “It is shameful that, in the 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, fundamental rights are still not enjoyed by many women around the world. In some cases, they suffer from multiple forms of discrimination, such as race, age or disabilities as well as their gender. Unless states take their commitments seriously, investing in women and girls will remain a matter of rhetoric.”

Don't stand for discrimination on gender, sexism, sexual assault or violence against women. Stand up. Be counted. Make sure your voice is heard. All genders have this responsibility as citizens of the world.

Assault is not a compliment

After reading all the horrific stories of violence against women in Cambodia and the lack of action on the part of the police, it is nice to read about a judge who takes assault seriously

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man convicted of smacking a female motorist's bottom was handed a one-year suspended jail sentence and his friend was sentenced to the same term in absentia, a court official said on Wednesday.

Phnom Penh municipal court prosecutor Kry Soky said Van Theara, 22, remained on the lam after being found complicit in delivering a playful slap on the bottom to a female motorbike rider which his friend had claimed was meant as a joking compliment.

Assault is not a compliment.

He said Theara's friend, Khun Pheakdey, 18, had been ordered to pay compensation of $350 and released after already serving five months in jail for his moment of indiscretion.

Violence and assault are not moments of indiscretion, they are criminal acts and perpetrators deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law.

"This is not a funny story because funny stories do not end up in court. This is sexual harassment. A polite man takes a strange girl he likes by the hand, not by the bottom," Soky said by telephone.

The case was prosecuted after the victim's parents heard about the incident and filed a complaint to the court, he said.

It should be amazing that the judge has to publicly state that sexual harassment is not a joke, but it isn't. With the sheer number of rape jokes and the status of women in Cambodia, it is necessary to tell these truths in a public arena. It is not funny.

Once more with feeling: assault is not a compliment. Rape is not a compliment. Violence is not a compliment.