TUCSON Az ( 3 Girls held captive for two years in their rooms - By step father )

TUCSON - Tucson Police just held a news conference providing further detail about the child imprisonment investigation that started Tuesday morning.
According to Captain Mike Gillooly:


Two girls-- 12 and 13 years old-- went to a neighbor for help at 4 a.m. Tuesday reporting that their step dad had threatened them with a knife. They reported that they had been held captive for two years.
Police responded to the home and found another teen, aged 17, in the home.
Officers discovered the children in filthy condition. Gillooly said they they hadn't bathed in 3 to 6 months. Gillooly said two of the minors were kept from the third for 2 years

Iran ( Congress pushes for release of American pastor imprisoned in Iran )

Friday, 22 November 2013   

Washington - Congress is pressing for the release of Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen who has been imprisoned in Iran for his religious beliefs since September 2012.

Mohabat News - On Wednesday (Nov. 20) the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bipartisan resolution condemning Iran's persecution of religious minorities and urging Abedini's immediate release. The resolution will now go to the full House.

The Senate unanimously passed a similar resolution Nov. 14.

The U.S. and Iran are conducting talks in Geneva aimed at reining in Iran's nuclear program, and those backing Abedini hope the time is right for his freedom.

"It is important especially with the nuclear negotiations in Geneva that Congress speak out with one voice on behalf of pastor Abedini in support of his immediate release," said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican.

The House and Senate resolutions follow Abedini's transfer from Evin Prison, a facility for political prisoners, to Rajai Shahr Prison. He is now held in a ward for rapists and murderers, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, a law firm that represents Abedini's wife, Nagmeh. Abedini has been allowed visits from his Iranian family, who have confirmed he is alive.

The Iranian government sentenced Abedini to eight years in prison after convicting him of "undermining" the government by spreading his religious beliefs. Abedini had previously worked with house churches in Iran; in 2012 he helped at an orphanage and visited family.

Smith said that Abedini promised the Iranian government he would not proselytize — and that Abedini had upheld his side of the bargain.

Since his arrest, Abedini has endured beatings causing internal bleeding and has had medical care withheld, according to the ACLJ.

His wife and two children await his return.

Abedini's persecution is part of a wider policy against religious minorities in Iran, Smith said.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have both spoken out for Abedini's release. / wwrn

San Diego ( Atheist Group Seeks to Recruit Members With Sign 'Relax, Hell Doesn't Exist )

 

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  (Photo: Screenshot/KPBS)
  San Diego's Coalition of Reason banner at Balboa Park encourages passerby to "relax" because hell or heaven do not exist.

 

 

By Katherine Weber, Christian Post Reporter

November 24, 2013|1:29 pm

Atheists in San Diego, Calif. are trying a new approach to recruiting non-believers by offering food, such as pretzels and cheezits, and putting up large banners that read "Relax: hell does not exist, or heaven either, enjoy your life."
The atheists are members of the San Diego-based group the San Diego Coalition of Reason, and every Saturday they set up a booth in the city's Balboa Park alongside other religious groups, such as Hare Krishnas and evangelical Christians, to educate passerby on their lack of beliefs. Along with the quirky banner that hangs over their booth, members of the group also lure people into a conversation using pretzels and Cheezits; the pretzels are used to symbolized the "twisted logic" of theism, while the cheezits represent the "power" of non-belief.
"We like to have a gathering place for our members, people that want to chat, get to know each other, they can come do that on any Saturday," Debbie Allen, one of the organizers for the atheist group, told local KPBS-TV. "But also we like to let the community know that there are groups that they may want to participate in."
Additionally, Jim Eliason, another organizer for the group, told the local media outlet that their group is not afraid of being aggressive in their beliefs.
"We're constantly fighting to get religion out of our schools, constantly fighting to get the teaching of creationism out of our schools," he said. "So if we can de-convert people away from these religious ideas that keep them stuck in this dogma that forces them to believe these things, that's a moment of pure joy for us."

Iran ( A guard of 350 Evin Prison was" beaten up " for supporting the prisoner’s )

Posted on: 24th November, 2013                                     

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                        Evin Prison, Tehran, Iran

HRANA News Agency – A prison guard who was trying to protect the prisoners in ward 350 of Evin prison was beaten by his commander.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the authorities have ordered the prisoners to go to clinic with a soldier since last month.
An informed source told HRANA’s reporter: “A soldier who was responsible for taking the prisoners to the clinic had an insulting behavior on November 20. This was told to the guardian of the ward 350 and he supported the prisoners.”
He said: “afterwards, Mr. Farmani the commander of the prison guards has come and beaten the guardian and then threatened and insulted him. The conflict ended when the prison security forces came there and a number of prisoners were called to testify to the security building.”

Texas ( Two Latino Immigrants Indicted for Assault of Border Patrol Agent )

LAREDO, TX – Mexican National Jose Luis Zavala-Rodriguez, aka Jose Juan Zavala-Rodriguez or Jose Juan Rodriguez-Rosa, 22, and Johnny Jose Redrovan-Pesantez, 23, of Ecuador, have been charged with assault of a federal officer causing bodily injury, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

Zavala-Rodriguez is also charged with conspiracy to transport aliens and transporting an alien for personal financial gain.

Currently in custody, both men are expected to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott Hacker tomorrow, at which time the government expects to request their continued detention pending further criminal proceedings.

The indictment, returned on Wednesday, alleges that on or about October 23, 2013, the men did knowingly forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere with a U.S. Border Patrol agent while he was performing his official duties. The agent required medical attention but survived.

The three-count indictment also alleges that Zavala-Rodriguez conspired to transport as well as transporting an alien who had entered and remained in the United States illegally for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.

If convicted of the assault on the officer, each faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine. Zavala-Rodriguez further faces an additional 10-year possible sentence on each of the remaining two charges, upon conviction, as well as a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by FBI and the Laredo Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Homero Ramirez.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

Saudi Arabia ( Romeo and Juliet - Young woman " defied her family for love " )

Sanaa (AFP) - A young Saudi woman on Sunday urged a Yemeni court to let her stay and marry the man she loves, defying norms in both deeply conservative countries.

In a case reminiscent of Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, Huda al-Niran, 22, defied her family and crossed the border illegally to be with her beloved.
As she pleaded her case to be able to stay and marry Arafat Mohammed Tahar, 25, her supporters demonstrated outside the Sanaa courthouse, sporting headbands proclaiming "We are all Huda."
The lovers' plight has gripped imaginations in both Yemen and Saudi Arabia, where the young woman's courage is seen as astonishing.
She not only went against the wishes of her family, who said she could not marry Tahar, but also dared to flee the country and follow him to Yemen.
In court, she refused to accept a lawyer provided by the Saudi embassy, fearing pressure to return home.

View gallery."

A Yemeni shows his support for a Saudi woman during her trial in Sanaa, on November 24, 2013 (AFP Ph …

But Huda did accept to be represented by a lawyer appointed by a Yemeni non-government organisation called Hood, who said he hoped for a favourable outcome.
"This is a humanitarian case, and must not raise tensions between the two countries," lawyer Abdel Rakib al-Qadi told AFP.
He indicated that Sanaa had come under pressure from the Saudi authorities to ensure Huda's return.
She is currently under arrest and on trial for illegal entry. If found guilty, she faces expulsion.
No decision was announced on Sunday, and the court set the next hearing for December 1 as it awaited a UN High Commissioner for Refugees ruling on a request for asylum.
A UNHCR representative confirmed to AFP that Huda had initiated proceedings to be granted refugee status in Yemen.
If she succeeds, it will be difficult for the authorities in Yemen to expel her.
Huda's case has also come to the attention of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
On November 19, HRW urged Yemen not to repatriate her and to take into consideration the fact that returning to her family could put her life at risk.

"She fears physical harm from her family members, whom she said have beaten her in the past, if she is returned to Saudi Arabia," HRW said in a statement

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