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MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Mexican Woman Who Survived Slavery Credits Her Lack of Fear
MEXICO CITY – Not to be afraid of anything, not even the constant beatings she suffered, was what enabled a 22-year-old woman to survive 18 months working as a virtual slave at a Mexico City dry cleaner’s.
“I was afraid of nothing despite the hard blows she gave me. That’s why I am still alive,” she told Efe in an interview just a few days after her April 25 escape.
Unwilling to disclose her real name, she has chosen to call herself “Zunduri,” which is Japanese for “beautiful girl.”
Since regaining her freedom, Zunduri has given numerous interviews, hoping to prevent other people from falling into the same predicament.
Zunduri’s ordeal, the first known case of its kind in the Mexican capital, has shocked society because of the severity of the abuse and the physical and emotional toll it took on her.
Watchdog organizations say that human trafficking is a growing phenomenon in Mexico.
According to the National Human Rights Commission, the number of people exploited increases year after year, with 396 investigations opened in 2012, 660 in 2013, and 413 in just the first half of 2014.
“I had a rather difficult childhood,” Zunduri said. “I decided to leave home to go with a boy. After the relationship with him I went to Leticia (her captor) seeking a place to stay but, above all, a job.”
Leticia, who was detained along with her sister, two daughters and an unrelated man on human trafficking charges, was the owner of a dry-cleaning shop in the Lomas de Padierna neighborhood.
What Zunduri was asked to do initially was simple: iron clothes and wait for her wages. But as time went on “the workload increased, and also the exhaustion.”
“That’s when the trouble began,” she said. “I could not keep up, I burnt some clothes, or they were lost and she started harassing me, then she hit me and assaulted me,” she said, adding she was chained to one of the industrial ironing machines.
The Mexico City prosecutor’s office says Zunduri was fed only once a day, which led her to chew on the plastic wraps for the clothes to mitigate her hunger.
Medical exams show that while she has the appearance of a 14-year-old girl, her internal organs and functions are those of an octogenarian as a consequence of the harm suffered in captivity.
Zunduri shared with Efe the story of her escape.
“Three days before I escaped, I asked to go to the toilet. They released me but when I returned to my work station I notice that the chain was not fully locked. I had to feign that I hadn’t noticed it,” she said.
“That night (of the escape), I checked that everyone was sleeping,” Zunduri said. “In the bathroom there was a window open to the patio. I jumped out and ran to a friend’s house.”
At first, she said, she was reluctant to report the case because she was “terrified.”
Now, Zunduri feels anger and “an emptiness” as she talks about her experience, but she is also proud of having regained her freedom.
Zunduri, who is under the protection of a foundation that aids victims of human trafficking, says she is full of expectations and expresses surprise about all the support she is receiving.
In the coming days, Zunduri will travel to Argentina to take part in a forum on human trafficking.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Four Israeli soldiers arrested for suspected gang rape
Four IDF soldier serving on an airbase in the south are under arrest after a female soldier said she was gang raped by the men.
Military Police arrested the suspects, who served at the Hatzerim airbase west of Beersheba, and launched an immediate investigation, the IDF said.
Military sources said the female soldier's commanders have closely supported her as she filed the complaint, and accompanied her throughout the aftermath of the alleged attack.
According to a Channel 2 report, the attack occurred two weeks ago, as the soldiers completed a shift and entered the female soldier's room, where they allegedly raped her in succession.
She filed a complaint to the Military Police on Tuesday, leading to their immediate arrest.
One of the suspects denied the suspicions during questioning, claiming that sexual relations were consensual.
"After receiving the complaint, Military Police launched an investigation and arrested the soldiers," the IDF Spokesman said in a statement.
At the same time, the female soldier is being cared for by the Center For Support And Coping, a military center that assists female soldiers who fall victim to sexual offenses, and her commanders are closely accompanying her.
Military Police arrested the suspects, who served at the Hatzerim airbase west of Beersheba, and launched an immediate investigation, the IDF said.
Military sources said the female soldier's commanders have closely supported her as she filed the complaint, and accompanied her throughout the aftermath of the alleged attack.
According to a Channel 2 report, the attack occurred two weeks ago, as the soldiers completed a shift and entered the female soldier's room, where they allegedly raped her in succession.
She filed a complaint to the Military Police on Tuesday, leading to their immediate arrest.
One of the suspects denied the suspicions during questioning, claiming that sexual relations were consensual.
"After receiving the complaint, Military Police launched an investigation and arrested the soldiers," the IDF Spokesman said in a statement.
At the same time, the female soldier is being cared for by the Center For Support And Coping, a military center that assists female soldiers who fall victim to sexual offenses, and her commanders are closely accompanying her.
Ex- Senior U.S. officials: Maryam Rajavi’s congressional appearance, a right move
- Wednesday, 29 April 2015 15:50
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In a rare bipartisan initiative, 20 prominent former US Government national security, and foreign policy officials as well as Military leaders in a joint letter expressed their support for the Iranian opposition leader, Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) testifying before the US Congress.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi is scheduled to testify in a hearing “ISIS: Defining the Enemy” via videoconference on Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX).
The former senior US officials said:“As a Muslim women advocating a tolerant and democratic interpretation of Islam, individual freedom, separation of religion and state, gender equality, and rejecting the implementation of Sharia law, Mrs. Rajavi represent the opposite of the misogynous Iranian regime’s rules and all Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.”
“Mrs. Rajavi’s personal experience in leading a popular movement against the religious dictatorship ruling Iran make her the right person to give testimony on this important issue,” they added.
The signatories of the statement included Rudy Giuliani - former NYC Mayor, Presidential Candidate; Howard Dean - former VT Governor, DNC Chairman, Presidential Candidate; Louis J. Freeh – former FBI Director, Edward Rendell - Former PA Governor, DNC Chairman; Tom Ridge – former PA Governor, Secretary Homeland Security; Mitchell B. Reiss - former Ambassador, Special Envoy to the Northern Ireland Peace Process; Michael B. Mukasey - former US Attorney General; John Bolton- former UN Ambassador; Frances Townsend – former Homeland Security Advisor to the President; General (Ret.) Charles (Chuck) Wald- former Deputy Commander U.S. European Command; Lt. Gen. (Ret.) David Deptula – former Deputy COS For Intel, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, U.S. Air Force; Linda Chavez -former Assistant to the President For Public Liaison; Robert Joseph, former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; Patrick Kennedy – former Rhode Island Congressman; and John Sano - former Deputy Director CIA National Clandestine Security.
In another statement, Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield, strongly defended the scheduled testimony of Iranian opposition leader, Maryam Rajavi before the US Congress.
Bloomfield, the Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs in the George W. Bush administration in a statement said: “It was predictable that with the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its component entities including the MEK having successfully challenged and removed all terrorism listings in Europe and North America, NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi would at some point be given the opportunity to be heard in Washington; it was perhaps equally predictable that longstanding allegations of terrorism and cult-like behavior by this group would be revived.”
Bloomfield has conducted exhaustive reviews and research on the Mek and has authored a couple of books and studies on the subject. He rebuked allegations against the Iranian opposition and while pointing to extensive demonizing campaign of Tehran regarding its arch opponents said: “Western governments have for many years been asked by the Iranian regime to restrict the MEK as a terror organization. Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has repeatedly been revealed paying agents or seeking to pay trusted sources in several countries to propagate allegations against the MEK that are unsupported by any historical records. Yet many of these defamatory allegations continue to be repeated by the American media and current or former U.S. officials, none of whom have produced credible evidence to back them up. “
Former member of U.S. House of Representative Tom Tancredo wrote in The Hill on Wednesday: “I commend my former colleagues, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), and chair of subcommittee on Terrorism, non-proliferation and Trade, Judge Ted Poe (R-Texas) for doing the right thing and affording the U.S. Congress the opportunity to examine facts and hear from those in the field, rather than relying only on experts within the beltway.
Maryam Rajavi’s testimony before Congress is long overdue, Mr. Tancredo said.
Maryam Rajavi’s testimony before Congress is long overdue, Mr. Tancredo said.
“Rajavi’s movement alerted the world about Iran’s clandestine nuclear project, exposed Iran’s pervasive presence in Iraq and its operation of terror networks that exported improvised explosive devices to Iraq to kill American servicemen. The opposition has also waged a cultural and political war against Islamic fundamentalism emanating from Iran. Its ubiquitous representatives have galvanized a global campaign against human rights offenses, in particular against women within Iran."
“In that sense, if the issue is ISIS and defining the enemy, Rajavi is certainly qualified to speak as her movement has been fighting a regime that pursued sectarian violence in Iraq and supported Assad, which led to the rise of ISIS. If it is Islamic fundamentalism and Tehran’s role, Rajavi is more than qualified to speak. If it is Iran’s nuclear program, her movement has had its finger on the pulse of that issue throughout the past decade. On human rights abuses by those with ISIS mentality, her movement has endured the brunt of suppression and executions in Iran. As many as 120,000 activists of her movement have been executed in Iran over the past three decades in the hands of those who were the de facto mentors of ISIS.”
“To avoid the voices about Iran to be monolithic in Washington, Iranian people should be brought into the equation and Rajavi provides a serious, viable voice. That is not a matter of dispute.“
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