Islamists said to execute 15-year-old Syrian boy for heresy

[jessie04]

Source: NAHOO NEWS

Members of an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo executed a 15-year-old boy in front of his parents on Sunday as punishment for what the group regarded as a heretical comment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Mohammad Qataa was shot in the face and neck a day after being seized, said the pro-opposition monitoring group, which is based in Britain and uses a network of observers across Syria. "The Observatory cannot ignore these crimes, which only serve the enemies of the revolution and the enemies of humanity," said the group's leader Rami Abdulrahman.

A photo released by the Observatory showed Qataa's face with his mouth and jaw bloodied and destroyed, as well as a bullet wound in his neck. The Observatory, which based its report on witness accounts of the killing, said Qataa, who was a street vendor selling coffee in the working-class Shaar neighborhood, had been arguing with someone when he was overheard saying: "Even if the Prophet Mohammad comes down (from heaven), I will not become a believer."

The gunmen, who belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a militant group that started off known as the Nusra Front, took Qatta on Saturday and brought him back alive in the early hours of Sunday to his wooden stand, with whiplash marks visible on his body.

"People gathered around him and a member of the fighting brigade said: 'Generous citizens of Aleppo, disbelieving in God is polytheism and cursing the prophet is a polytheism. Whoever curses even once will be punished like this."


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/islamists-said-execute-15-old-syrian-boy-heresy-224113788.html

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UN-BELIEVE-ABLE

[Drale]

1. Not unbelievable at all

this is what happens when religious extremists have the power over life and death. The Tea Baggers would be doing the same thing if they could get away with it.

[jessie04]

2. VERY BIG WARNING !!!

PICTURE ON INTERNET...VERY DISTURBING

http://www.demainonline.com/

[clarice]

3. I doubt that ANY group in America would condone this insanity. nt

[atreides1]

5. Perhaps not

But how many will still want to provide training and weapons to these monsters?

[clarice]

10. THAT is the big issue IMO. nt

[arely staircase]

32. pro-opposition people reported it

meaning it is probably true (not govenment propaganda) and this is outside the rebels' agenda/ethics.

[Drale]

6. Really?

The people who call for the death of Gay people?

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/05/19/mississippi-2/

and Abortion providers?

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/north-carolina-republican-calls-for-publicly-hanging-abortion-providers/question-2424237/

or not allowed Athiests to graduate high school

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/01/25/arizona-republicans-propose-bill-that-would-not-allow-atheists-to-graduate-high-school/

It doesn't matter what religion it is, extremism is the same every were, the difference is what they are allowed to get away with by the government and the people of a country.

[clarice]

12. respectfully....

Anyone can find crazy/nutbag/extremists in ANY country if you look hard enough. Are you suggesting that Americans (as a whole) are less accepting than these people?

[Ash_F]

15. It would appear that the poster was responding to the words you typed out...

in your previous post.

[clarice]

16. Yes, thank you Ash. nt

[Drale]

31. Um I'm pretty sure Ashes comment was direct at you ./nt

[clarice]

59. Yes, and I thanked Ash for his/her input. nt

[Drale]

33. Also these relgions extremists do not represent a majority of the rebels

Unfortunately the rebels are in a position that these people make it look like they are a major part of the rebellion but in reality they are a small group. It sounds as though your saying that ever Rebel is a religious extremest and that because not everyone in America would want to kill Atheists or Gay people, that we don't have any groups like that in America? Well that is complete bullshit.

[Comrade Grumpy]

43. Al Nusra and affiliated jihadis are consistently described as...

..."the most effective fighting force on the side of the rebels."

So, yes, they are a major part of the rebellion. And there are thousands of them flooding in from other countries, including hundreds coming from Europe. They'd be best advised to stay home.

[John2]

47. Let me give you a

hypothetical here. Who represent the majority of the rebels? I guess this is a secret, but where is the head quarters of the General Staff of the opposition located? After the battle in Quisair, the Syrian Army gave very detailed reports to the Syrian media about the opposition casualties in that battle. Most of them were identified as foreigners from countries like Libya, Iraq,Egypt, Qatar, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. There were thousands of them. Where is the FSA? Are they in Aleppo?

I don't know if you have any military experience, but this so called General of the opposition, lacks control over the battle field and discipline over the troops that he commands. Is he just General in name only. If he did have control over these people, he would have them arrested, bought up on charges, and shot in front of a firing squad. That is why they are going to lose. He has no control over them.

[leveymg]

51. The Jijadis and al-Nusra make up the majority of the effective front-line opposition fighters.

That has been very widely reported. They are not "a small group."

There will be civil wars and more civil wars for control over what's left of Syria if the regime falls. The rebel militias are already at war with each other. Welcome to the wonderful world of regime change and the new Middle East that the first Obama Administration settled detonated.

And, we're going to wade deeper into this bloody swamp? Why? Not for any real humanitarian purpose. That's how we helped create this hell on earth.

[clarice]

60. Deep breath........relax. nt

[Shadowflash]

30. +1000

Same crap. Different fairy tale.

[demosincebirth]

34. Extremism is not the same everywhere or in every religion. These kind of barbaric action only seem

to be committed by Islamist extremist. No other religion, in modern times, allows atrocities like this to happen without condemning them.

[Drale]

36. Oh really? Only Islamic extremists commit atrocities without people condeming them?

http://www.thecontroversialfiles.net/2013/04/witches-burned-alive-in-kenya-africa.html

A ton of people are condemning these "Islamic" extremists but they are in the middle of a civil war and nothing can be done at this point. What does saying your condemning something do? Nothing! It doesn't matter what religion it is, extremism is the same.

[demosincebirth]

42. This atrocity had nothing to do with the civil war. I read the article and it's sickening,

but that kind of barbaric actions don't happen on a daily basis like in the Muslim fundamentalist society. Say one wrong word about the Koran or Mohammed, and off comes your head. Girls are shot and killed frequently because they want to go to school and learn something else besides Islam. Many here on DU always want to soft peddle these action and try to compare them to other religions of the world and some of their actions 500 years ago. I don't know why, but they do. Maybe their hatred of all religions seem to group them all together.

[Nye Bevan]

45. Don't you remember the speed at which the Pope issued a fatwa on the guy who created "Piss Christ"?

And how quickly that artist was kidnapped, tortured and beheaded by the Christian extremists?

Me neither.

[Ash_F]

49. Who's the Muslim Pope? /nt

[Nye Bevan]

53. Wouldn't it be great if there was a real Islamic Pope,

who could tell his followers not to stone women to death for adultery, execute homosexuals, and behead people who draw cartoons perceived as insulting to Islam?

[Ash_F]

54. Yeah, but there isn't.

That's why it's apples and oranges.

[demosincebirth]

55. me neither

[magical thyme]

7. You haven't seen the stories of American fundamentalists beating their own babies and toddlers

to death? Seems one surfaces annually, if not more often. They have at least one book on child rearing that promotes whipping starting in infancy.

[clarice]

13. Please see my post #6. nt

[kestrel91316]

22. You haven't been paying attention. Dominionists want to bring back stoning people to death.

Google "dominionism" and "christian reconstructionism". These are the religious nuts who have taken over local governments across the country and shriek about putting the bible back in schools, etc.

Palin and Bachmann and Paul Ryan and LOTS of other politicians are dominionists, thought they try to keep it secret.

[clarice]

27. I'm so sorry, I will try to pay better attention, thanks. nt

[DFW]

46. Ever heard of the Westboro Baptist Church? n/t

[obama2terms]

35. No

They would never consider killing someone, let alone a CHILD. The tea party only talks crazy, they don't commit these atrocities.

[Drale]

37. Only because they can't get away with it

I can 100% guarantee if we were in the middle of a civil war or if they were successful in overthrowing the government and burning the constitution, we would see this in our streets perpetrated by "god fearing" tea baggers.

[freshwest]

62. They sure talk about it enough and they consider liberals the devil's spawn who should be erased.

[Zoeisright]

61. Riiiiiight.

They have no problem sentencing a woman to death by refusing her access to an abortion to save her life. They also have no problem with children dying for lack of healthcare and they love to cut funding for research on prenatal diseases, and funding for childhood cancer research. Teabaggers are killing children all the time through their ignorance, cruelty, selfishness, and stupidity.

[obama2terms]

63. Now that

I can agree with. But not literally executing a child for so called "heresy" that's some middle ages shit. Then again they do seem to be stuck in that time period.

[former9thward]

56. What BS.

False equivalency at its best.

[atreides1]

4. GREAT

And these are the guys we want to provide with more weapons and better training...what a fucking wonderful idea!!!!

[siligut]

8. Examples throughout history

Being used as an example to warn others must be the worst job in the world.

Believe or die, good people.

"People gathered around him and a member of the fighting brigade said: 'Generous citizens of Aleppo, disbelieving in God is polytheism and cursing the prophet is a polytheism. Whoever curses even once will be punished like this."

[Angelonthesidelines]

9. This is the template of Islamic rule after US puppets like Assad get sacked.

This is what John McCain and every other "liberator" Congressman wants to instigate in Syria.

There was a sad story I think on Dan Rather reports about a reporter who spent a few days with the Syrian rebel fighters. They all had no clue why they were fighting, no clue about any world other than the one their leaders dictate to them.

Freedom is an ideal, a life deserved among the enlightened, but for backwards tribal cultures, freedom means what the Nusra Front says.

[iandhr]

17. Wow

To call Assad a US puppet is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. Assad is allied with Iran and sponsors Hezbollah and Hamas.

[Jesus Malverde]

57. It's a little confusing.

What we do know is the the CIA sent a canadian to Syria to be tortured.

There was at one point cooperation between the CIA and Assads secret police it's not clear if that relationship is ongoing.

From Mahr Arar's wiki page:

On September 26, 2002, during a stopover in New York City en route from a family vacation in Tunisia to Montreal, Arar was detained by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The INS was acting upon information supplied by the RCMP.[30] When it became clear he was going to be deported, Arar requested he be deported to Canada; though he had not visited Syria since his move to Canada, he retained Syrian citizenship as Syria does not permit the renunciation of citizenship. Canadian (initially) and United States officials have labelled his transfer to Syria as a deportation, but critics have called the removal an example of rendition for torture by proxy, as the Syrian government is infamous for its torture of detainees. Despite the recent public rhetoric, at the time of Arar's deportation, Syria was working closely with the United States government in their "War on Terror". In November 2003, Cofer Black, then counterterrorism coordinator at the US State Department and former director of counterterrorism at the CIA, was quoted as saying "The Syrian government has provided some very useful assistance on al Qaeda in the past."[31] In September 2002, the George W. Bush administration opposed the enactment of the "Syria Accountability Act" citing effectiveness of current sanctions and the ongoing diplomacy in the region. In addition, the administration noted the cooperation and support by Syria in fighting al-Qaida as a reason for its opposition to the "Syria Accountability Act".

US interrogation
US officials repeatedly questioned Arar about his connection to certain members of al-Qaeda. His interrogators also claimed that Arar was an associate of Abdullah Almalki, the Syrian-born Ottawa man whom they suspected of having links to al-Qaeda, and they therefore suspected Arar of being an al-Qaeda member himself. When Arar protested that he only had a casual relationship with Almalki, having once worked with Almalki's brother at an Ottawa high-tech firm, the officials produced a copy of Arar's 1997 rental lease which Almalki had co-signed. The fact that US officials had a Canadian document in their possession was later widely interpreted as evidence of the participation by Canadian authorities in Arar's detention.

Arar's requests for a lawyer were dismissed on the basis that he was not a US citizen, therefore he did not have the right to receive counsel. Despite his denials, he remained in US custody for two weeks and eventually was put on a small jet which first landed in Washington, D.C. and then in Amman, Jordan.

Arar's imprisonment in Syria

Once in Amman, Arar claims he was blindfolded, shackled and put in a van. “They made me bend my head down in the back seat,” Mr. Arar recalled. “Then these men started beating me. Every time I tried to talk, they beat me."
Arar was transferred to a prison, where he claims he was beaten for several hours and forced to falsely confess that he had attended an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. “I was willing to do anything to stop the torture,” he says.
Arar described his cell as a three-foot by six-foot “grave” with no light and plenty of rats. During the more than 10 months he was imprisoned and held in solitary confinement, he was beaten regularly with shredded cables.[33]

Through the walls of his cell, Arar could hear the screams of other prisoners who were also being tortured. The Syrian government shared the results of its investigation with the United States.[7] Arar believes that his torturers were given a dossier of specific questions by United States interrogators, noting that he was asked identical questions both in the United States and in Syria.

While he had been imprisoned, Arar's wife Monia Mazigh had been conducting an active campaign in Canada to secure his release. Upon his release in October 2003, Syria announced they could find no terrorist links.[35] Syrian official Imad Moustapha stated that "We tried to find anything. We couldn’t". Syrian authorities also denied that they tortured Arar.

Arar's return to Canada
Arar was released on October 5, 2003, 374 days after his removal to Syria. He returned to Canada, reuniting with his wife and children. The couple moved to Kamloops, in British Columbia, where his wife Monia accepted a job as professor at Thompson Rivers University.[36] The couple later moved back to Ottawa. Back in Canada, Arar claimed that he had been tortured in Syria and sought to clear his name, embarking on legal challenges both in Canada and in the United States as well as a public education campaign. Arar received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa in 2010.[37]

Its interesting to see that sending the extremist unemployed Jihadist to die in Syria, is a win win for the gulf states and their allies. Jihadist from all over the world go to Syria, but they don't come home, to cause trouble for the princes, kings and the investment of those petro-dollars.

[Xithras]

11. I see they changed the groups name.

Al Nusra recently changed their name to the "Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria"

It's interesting that this article, and many others, tend to leave the "Greater" out of the new name. I'd like to believe that they're doing to save space, but the difference is HUGE. "Syria" simply refers to the modern nation. "Greater Syria" is a term that has special meaning in that part of the world, and among Syrians in particular, because it's a specific reference to the Arab portions of the old Assyrian Empire...all of modern Iraq and Kuwait, a small portion of Turkey, all of Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, and the Sinai Peninsula. It's a reference to the "good old days" when the Syrians ran everything.

Basically, it's the Syrian equivalent of "Greater Germany". It's both a historical reference AND a claim to lands they believe were traditionally and rightfully theirs. It's telling that the group chose THAT term for their new name.

[Turbineguy]

14. Good thinking guys,

save Assad the trouble of murdering a child.

[Comrade Grumpy]

18. The Obama administration is considering arming the rebels right now.

But just the "good" rebels, not those "bad" rebels.

[Swede Atlanta]

19. And this is why...........

Religion needs to be confined to its distinct community of believers. Even so one cannot allow a believer to kill, maim, etc. within the sect if that raises a significant risk of emotional or physical harm to the individual.

As a Christian, I accept that my "religion" has done horrible things in its name. I also agree that the best way to gain believers is through a demonstration of the inherent personal power of the faith.

Forcing someone to believe simply because you do is as stupid as having a web form that forces you to put in your eye color when you don't want to.

I respect the right of people of various religious beliefs to practice those beliefs PROVIDED they don't fuck with anyone else's right to not be intimidated or affected by it.

[jessie04]

20. i try no to judge people, I mean...who am I to judge?

I just think its arrogant to think one religion is superior to another.

[Psephos]

48. Why do you exempt religions from judgment?

Given how much grief has to come to the world in the name of religion, making them an exception to judgment is an abdication of reason. Without the feedback of criticism, religious abuse only gets worse.

[Half-Century Man]

21. Any/Every religion is capable...

nothing like divinity to transform humanity into something demonic

[marshall]

25. Even atheists can turn from humanism to demonic

Witness the atrocities of the Cultural Revolution or Pol Pot's Year Zero. There's a common denominator there, and we only have to look in the mirror to see it.

[Half-Century Man]

26. The worship of..

..a person or society is a form of religion.

[Nye Bevan]

39. Yes. Here's an example of some youngsters on their way to be forcibly religiously indoctrinated.

Demonic stuff, indeed.

[Half-Century Man]

40. Even Father Tomas Torquemada had to start somewhere...

Following a religion has been a wonderful thing for most people. It gives them a well defined place and purpose in the world. It can give hope in the face of horrible circumstances.

As well as probably being the leading cause for murder in the history of the Earth.

[Nye Bevan]

41. Absolutely. There is every chance that the Obama daughters will grow up to murder people

in the name of their God. With all religions bring equally bad and all.

[Half-Century Man]

44. Thank you Lord for this day..

and keep us safe from your crazier followers.

[jessie04]

58. Good post.

nt

[leftynyc]

23. All too believable

These are the kinds of people Sen McCain thinks we should help.

[eissa]

24. Expect a whole lot more of this

if the Assad regime falls and these monsters take over. They'll make any brutality committed by the Syria government look like a Disney movie in comparison.

[John2]

50. So what will happen

to you, if you committed the same Blasphemy in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or under the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt? I don't think the Syrian people will adjust to the change.

[TruthBeTold65]

28. All for the belief in...

...an invisible magical mystery beardy man in the sky.

We are still (generally) so primitive.

[Arugula Latte]

29. Religion strikes again.

[Nye Bevan]

38. Yes. I'm sure many of my local Episcopalian congregation would do this kind of thing,

if they could get away with it. In their own way, I am confident that they are just as evil as the Islamic extremists.

[BuddhaGirl]

52. Indeed!

It's another useless and unintelligent broad brush post