Disgusting
posted by on November 1 at 8:59 AM
From the NYT:
Alexandre Robert, a French 15-year-old, was having a fine summer in this tourist paradise on the Persian Gulf. It was Bastille Day and he and a classmate had escaped the July heat at the beach for an air-conditioned arcade.Just after sunset, Alex says he was rushing to meet his father for dinner when he bumped into an acquaintance, a 17-year-old native-born student at the American school, who said he and his cousin could drop Alex off at home.
There were, in fact, three Emirati men in the car, including a pair of former convicts ages 35 and 18, according to Alex. He says they drove him past his house and into a dark patch of desert, between a row of new villas and a power plant, took away his cellphone, threatened him with a knife and a club, and told him they would kill his family if he ever reported them.
Then they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him in the back seat of the car. They dumped Alex across from one of Dubai’s luxury hotel towers.
Alex and his family were about to learn that despite Dubai’s status as the Arab world’s paragon of modernity and wealth, and its well-earned reputation for protecting foreign investors, its criminal legal system remains a perilous gantlet when it comes to homosexuality and protection of foreigners.
The authorities not only discouraged Alex from pressing charges, he, his family and French diplomats say; they raised the possibility of charging him with criminal homosexual activity, and neglected for weeks to inform him or his parents that one of his attackers had tested H.I.V. positive while in prison four years earlier.
as i've said before, we should bomb the fuck out of dubai on our way out of iraq.
the american A/E firms working there are whores of the 1st degree, only exceeded by firms building prisons or the bagdhad US embassy.
I read this in the NYT this morning. Sick to think that Dubai is one of our "partners" in the war against terrorism. Sick that US businesses work in Dubai.... I hate my country and it's values.
Ah, such a beautiful, peaceful culture....
Blaming a rape victim for an attack, then refusing to punish the attackers - that's a new idea. Oh, right, it's only new for men.
@1, I'm confused as to how bombing "the fuck out of Dubai" would help at all --?
That's enough to make you agoraphobic.
@2 this story appears to be about a French citizen having a very, very bad experience in Dubai. I'm confused how it relates to your country and it's values (unless you happen to be posting from the Gulf, of course).
Unless you have four adult male Muslim witnesses, rape doesn't exist there.
Or at least that's how their "legal" system works.
@7, It is the US that pisses me off. And we do LOTS of business there and all over the medeval middle east. Wonder why?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0224/p09s01-coop.html
Yep, corrupted government, homosexuality, child rape. Sounds about right.
HIV?! Lame!
So if American companies didn't do business in the middle east, a French teenager wouldn't get raped by a pack of Emirate creeps? I don't get the connection at all. While there is plenty to criticize about the craveness of American corporations behavior abroad, it's hell of a stretch to condemn "American values" because this crime was committed. After all, where is the story breaking? In the NYT, where freedom of the press to cover this story is guaranteed.
Maybe Dubai is where Iran sent all of their gay people?
I wonder if there's any recourse in an international court for a crime like this. Probably not, poor kid.
@5:
it would make us FEEL better about losing in iraq, in a temporary & ultimately meaningless way.
and because our 'allies' in the UAE & SA are anything but.
@4 Brilliant. Thank you.
@4 - In spite of saying all the right things, I kind of get the 'gleeful about payback' vibe from your post. That poor kid is not the avatar of all men.
Since this injustice is being perpetrated under the guise of Muslim law we can expect huge protests from Muslims all over the world saying "Not in our name", right? We know if a Muslim woman is mistreated in the west we would be hearing their variation of "no justice, no peace" till the end of time.
This story is NOT breaking in the NYT. It's being covering in Gulf News, in all the major papers in France, etc.
In fact, it broke quite a while ago...
The BIGGEST problem with American 'values' is that they seem to only apply to Americans. Most Americans do not care that crap like 9-11 happens every day in some countries. They don't care that crime rates in America are lower than most countries with some exceptions in Europe (committed not convicted crimes). They don't care that women in other countries are still oppressed. But one building (or two in one) gets blown up and they want to blow everyone else up. That is the truly sad part. The responses to this story only prove how self-centered and egotistical Americans are. One thing you should think about, this behavior justifies the attitude real terrorists (not to be confused with the ones the government calls terrorists).
Moltarr @16,
I'm dismayed that you think @4 sounded "gleeful" about this rape; I didn't sense that at all! What woman would relish the idea of the rape of a teenage boy as "payback"?! Please--just because women want men to be more aware of the inequality that exists between the sexes doesn't mean we're vengeful monsters. That "vibe" was a figment of your imagination.
At least he didn't get raped in Iran. He'd probably be swinging from a gibbet now.
oh right, it's only new for men... that's they way @4 wants to make me more aware of the inequalities? okay... whatevs...
As if to prove my previous post.
@ Kitten: Your post reminds me of how I cringe when the ever-smug Michael Medved intones daily on his smarmy radio-clog - "in this the greatest country on God's green earth".
Like when a plane crashes in the Sahara, US headlines will say one American aboard - causing one to assume all the other dead people were polyglot crash test dummies.
Alternatively, there's not much that is fair or just in the Middle East and few citizens there are ever asked if they'd like transit with that.
Hey Kitten -
Can you provide an example or two of countries where people behave differently? Where they react just as strongly to a disaster that occurs a continent away as they do about one in their own country? Or where they care as deeply about the rights of people in different nations as they do about people in theirs? I have a feeling your problem is with how humanity behaves, and you just happen to be surrounded by American humans.
I'm shocked no one's brought up this gem from the article:
United Arab Emirates law does not recognize rape of males, only a crime called “forced homosexuality.” The two adult men charged with sexually assaulting Alex have pleaded not guilty, although sperm from all three were found in Alex. The two adults appeared in court on Wednesday and were appointed a lawyer. They face trial before a three-judge panel on Nov. 7. The third, a minor, will be tried in juvenile court. Legal experts here say that men convicted of sexually assaulting other men usually serve sentences ranging from a few months to two years.
Or this one:
(Under Emirates law, foreigners with H.I.V., or those convicted of homosexual activity, are deported.)
What shocks me is that prisoners in Dubai actually get HIV testing, much less any form of medical care.
This adds credence to the idea that there are no Arab homosexuals, because Arab men typically enjoy sex with males.
No. 28, what do "Arab homosexuals" have to with what Ahmadinejad said? You do know that Ahmadinejad is from Iran, which is not an Arab country, right? You do know that not all Muslims are Arabs, and not all Arabs are Muslims, don't you? You wouldn't be butt-ignorant of basic facts like that, since you're using fancy words like "add credence" and all, huh?
@ 20 :
"What woman would relish the idea of the rape of a teenage boy as "payback"?! Please--just because women want men to be more aware of the inequality that exists between the sexes doesn't mean we're vengeful monsters."
I've had the unfortunate experience of knowing two women who both wanted men to be more aware of inequality AND were vengeful monsters who took unapologetic satisfaction in a story very similar to this one. They are out there.
With that said, I'm totally willing to give @ 4 the benefit of the doubt this time around even though the tone of her post gave me a bit of a flashback.
First of all, the comment was irrelevant, because the story is NOT about a man, but rather a boy - and in fact an incredibly courageous boy who is in the very tiny minority of abused children who has gone pulbic with his abuse and is taking on the legal system of an entire country. Secondly, the comment was false. Male rape is more underreported than female rape, largely because victims believe that they will be blamed and that the attackers will go unpunished. Thirdly it is offensive, because it implies that this is not news and should not be reported, which denies the enourmous courage of the child victim.
What about the 11 year old iraqi girl that was gang raped, murdered, and then burned by american troops? Why is it ok if americans commit atrocities. Why don't you call those americans savages? Do you think that the US should be nuked because of this? F*cking hypocrites!
There are no (gay) child molesters, rapists, abusers, in the US? Oh and if there are, what percentage is muslim?
Phelix, whats the difference between forced homosexuality and male rape?
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