TWO men have appeared in court after the suspected lover of a married Muslim woman in east London had acid thrown in his face and was stabbed twice in the back in a possible “honour attack”.
The woman was warned that her own “well-being may be in danger”, a source at Scotland Yard told The Times.
Acid attacks on men in Muslim societies are rare; victims of this despicable crime are overwhelmingly females, like this woman who was blinded and disfigured while back in Iran
Detectives were told that the man and woman were not in a sexual relationship but were just friends. But their relationship is said to have upset her family.
The 24-year-old Asian victim, believed to be from Denmark, is in a critical but stable condition in a specialist burns unit in Essex. He has lost part of his tongue, been left blind in one eye and has 50 per cent burns and fractures to his face after being attacked in Leytonstone, east London, on July 2.
The two accused, aged 19 and 25, come from east London and are charged with attempted murder. Neither can be named for legal reasons. They were remanded in custody after appearing at Waltham Forest Magistrates’ Court this week. They will appear at the Old Bailey on September 30.
Both men are said to be related to the woman. One is understood to be her brother.
The man was allegedly attacked at 2 am by a gang wearing masks and gloves. Five other men have been arrested and bailed pending further inquiries by police. A 16-year-old youth was rearrested and is being held at an East London police station.
At the time of the attack, a police source said:
It looks like this gang set out deliberately to target this man. They were dressed in masks and gloves so none of the acid would get on them.
Police searched the house in Walthamstow of one of the defendants
Nighat Darr, a project co-ordinator for the Kiran Project, a refuge for Asian women fleeing forced marriages and domestic violence based in Leyton, said that the Forced Marriage Act had been effective in dealing with so-called “honour attacks”. She added:
But we do come across some cases involving horrendous violence. We’ve women who’ve had their nails ripped out by pliers. Another woman was fed dog food. It can be triggered by anything from not willing to be forced into marriage to being caught looking out of a window.
The organisation was founded in 1990 and helps about 25-30 women, mostly with children, every year. Their clients are mostly in their twenties and thirties.
The Safis pictured at their wedding in Afganistan
Meanwhile, we have learned from The Cobourg Atheist that police in Kingston, Ontario, have arrested and charged three people with the murder of four Montreal women found in a car submerged under three metres of water in the Rideau canal near Kingston on June 30.
The victims of a suspected “honour’” killing were three sisters – Zainab Shafi, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13 – and a 50-year-old woman, Rona Amir Mohammed.
Those arrested were the father of the dead girls, Mohammed Shafi, originally from Afghanistan, his wife, Tooba Mohammed Yhaya, and their son (not named). Shafi was married to Rona 30 years ago, but separated and remarried.
Information that probably led to the arrests came from Diba Masoomi, Rona’s sister who lives in France. She said:
Rona, as well as the oldest daughter, Zainab, had been receiving death threats for social, cultural and family reasons.
Hat tip: John Draper and Daniel Maddock
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
July 24th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
The photograph of this poor man should be on the front page of every newspaper with the caption: "Islamic stupidity claims another victim"
July 24th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
shocking isn't it – it is thoroughly evil their twisted morality and sense of honour. Utterly sickening.
I want to know who it is selling them all this acid – they are always chucking acid on women, the despicable bastards. I wouldn't know where to get acid from.
Religion of pricks – for sure – certainly not peace.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
The attackers must each serve a bare minimum of 12 years in prison. Monsterous beyond words – and one of the accused is a teenager!
July 24th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
This is truly horrific. But I wonder if the Western cretins who laud the values of Islam even notice this kind of thing? I suppose they have their built-in Orwellian reality filter. Facts that contradict their cherished fantasies about non-Western cultures simply don't register.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I'm speechless, the moment I read this I felt sick…nauseated; by the idea of religion controlling everyone's mind and action… Specifically Islam; which seems to want respect and control our society and us.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Ah, yes – The Religion of Peace again! There's some truly eye-opening stuff in this connection on the site http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/ One article of particular interest quotes Sheikh Suhaib Harsan, who is Sec. of the Islamic Sharia Council and President of the East London Sharia Court (bet not many people even know of its existence!), who says that "amputations would make Britain a safer place." Of course, the all-wise, all-knowing, merciful and compassionate Allah has had the amazing foresight to give surgeons the ability to rejoin severed limbs in the case of errors, otherwise such punishments would be quite unthinkable!!
July 24th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Make sure you get the right site there – religionofpeace is a rugbutters' site, but is quite interesting for the garbage it spews forth. The one telling the truth is thereligionofpeace!!
July 24th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I wanted to buy some quite dilute hydrochloric acid for analytical use. Despite being a qualified chemist and having used much stronger chemicals all my working life, I was refused it by a laboratory supplier in case I wanted to use it for terrorism. Yet I could order the concentrated form from a pharmacy. Not to mention 35 Litre lots of concentrated available on eBay for cleaning patios!
Round about the same time, a roofer working on our house had an open plastic bucket* of extremely flammable acetone. No doubt the local garage also had a carboy of sulphuric acid – if there are still batteries which can be topped up, that is.
Small quantities of conc. nitric acid, from Lithuania, are available on eBay too.
In a similar vein, quite a few years ago I was refused powdered ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in Boots as too dangerous, while tubes of gel containing hydrofluoric acid (the worst of all) for laundry use were on shelves at pushchair level.
It ain't what you want, it's what you (allegedly) want it for.
July 25th, 2009 at 8:49 am
good grief!
July 25th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Totally agree! There are so many examples of islamic barbarity which should be plastered all over the news in the west but it's not. This is a crime in itself. Everyone should be hearing all about the religion of peace and what it's followers get up to every day. That way we'd be rid of it in no time as no one would accept the presence of islam in the civilised world. But no. We're not allowed to mention this barbarity in case we offend. Even though everything about this evil death cult is offensive to humanity.
Godless not gormless
July 26th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Sickening stories. These people were allowed to settle in more enlightened countries to escape their repressive regimes and then abuse the hospitality and break the laws of their chosen new countries as they see fit. Such people should be sent back to where they came from. Why should we care how they are treated there.
August 26th, 2009 at 5:10 am
What the hell are you people talking about? You're talking and hating as if this kind of thing happens everyday. Although, I am not a muslim, I have lived in Syria and UAE and you can not possibly compare the amount of crime in USA or even Canada to most Arabian countries. You could leave your car running overnight in UAE, which has happened to my dad, and no one would steal it. It's true that it's sickening to hear this kind of news, but don't act as if this doesn't also happen in the "civilized countries". How many crimes happen because of reasons stupider than this? Not to mention domestic violence… Also, people seem to have the idea that in Arabian countries, there are no women walking in the streets. And if they are, they're fully covered from head to toe. Not even close to true (except in Saudi Arabia. They do have many messed up laws, but no other Arab country is comparable to Saudi Arabia)… People are normal there. They can drink, teenagers go out on dates, blah blah blah…. I am not saying people are as free as western countries, but they are not nearly as oppressed as people think they are. This is not surprising as I rarely see anything good about Arabs in movies or on TV. I wouldn't be one little bit surprised if people think Arabs live in mud houses and carry around swords. Also, corrupt governments are found in all Arabian countries and represent almost none of the people's views…
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS, PLEASE OH PLEASE, don't hate a group of people because of what you see on TV and all that. Just because Osama Bin Laden is Arab does not mean that every single Arab thinks like him. YOU ARE STEREOTYPING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL. IT SADENS ME HOW MUCH HATE I SEE…………
August 27th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Islam… the religion of peace…