In a world where tugging on a Muslim woman's headscarf becomes a major news story, there is an undeniable and unforgivable double-standard displayed by the media in how they report religiously motivated crimes committed against Muslims and non-Muslims.
Here we have a UK Muslim gang jailed for kidnapping and raping two girls, but notice how several news outlets completely purge any mention of their religion and their own admission that the kidnapping and rape of these children were part of their Eid celebrations, leaving the false impression that it was an "Asian" gang with no religious motivations.
One news outlet that does give us the full details is the Daily Mail (also known as the "Daily Hate" to those who are fond of beheading the messenger). IANS also reports on the religious motivation.
What follows are the reports by the Daily Mail and IANS, then the purged reports by the Shropshire Star, Birmingham Mail, and the West Midlands Police (who say that they are "Serving our communities, protecting them from harm", but fail to mention that this is all secondary to protecting the image of Islam).
From the Mail Online:
Muslim gang jailed for kidnapping and raping two girls as part of their Eid celebrations
A group of Muslim men who abducted and raped two teenage girls as part of their Eid celebrations laughed in court yesterday as they were jailed for a total of 38 years.
The girls, aged 15 and 16, were lured miles from their home to a dingy hostel.
In a horrifying weekend-long ordeal, they were plied with alcohol and repeatedly raped by two men, Shamrez Rashid and Amar Hussain, before being offered to a number of others who also ‘used them for sex’.
The 16-year old was forced to have sex six times with four different men.
The younger victim was raped by one man and then sexually assaulted by another.
One defendant, Rashid, 20, was said to have claimed the girls had enjoyed the sex, which he said had taken place as they celebrated the Muslim festival of Eid.
‘It was Eid,’ he said. ‘We treated them as our guests. OK, so they gave us [sex] but we were buying them food and drink.
‘They could have anything they wanted. They enjoyed it.’
His accomplice Amar Hussain, 22, claimed the girls were ‘slags’.
But Judge Melbourne Inman QC said the girls had still been children at the time of the offences.
He said it was quite obvious they had been frightened of the men, but this had had ‘no effect at all’ on their attackers’ behaviour.
‘They were still children and still living with their families,’ Judge Inman said. ‘In a civilised society, such people should be helped. You all abused them.
‘They were extremely vulnerable and you took advantage of that.’
The five defendants laughed and smirked as the horrifying details of their offences were described in court yesterday.
Rashid – who had already been found guilty of two rapes, an attempted rape, child abduction and an attempted sexual assault – grinned, laughed and made gun gestures in the dock.
His supporters in the public gallery hurled abuse at the judge as he passed sentence later.
The court heard how Rashid and Hussain drove the girls from their home in Telford in Shropshire to a Birmingham probation hostel on the evening of Saturday November 28 2009.
They took them to an unfamiliar environment so they ‘would be disorientated and reliant on them,’ prosecutors said.
After raping the girls, they ‘in effect offered them up to their friends, introducing a string of young men into the house’.
Over the following 36 hours, the girls were subjected to almost constant abuse, despite begging their attackers to stop.
The 16-year-old was left with bruising all over her face and neck after she was forced to perform a sex act on Hussain.
She was then forced to have sex with Rashid and a third man, Adil Saleem, while others watched.
The court heard how she held on to a doorframe to try to stop her attacker dragging her into a bedroom, but was pushed inside and the door locked behind her.
She was warned that her attackers were in a gang known as the B9 Crew, and that ‘when someone pressed charges against them, they went to their mother’s house, put a gun to her face and broke her jaw’.
The girls eventually ran from the hostel and called the emergency services from a payphone.
The trial at Birmingham Crown Court was the latest of several cases in which groups of men have been accused of sexually exploiting vulnerable girls.
Hussain was found guilty of child abduction and three rapes and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Rashid received ten years for child abduction, two rapes, an attempted rape and attempted sexual assault.
Adil Saleem, 20, was given eight years for one count of rape. Jahbar Rafiq, 28, was handed eight years for rape and sexual assault and Amer Islam Choudhrey, 20, was given 15 months for child abduction and sexual assault.
From IANS:
Gang in Britain jailed for rape as Eid celebrations
London: A group of Muslim men in Britain was jailed for a total of 38 years after they abducted and raped two teenage girls as part of their Eid celebrations.
In a horrifying weekend-long ordeal, the girls, then aged 15 and 16, were plied with alcohol and repeatedly raped by two men, Shamrez Rashid and Amar Hussain, before being offered to a number of others who also "used them for sex".
The court heard how Rashid and Hussain drove the girls from their home in Telford in Shropshire to a Birmingham probation hostel on the evening of Saturday, November 28, 2009.
The 16-year old was forced to have sex six times with four different men. The younger victim was raped by one man and then sexually assaulted by another, Daily Mail reported Saturday.
One defendant, Rashid, 20, was said to have claimed the girls had enjoyed the sex, which he said had taken place as they celebrated the Muslim festival of Eid.
Judge Melbourne Inman QC said the girls had still been children at the time of the offences. The five defendants laughed and smirked as the horrifying details of their offences were described in court Friday.
From the Shropshire Star:
Gang behind bars for rape attack on Shropshire girls
Five men involved in raping and sexually assaulting two Shropshire teenagers have been jailed for more than 38 years.
The two Telford victims, aged 15 and 16, were abducted and lured to a dingy Birmingham flat where ringleaders Amar Hussain and Shamrez Rashid repeatedly attacked them, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Both girls were victims of a series of sex attacks after being plied with alcohol during the 36-hour ordeal in November 2009.
Yesterday, at the end of a four-week trial, Rashid, 20, was given 11 years in a Young Offenders Institution for rape and four concurrent sentences for another rape, abduction of a child, attempted rape and an attempted sexual assault.
Hussain, 21, was jailed for 10 years for three rape offences, involving both victims, and a concurrent sentence for the abduction of a child.
The court was told that after attacking the girls, Rashid and Hussain ‘in effect offered them up to their friends’.
Rashid grinned and laughed in the dock during the hearing and his supporters hurled abuse at the judge as he passed sentence.
Jahbar Rafiq, 28, received eight years for rape and sexual assault and Adil Saleem, 21, was also jailed for eight years for rape.
Amer Choudhrey, 20, was given 15 months at a Young Offenders Institution for the abduction of a child and one offence of sexual assault.
Judge Melbourne Inman QC said the defendants had all abused the girls.
He told Hussain and Rashid they had played a leading role in the abuse.
“You brought the girls all the way from Telford because you knew you could abuse them and they would consent to anything with anyone and you said they were ‘slags’.
“They were extremely vulnerable and you took advantage of them and told others the girls were available,” he said.
The five men, all from the Birmingham area, denied all the charges.
On the direction of the judge, the jury cleared Hussain on one count of sexual assault, and Rafiq and Saleem of abduction.
From the Birmingham Mail:
Five men jailed for sex attacks on two teenage girls in Birmingham
FIVE men have been jailed for a total of 38 years after they lured two teenage girls to Birmingham and held them captive whilst subjecting them to a string of sex attacks.
Over the course of two days the girls, aged 15 and 16, were used for the sexual gratification of their two abductors and a steady stream of men who visited them in a house and hotel, Birmingham Crown Court heard yesterday.
Their ordeal ended when they escaped into the street – one of the girls wearing no shoes – and rang police from a payphone.
Shamrez Rashid, 20, fromBordesley Green, was jailed for11 years after he was convicted of child abduction, two rapes, attempted rape and attemptedsexual assault.
Amar Hussain, 22, from Balsall Heath, was sentenced to ten years after he was found guilty of child abduction, three rapes and attempted sexual assault.
Jahbar Rafiq, 28, from Aston, was found guilty of rape and sexual assault and was jailed for eight years.
Adil Saleem, 20, from Yardley, was found guilty of rape and sentenced to eight years.
Amer Islam Choudhrey, 20, from Selly Park, was convicted of child abduction and sexual assault and received a jail term of 15 months.
The court was told how the offences happened in November 2009 when the victims were lured to Birmingham from their Telford homes.
Over the next 36 hours they were used for the sexual gratification of Rashid and Hussain, and then a steady stream of young men – first in a cramped flat in Highgate Street and then a nearby hotel.
The jury was told how the two men took advantage of the girls’ ignorance of their surroundings and their lack of resources to effectively detain them.
A 20-year-old man also standing trial was found not guilty of sexual assault.
Det Insp Caroline Marsh from West Midlands Police said: “The girls have shown great courage throughout the trial which has obviously been a very difficult experience for them, particularly being cross examined at length by so many barristers.”
From the West Midlands Police:
Five men sentenced to total of 38 years for child sexual exploitation offences
Five men have today (Friday) been sentenced to a total of over 38 years after subjecting two teenage girls to a harrowing two day ordeal in a house and hotel in Birmingham.
The men were found guilty on 14 March at Birmingham Crown Court of offences linked to child sexual exploitation after the two girls had been brought into Birmingham from Telford and held over a period of nearly two days in a house and hotel in November 2009.
The girls, aged 15 and 16 at the time, were lured to Birmingham from their Telford homes and over the next 36 hours were used for the sexual gratification by Shamrez Rashid, aged 20, and Amar Hussain, aged 22, and then by a steady stream of young men – first in a cramped flat in Highgate Street and then in a nearby hotel.
Rashid and Hussain took advantage of the girls' ignorance of their surroundings and their lack of resources to effectively detain them. They eventually escaped from the hotel with one of the girls wearing no shoes; they found a payphone and called police.
Shamrez Rashid, from Bordesley Green, was found guilty of child abduction, two rapes, attempted rape and attempted sexual assault. Sentenced to 11 years.
Amar Hussain, from Balsall Heath, was found guilty of child abduction, three rapes and attempt sexual assault. Sentenced to ten years.
Jahbar Rafiq, aged 28 from Aston, was found guilty of rape and sexual assault. Sentenced to eight years.
Adil Saleem, aged 20 from Yardley, was found guilty of rape. Sentenced to eight years.
Amer Islam Choudhrey, aged 20 from Selly Park, was found guilty of child abduction and sexual assault. Sentenced to 15 months.
A 20-year-old man also standing trial was found not guilty of sexual assault.
One of the victims, who cannot be identified, spoke briefly on the affect the ordeal has had on her: "I find it very hard to describe the affect of what happened has had on me… no-one could ever understand how I felt at the time and the shame afterwards.
"It is something that I had learned to cope with myself and deal with alone."
Detective Inspector Caroline Marsh, from the public protection unit, said: "This has been a protracted and complex investigation since it began in 2009.
"Clearly, dealing with victims who have been subjected to such a horrific and prolonged series of attacks has been extremely difficult. We have supported them every step of the way and hope today helps to bring some sort of closure to them and their families.
"The girls have shown great courage throughout the trial which has obviously been a very difficult experience for them particularly being cross examined at length by so many barristers.
"Their evidence has been crucial to ensuring that this can never happen to another young girl in the future."
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