Muslim Man Who Raped Muslim Woman as "Punishment" for Reading the Bible Sentenced to Five Years

In Australia, a Muslim man who raped a Muslim woman as "punishment" for reading the Bible has been sentenced to five years. This sexual attack follows in the wake of others in Australia by mostly immigrant Islamic men against Western women for religious or ethnic reasons. With many cases or rape, particularly gang rape, in Australia, France, Sweden, and Norway, some cite this as a growing epedimic that the media has left for the most part unreported.

Abdul Reda Al-Shawany , age 52, raped the unidentified Muslim woman as "punishment" for her reading the Bible. The Campbelltown District Court in Sydney heard how Abdula Reda Al Shawany sexually assaulted the woman, who was a practicing Muslim herself, and then said to her, "Let your Jesus help you."

The AAP reports that as was sentenced, the Downing Centre District Court heard a harrowing statement from the victim, revealing that her shame and fear had been compounded by her cultural background. The woman, who cannot be named, arrived in Australia as a refugee from Iraq. But she said that even when she was jailed by dictator Saddam Hussein, she never feared for her life the way she did after the rape. "It is better if I'm dead," she told the court.

The Daily Telegraph reports that when the woman came to Australia from the Middle East she began listening to Christian teachers and reading the Bible. The woman - who wears the Muslim hijab - had received threats from members of her faith for reading the Bible but had not converted to Christianity. Al Shawany lured her to a Warwick Farm railway station in September 2002 after he told her he had some mail for her from overseas.

Per the AAP, the court was told that Al-Shawany' visited the woman, an acquaintance, at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre with another man. The woman had been reading the Bible and Al-Shawany noted her contact with Christians. The men told her they were "infidel people" and if she went with them, her killing "would be halal" - meaning her killer would go to heaven.

The woman, who has since converted to Christianity, initially did not report the rape to the police because she "was ashamed". She said she was afraid she would be killed, either in retribution by Al-Shawany's family or in an "honour killing". But after some time, she turned over the clothing she'd worn the day of the rape, which she'd kept in a sealed plastic bag for three years. The DNA from the semen sample taken from the woman's clothing matched samples from Al-Shawany.

This is not the first case of Islamic men raping women for ethnic or religious reasons in Australia. Such cases are also reported in France, Norway, Sweden and other Western nations. What many of these cases have in common is that many of the perpetrators told law enforcement they were motivated by ethnic and religious reasons to commit their crimes.

FrontPage Magazine reports that when a number of teenage Australian girls were subjected to hours of sexual degradation during a spate of gang rapes in Sydney that occurred between 1998 and 2002, the perpetrators of these assaults framed their rationale in ethnic terms. The young victims were informed that they were "sluts" and "Aussie pigs" while they were being hunted down and abused. Time Magazine has reported on this problem in France in an article entitled Sisters in Hell. In 2006, the IRIS Blog covered what it called the Pan-European Arab Muslim Gang Rape Epidemic. The blogger Fjordman reported in 2005 on the Muslim Rape Epidemic in Sweden and Norway-Authorities Look the Other Way.

The AAP reports that Al-Shawany, a father of four, maintains his innocence.

Judge Knox found the offender believed the sexual assault was justified because the woman was considered an "infidel" for reading the Bible and associating with Christians.

"What he did was an attempt to enforce his religious or cultural views on his former countrywoman," Judge Knox said.

"Such behaviour is completely intolerable and totally unacceptable in this community."

He sentenced Al-Shawany to a maximum seven-and-a-half years in jail.

The 52-year-old must serve at least five years, making him eligible for parole in 2012.

Sources:

Man jailed over 'Bible' rape, AAP, June 15, 2007, http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21911631-2,00.html (muslim, gang rape, islam, rape, muslim woman rape, woman, Islamic woman rape, islam and rape, muslim rape epedimic, muslim gang rape)

Raped 'for reading Holy Bible', The Daily Telegraph, April 17, 2007,
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21567726-2,00.html (muslim, gang rape, islam, rape, muslim woman rape, woman, Islamic woman rape, islam and rape, muslim rape epedimic, muslim gang rape)

Western Muslims' Racist Rape Spree, Front Page Magazine, December 27, 2005, http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20646 (muslim, gang rape, islam, rape, muslim woman rape, woman, Islamic woman rape, islam and rape, muslim rape epedimic, muslim gang rape)

Sisters in Hell, Time Magazine, December 2, 2002, http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2002/1202/crime/bellil.htm (muslim, gang rape, islam, rape, muslim woman rape, woman, Islamic woman rape, islam and rape, muslim rape epedimic, muslim gang rape)

Pan-European Arab Muslim Gang Rape Epidemic, IRIS Blog, May 19, 2006, http://www.iris.org.il/blog/archives/757-Pan-European-Arab-Muslim-Gang-Rape-Epidemic.html (muslim, gang rape, islam, rape, muslim woman rape, woman, Islamic woman rape, islam and rape, muslim rape epedimic, muslim gang rape)

Muslim Rape Epidemic in Sweden and Norway - Authorities Look the Other Way, fjordman.blogspot.com, February 2005,
http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/02/muslim-rape-epidemic-in-sweden-and.html (muslim, gang rape, islam, rape, muslim woman rape, woman, Islamic woman rape, islam and rape, muslim rape epedimic, muslim gang rape)