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In Palestine, Hamas, which won the election, has been brutalising its rival Fatah while blaming the Israelis for their misfortune. During recent fighting for Gaza, Hamas was accused by Human Rights Watch of “violations international humanitarian law, in some cases amounting to war crimes.” According to Human Rights Watch: “Hamas military forces captured 28-year-old Muhammad Swairki, a cook for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential guards, and executed him by throwing him to his death, with his hands and legs tied, from a 15-story aparment building in the Gaza City.”
The unspeakable brutality of Hamas toward fellow Palestinians stands in stark contrast with the moderation it has shown to kidnapped BBC journalist Allan Johnston by arranging his release. Why Hamas showed no mercy to Muhammad Swairki, a poor Palestinian cook? The answer may be that Hamas has no sympathy with a fellow Palestinian who doesn’t share its vision.
In Iran, the ruling Shiite mullahs are regularly slaughtering fellow Iranians who don’t share their vision of Shia Islam. Iranian writer Azar Nafisi tells us about the brutality of Shiite mullahs in her book Reading Lolita in Tehran. Her story of Iran is a struggle for survival in a country where Shia mullahs regularly “hang people in the streets,” – a country where educated women are viewed as enemies of the state. If Benazir were an Iranian leader, she would have met the same fate in the hands on extremist Muslims.
Mahmood Elahi is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.
The unspeakable brutality of Hamas toward fellow Palestinians stands in stark contrast with the moderation it has shown to kidnapped BBC journalist Allan Johnston by arranging his release. Why Hamas showed no mercy to Muhammad Swairki, a poor Palestinian cook? The answer may be that Hamas has no sympathy with a fellow Palestinian who doesn’t share its vision.
In Iran, the ruling Shiite mullahs are regularly slaughtering fellow Iranians who don’t share their vision of Shia Islam. Iranian writer Azar Nafisi tells us about the brutality of Shiite mullahs in her book Reading Lolita in Tehran. Her story of Iran is a struggle for survival in a country where Shia mullahs regularly “hang people in the streets,” – a country where educated women are viewed as enemies of the state. If Benazir were an Iranian leader, she would have met the same fate in the hands on extremist Muslims.
Mahmood Elahi is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.