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Show Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 Page 2 World&Nation Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com ClarifyCorrect The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at statesmaneditor@aggiemail.usu.edu Correction A caption in Wednesday’s edition of The Utah Statesman stated. Willy Block was in the photo that appeared on Page 5. This was incorrect. The man in the photo is Blake Beyers. Celebs&People LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s arms were covered with punctures, his face and neck were scarred and he had tattooed eyebrows and lips, but he wasn’t the sickly skeleton of a man portrayed by tabloids, according JACKSON to his autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press. The coroner’s report shows Jackson was a fairly healthy 50year-old before he died. NewsBriefs Doctors warn Herbert SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Medical Association says a proposed agreement to divide water from the Snake Valley aquifer with Nevada could expose the public to carcinogens, radiation and valley fever. In a letter sent this week to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, the association criticizes the proposal for a lack of data on potential air-quality damage and a failure to consider long-term health risks to those who live downwind. Herbert also wants an agreement, but not necessarily the draft as currently worded. LateNiteHumor David Letterman, Sept. 29, 2009 – Top 10 Sarah Palin Tips For Writing A Book. 10. Close curtains so you don’t get distracted by Russia. 9. Increase vocabulary – use words like “slanket.” 8. First buy yourself 100-grand worth of writing outfits. 7. Don’t write a word until the check clears. 6. Limit yourself to one “you betcha” per chapter. 5. You can never have enough stories about ice fishing or killing things with your bare hands. 4. When in doubt, just type (wink). 3. Don’t let writing cut into attending “Fire Letterman” rallies. 2. Have a book translated for sale to European countries like London. 1. “I’ll try to find ya some tips and I’ll bring ‘em to ya!” Afghan legislation improves women’s rights KABUL (AP) — The young Afghan woman got her first inkling of a life beyond her abusive husband when friends mentioned a government ministry dedicated to defending women. Then she saw a TV show about women’s rights. Finally, after four years of marriage, she grabbed some car fare and fled. Arazo, 19, says she knew from the beginning that the beatings weren’t right but it took years for her to realize she could leave. She decided she had to rescue herself, even though it meant leaving her 2-year-old son behind because Afghan law gives custody to the father. Now, Afghanistan is poised to enact legislation that would allow her to prosecute her husband for abuse. Courts hold little sway in Afghanistan, but activists call the law a necessary step in the slow struggle for real rights for women here. The Elimination of Violence Against Women Act comes on the heels of a marriage law for the minority Shiite Muslim community that sparked an international uproar in March because of wording that appeared to legalize marital rape. The government changed the Shiite law to remove the most controversial phrases, but the revised version now in effect still allows a husband to withhold financial support from his wife if she refuses to FROM LEFT ARAZO, 19, Tabasum, 20, and Shamayal, 25, who fled from abusive family members, stand for a picture in Kabul on Tuesday. AP photo have sex with him and limits women’s ability to leave the home. The debate over the Shiite law soured Afghanistan’s reputation abroad just as the country headed into an August presidential election, and it appears to have propelled the latest legislation to the president’s desk. Sunni Muslims make up about 80 percent of the population, with Shiites comprising at least 15 percent. Arazo, a Sunni, says she will not press charges against her husband because local police would be unlikely to hold him long even if they arrested him. Speaking at a private aid office in Kabul, she gave only her first name and refused to say where she is from for fear that her husband might track her down. But she said the legislation could give more women courage to stand up for themselves if it spreads the idea of women’s rights into the countryside. “I learned as a child that a husband is like a second God, that I should obey whatever he says,” she explained. An orphan at 11, she was forced to marry a cousin by an uncle even though they did not like each other. The marriage was unhappy from the beginning, and then her husband started hitting her. Sometimes he would slam her head against the wall, she said. Now that she has left, she can never return home, because she is sure he or his relatives would either force her back into his house or kill her. The new legislation to protect women comes nearly eight years after the fall of the Taliban regime, which made women virtual prisoners in their homes. The measure, which was first proposed in 2004 and signed this summer by President Hamid Karzai while Parliament was in recess, outlaws spousal abuse along with acts like the bartering of female relatives and child marriages. “There was lots of resistance,” said Shinkai Karokhail, a female lawmaker from Kabul who was involved in the early drafting. Conservative religious leaders didn’t want anyone jailed for domestic violence, saying they should instead be asked to leave home temporarily. Parliament is expected to approve the legislation but the bill has already been watered down. University professors, lawyers, police officials and even some members of the human rights commission – in a nod to social limitations – asked for changes that made punishments less severe, Karokhail said. “They squeezed the bill, they reduced the articles, they eliminated so many parts,” she said. In particular, she said it does not draw a clear enough line between rape and adultery. Many Afghan rape victims end up jailed for having sex outside of marriage. Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, welcomed the legislation even though she said changing traditional practices and reducing abuse will likely take years. Smart takes the stand, describes kidnapping ordeal SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Taking the stand for the She said Mitchell showed her pornography and plied first time since she was snatched from her girlhood her with alcohol and drugs to lower her resistance to bedroom seven years ago, Elizabeth Smart testified his sexual advances. Once, Smart said, she tried to Thursday that her captor raped her three or four times fight Mitchell off by biting him. a day, kept her tied up with a cable around her leg, and On the stand for nearly two hours, Smart was threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. poised, her voice never wavering. She did not come Asked by a prosecutor to describe Brian David face-to-face with her alleged tormenter. Mitchell was Mitchell, the self-described prophet removed from the courtroom for accused of holding her captive for disruptive behavior – singing nine months, Smart replied: “Evil, hymns – before Smart arrived, and wicked, manipulative, stinky, slimy, watched the proceedings from a greedy, selfish, not spiritual, not holding cell. religious, not close to God.” A federal judge ruled Smart, now a 21-year-old colearlier this week that Smart’s testilege student, gave her horrifying mony is relevant to the question of account in federal court as part of a Mitchell’s competency. Mitchell’s proceeding over whether Mitchell competency hearing is not set to is mentally competent to stand begin until Nov. 30, but Smart testrial. tified early because she is going on The 55-year-old one-time street a religious mission for the Mormon preacher has been behind bars church in Paris. since 2003 – mostly in a state menSmart was 14 when she tal hospital – but has yet to stand was abducted from her bedroom trial. Twice he has been ruled menin the middle of the night. In a tally incompetent in state court, surprising turn that transfixed the and he has often demonstrated country, she was rescued in March bizarre behavior, including inces2003 after a motorist spotted her santly singing hymns in the courtwalking the streets of a Salt Lake room and once yelling at a judge to ELIZABETH SMART AP photo City suburb with Mitchell and his repent. wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee. Smart testified that within hours of her 2002 kidSmart testified that in the days immediately follownapping at knifepoint, she was led away to a secluded ing the kidnapping, Mitchell held her captive with the mountain campsite and in a quickie ceremony became help of a 10-foot cable bolted to her leg and tethered to the polygamous “wife” of the older man. a line stretched between two trees. She said Mitchell “After that he proceeded to rape me,” Smart said, shar- threatened to kill her if she yelled or tried to get away. ing for the first time publicly her account of the ordeal. Smart said Mitchell would rape her three to four times a day. There was some respite – usually when Barzee became upset over Mitchell’s relationship with Smart – but it never lasted, Smart said. Mitchell is charged in state court with kidnapping and sexual assault. Last year, he was indicted on federal charges of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines. In both the state and federal cases, experts have split over Mitchell’s competency. Mitchell’s lawyers maintain he is incompetent and suggested that evidence of his delusions can be found in his religious rambling and writings, including a 27-page manifesto he called “The Book of Emmanuel David Isaiah.” Smart said he read from the book repeatedly during her captivity, often sang hymns and laced his conversations with religious language. Throughout her captivity, Smart was forced to wear a white, ankle-length robe, a head scarf and two veils across her face. “He told me he was a prophet,” Smart said under cross-examination by Mitchell’s lawyer. “He said he was the voice of God on Earth and that he would reign over God’s children until Jesus came.” But she also said his religious revelations seemed to come only when he wanted something, or when he was trying to calm Barzee. Smart said she believed Mitchell always knew that he could be punished for her kidnapping and understood how the court system worked. She said he gave her an alias – Augustine Marshall – and told her what to say to police if they were ever questioned. He also bragged about skirting previous accusations of sexual abuse and fooling others, Smart said. Never in nine months did Mitchell appear confused or out of control, Smart testified: “He was a very capable, intelligent human being.” |