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Because you're not allowed to rape sluts either

2011-05-28

Slutwalk: for the free woman in all of us By CATHERINE DEVENY I’ll be at Slutwalk with my three sons aged eight, nine and 13. They’ll be wearing tee shirts that read ‘YOU‘RE NOT ALLOWED TO RAPE SLUTS EITHER’. Sure, I could go vintage with ‘FAT CHICKS SHIT ME’, rocking the retro with ‘ALL YOU VIRGINS THANKS FOR NOTHING’ or getting my postmodern on with ‘NO ROOT NO RIDE’ but they just don’t cut it. ‘You’re not allowed to rape sluts either’ is the message we need to get across. The medieval caveat on slut rape has expired. Sluts are people too, I don’t know much about sluts but I know what I like, I’m a slut and I vote and so forth. Just quietly I’m rapt with the slogan. It’s not mine. It was my boyfriend Anthony’s response when I asked if he was coming to Slutwalk. “Sure. Cause you’re not allowed to rape sluts either”. “What’s in it for me?” he asked. “A shag,” I said, “And an opportunity to meet heaps of sluts.” “Cool. I’ll bring Mum. She loves sluts.” “Didn’t she used to be one?” “I think she still is.” “Ah bless her. Tell her we’ll pick her up at noon. And to wear something slutty.” LOL LOL Anthony’s father’s only advice to him about women was “all women are molls”. He grew up watching his father abuse, diminish, degrade and undermine women he loved. Many other beautiful men in my circle may not have been fathered by such plain-speaking and non-apologetic misogynists but grew up surrounded by strong subliminal messages from men they were expected to look up to, relentless one-dimensional images in the media of sexual objectification of women and the constant representation of females as trophies, slaves, bitches or service providers. The subterfuge made it more confusing. It would have been clearer if they just came out and said it. But that’s the point? “She wouldn’t sleep with you so now you’re calling her a slut. What?” Despite what you may have been lead to believe misogyny is not genetic, inherited and nor is it a default setting. Slut shaming may be a comfort or convenient excuse for some but it diminishes all men by inferring that none of them have any ability, responsibility or desire to control their sexual urges. Where is it written that it’s the job of women to be The Gatekeepers Of Sexuality? And who says no man has ever considered any woman ever as anything other than a F--k Thing (calm down, someone used that term on QandA on Monday so it’s okay. She was doctor). What crap. As a mother of boys, a lover of men and just a plain old human being this idea men have no honour, decency, basic courtesy, no ability for restraint and no sense of judgment I find deeply offensive and profoundly troubling. Indeedly, I also. And I can’t help wondering who has a vested interest in propagating this myth. And why. Because someone has. Only a very small percentage of men are creeps. (Noted there is a disproportionate amount of them in the NRL, AFL and the Catholic Church unfair not to mention Islam at this point I think... but at least Hilaly reference to follow.) Perhaps the propagation of this myth is to excuse the behaviour of a few, to lower the standards for all and set everyone’s expectations to Neanderthal. Anthony’s father was not a good man. But an inspiration. He was an effective anti-role model. In his teens Anthony, not surprisingly found no shortage of great men to teach him how to be a man. I say, not surprisingly, because most blokes are grouse. yay! You can easily get bogged down in arguments. About the meaning of the word slut, the use of the word, if a protest is a good idea, if this is the right kind of protest, if it’s as good as the Reclaim The Night rallies, if there are better ways to tackle the problem (insert duplicitous words like ‘inappropriate’, ‘provocative’ and ‘self- respect’ here). Don’t get bogged down. Just go. Someone once said to me (and I wish I could remember who because it’s brilliant) ‘Conservatives eat other people’s babies. Progressives eat their own’. Which is sadly often the case. The amount of nit picking, analysing, defining and tribalism the left can complicate things with as a by-product of ‘every kid gets a kick of the footy’ and ‘that’s the exception to prove the rule’ can rid all steam from an idea before it even begins. Organised fascism is far more effective at getting stuff done than fractious bickering egalitarianism. How long until the slut splinter groups emerge? Sluts Against Sluts, Sluts For Jesus, Feminists Sluts Collective, The United Coalition of Sluts, Scrags and Slags, Sluts Anonymous, Planking Sluts? The word slut is loaded and powerful. And it’s been made that way to control women. If you’re looking for an exhaustive and definitive unpacking of the word ‘slut’ you’ll have to wait for my up and coming book Sluts For Dummies. For now let’s stick with ‘You’re not allowed to rape sluts either’. This is the clearest, simplest and most accurate message we need to get across to everyone. Huzzah! It’s as simple as this. If you believe that no-one deserves to be raped or sexually abused come to or support Slutwalk. If you understand and would like others to understand that if a woman is labelled as a ‘slut’ (a term open to debate) by her behaviour or attire the moron majority consider it as a fair reason to blame her for being raped or sexually assaulted then come to or support Slutwalk. If you understand that debating if a victim of rape or sexual abuse’s clothes or activities were sluttish is futile and counterproductive and the only effective way forward is to dissolve, dismantle and distort the common use of the word slut in an attempt to lessen ‘being, dressing or acting like a slut’ as an excuse for rape or sexual abuse then please come to or support Slutwalk. Forget about the hair splitting and think of Slutwalk like when a kid comes back from having chemotherapy and the whole class has their head shaved. It’s like that. Brilliant! As far as the word being ‘offensive’ ‘inappropriate’ or ‘provocative’ according to who? Explain. Unpack. It’s a word with power used to control. And it’s just a word. Meanings and uses of words change. Use it frequently e.g. ‘Would anyone fancy a cup of slut?’ Only if it's a nice *hot* cup of slut! The word slut has an ability to generate an amount of heat that demonstrates how important it is to find where that heat comes from. What it says about us. What is actually behind the power and fear of the word slut? A terror of female sexuality? yes, i think so The fear of the power unleashed if we let women go about their day unchallenged and unmolested by their sexual choices? There are well-meaning moron apologists on the comment threads of Slutwalk articles saying, “I don’t agree with rape and sexual abuse. I think it’s wrong. I don’t like it and it’s not nice but it’s true. If a woman dresses inappropriately, she’s naïve not to realise she is putting herself at risk”. Clementine Ford has written an upcoming piece subtly pointing out how mainstream Australia is comfortable saying these things but for Sheik Al Hilay to talk about women being like uncovered meat left out for the cat and not being the cat’s fault for eating it but the meat for being uncovered well that’s outrageous. that would be a point but for the Islamic community sanctioning the rape of non-muslims evidenced by family members of leb gang rapist Bilal Skaf who turned up at his trial and spat at the victims. At least Westerners know its wrong. What’s with the ‘she was asking for it’? If someone driving a brand new BMW has their car stolen why do we never hear, ‘They were asking for it’? Or if someone with a multi-million dollar house get robbed? We’re never told ‘They were asking for it’. Or if someone is stabbed at an ATM? ‘Oh he was asking for it flaunting his money and withdrawing in a back street after dark.’ And yes I know you can’t find logic from something that has not come from logic but there seems to be no victim of rape or sexual assault whose circumstances, behaviour or attire cannot be found as ‘sluttish’ and therefore ‘asking for it’. The only one who wasn’t asking for it is the 85-year-old woman asleep in her bed raped by an intruder. But, between you and I, you should have seen her nightie The urge for women to ‘not dress like sluts’. Can someone explain how covering up has been sold as some guarantee of rape proofing a woman? It’s not. There is no less sexual abuse in societies where women are forced to cover up. It’s not like sunscreen. LOL LOL A mate of mine asked if I thought he should take his daughters aged five and eight to Slutwalk. Absolutely, I said. ‘The earlier the words are dissolved of power and the code is explained the better. This is education. Think history, religion and politics. Never too young.’ I told him I wished someone had taken me to Slutwalk when I was five. Instead I was bussed into anti-abortion rallies by the Catholic Church. He said, “See this worries me, ‘cause if you turned out the way you did from that, my kids will end up in church.” true... My 13-year-old is all “I know all of this. Why do I have to go?”. To set an example, to support, to perhaps find out something you didn’t know. We all find ourselves in situations and only afterward think of what we wished we’d done or said. Immersing ourselves in the subject equips us with the words and familiarises us with the situations before they happen which gives us the jump. I explained that he may be in a situation one day where he can speak out, set an example and keep someone safe. There’s a girl passed out, and a mate says, “She won’t know. Let’s have a go. You first”. He’s in a car full of young fellas trying to impress each other and they pull up next to a staggering 15-year-old girl they leer, jeer and call her a slut. When someone is photographed or videoed unaware in circumstances which are private and the image is about to be texted, Tweeted or Facebooked. He can say “No, not cool,’ and help them get home safe. Good point, good teaching point. I told my sons about a program I saw on sexual abuse education currently being used with footballers. Particularly the stunning difference in reaction when the players were shown a clip of a woman waking up next to a man she had had sex with the night before after a drunken night to the players reaction to a clip of a man waking up next to a man he had had sex with the night before after a drunken night. I explained to them the widely accepted but slowly changing double standard. pinpointed... you can almost hear them thinking... but she's a slut so it's OK. Incorrect, boyz My sons have a choice of tee-shirts. Between YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO RAPE SLUTS EITHER, MY MOTHER IS A SLUT or MY MUM TOOK ME TO SLUTWALK AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY TEE-SHIRT. And they can wear a jumper over the top. tremendous! The question should not be why I am taking my sons to Slutwalk. But perhaps, what is more illuminating is why others would question it. My boys and I will be wearing tee-shirts but you don’t have to. There is no Slutwalk dress code. Come as you are and come as who you are. Just come. And bring your kids. And if not, support people who are. Or come up with a better idea. Or do something. Not just boycott and criticise it because you don’t think it’s perfect way to prevent rape and sexual assault. Because when you don’t know what to do, do anything. Cause you’re not allowed to rape sluts either. Yes, ma'am, brilliant and persuasive argument with a few laughs thrown in for kicks, you have won me!! ** Catherine Deveny is a writer, comedian, social commentator and slut. Slutwalk: Sydney June 13

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No justice - rape victim's father

2007-05-20

THE father of one of the Sydney women raped seven years ago by Bilal Skaf's gang says rape victims should avoid court, and take matters into their own hands instead. The father, who cannot be named, said criminal justice in the state was so biased against victims of crime that rape victims should have nothing to do with it. "Do not go to court. Sort it out outside of the court, if you get my drift," he said. "Once you get to court, you will not get justice. It is a justice system in name only." This father's damning assessment was delivered after a man known as MG was acquitted of raping his daughter, who can be identified only as Miss C. While MG was acquitted of raping Miss C, he did not walk free. He is serving two 15-year sentences for his role in other rapes. Skaf and other members of his gang are already serving prison sentences for attacks on Miss C. Her father's advice to avoid the justice system prompted the NSW Rape Crisis Centre to call for urgent reforms to ensure people are not tempted to take the law into their own hands. "Violence solves nothing," said manager Karen Willis. "I empathise with this man's position. What his daughter has gone through for seven years would be appalling. It shows we still need more changes such as special sexual assault courts to ensure people do not take the law into their own hands." Miss C's father said his daughter had received "horrific" treatment by the courts and defence lawyers. "They subpoenaed her medical records and even said in court that she had an orgasm during one of the rapes. How in the hell would they know?" he said. "She now rarely goes out. She won't go out in crowds and when she does, she won't go out for very long. "She hates being outside, particularly when she sees Muslims. She is so anti-Islam it is unbelievable, and to be honest, so am I." The fact that the MG case dragged on for more than five years meant he no longer had any faith in the adversarial system of justice. "The prosecution are hindered in what they can do, whereas the defence can rip these girls apart," he said. "It took seven years and my daughter could not do it any more and she was one of the strongest of the lot." Miss C abandoned her involvement in the MG case because of delays and the removal of top prosecutor Margaret Cunneen. Her father said it was time to switch to a more inquisitorial system to stop defence lawyers dragging out cases. He also called for a better system of selecting judges. "They say the law is equal. Don't believe it," he said. During his daughter's ordeal in the court system, he had taken his concerns to the NSW Law Society and both sides of state politics. He said he had been "spoken down to" by the Law Society, ignored by then Attorney-General Bob Debus and told by the state Opposition that real reform would require constitutional change. He contacted The Australian after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal wrote to this newspaper last week about the MG case. Miss C's father said he rejected the court's statement that Ms Cunneen's removal had not triggered his daughter's decision to walk away from the case.

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Muslims have more right to Australia: sheik

2007-01-11

Sydney Muslim leader Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly has set off a new controversy, claiming Muslims have more right to be in Australia than the descendants of convicts. He's really asking for it, isn't he. On Arabic television, he said westerners were the world's biggest liars and accused the media of trying to bring him down. The sheik was invited to appear on Egyptian television to explain his sermon comparing women who show some skin, to uncovered pieces of meat that invite predators. At the time, Sheikh al Hilaly claimed his comments were taken out of context, but on Today in Cairo he defended the remarks, blaming the media for the national outcry. "This is a calculated conspiracy aimed at terrorising our Islamic community, aimed at me first in order to bring the Islamic community to its knees," Sheik Hilaly said in Arabic. "The infidels are picking on me!" He went further, claiming Muslims had more right to be in Australia than the ancestors of convicts. "Westerners are the biggest liars, especially the English," the sheik said in translation. "The Anglo-Saxons came to Australia in shackles, while we paid for our own tickets." That'll go over well in Australia. He also claimed Australia's courts were racist for sentencing Bilal Skaf to 55 years' jail for gang rape. Even the sheik's closest advisers fear a backlash over the latest remarks. They have apologised for the comments, saying the sheik's words will cause offense. "As a Muslim Australian, I can just apologise for the remarks," the sheik's spokesman Keysar Trad told 7News. "You idiot! You're going to make them suspicious!"

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Sheik blasts judges over rapists

2006-10-30

THE leader of Australia's most radical Islamic group has fueled the Taj al-Din al-Hilaly controversy by accusing Australian judges of discriminating against Muslim rapists. As Sheik Hilaly yesterday took "indefinite leave" from preaching after a "heart attack", The Australian can reveal Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran told his flock on Friday that rapes committed by Australian non-Muslims - such as "bikies" or "football stars" - were treated more leniently than those committed by Muslims. "I feel there is no justice here. Not 60 years and someone else three years and they did the same crime. Why?" Sheik Omran told worshipers at his Brunswick mosque. "They make a big fuss about these kids because one of them, his name is Mohamed. Even if you kill someone you don't go for 60 years," he said, referring to Sydney's 2000 gang rapes in which Lebanese Muslim Bilal Skaf was initially sentenced to 55 years jail, but later had the sentence reduced on appeal. "This is where I think everything has gone unbalanced," Sheik Omran said. "We don't support criminals or crimes, but at same time we want justice for everyone." Sheik Omran strongly defended the besieged mufti, who until yesterday had defiantly resisted demands from Muslims and the wider community to step aside for likening women to uncovered meat and suggesting rape victims should be held responsible for enticing attackers. Soon after arriving at Lakemba Mosque yesterday morning for another crisis meeting over the Ramadan sermon that prompted the furore when it was revealed by The Australian last week, Sheik Hilaly collapsed and was rushed to hospital. In a statement issued in his name later, Sheik Hilaly - who came under more pressure yesterday when The Australian also uncovered recent comments supporting military jihad against US and Australian forces in Iraq and Afghanistan - said he would step aside. "The pressure of the last couple of days has had an obvious effect on my health and wellbeing," the statement said. "I ask the public to give my family and I some privacy, time and space to recover. I have also asked for indefinite leave from duties at Lakemba Mosque." The decision came as the federal Opposition demanded that the Government investigate whether Sheik Hilaly's support of jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan constituted treason and John Howard repeated his advice to Muslims to overthrow their spiritual leader. "One of the things that does bother me is that when he goes overseas he carries the title of Mufti of Australia and that represents to the world a view of Australian Islam which I feel very uncomfortable with," the Prime Minister said. Sheik Hilaly - in an interview on Arabic radio a fortnight ago - had also praised Egyptian philosopher Sayyid Qutb, the intellectual mentor of Osama bin Laden. And yesterday Immigration Department chief Andrew Metcalfe sought advice from the Prime Minister's office and intelligence agencies about whether he could discuss his knowledge of a 1984 intelligence report warning that Sheik Hilaly had links to extremist groups. Mr Metcalfe said he had a "personal knowledge" of the matter because he was working with the department in a legal capacity at the time. The intelligence report was provided to the department six years before Sheik Hilaly was granted permanent residency. A former Australian secret agent has alleged the report was shelved because of the importance of the ethnic vote to the Labor Party, which was then in government. The Weekend Australian revealed that Hawke government immigration minister Chris Hurford tried to have Sheik Hilaly deported in 1986. But senior party figures including treasurer Paul Keating and MP Leo McLeay, whose electorate included the Lakemba Mosque, opposed the move, allegedly for political gain. When asked about his knowledge of the intelligence report yesterday, Mr Metcalfe said he had "knowledge as to the answer of that question" but was concerned about revealing it because it could breach matters of privacy, national intelligence and protocol surrounding the decisions of a previous government. Sheik Omran, one of the country's most outspoken and controversial fundamentalist clerics, said on Friday that attacks on Sheik Hilaly were attacks on Islam. "His name is a mufti and we should respect that name - we should respect the turban on his head," Sheik Omran said in the sermon, an audio copy of which was posted on his Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association website yesterday. "This is the sign of a scholar - you are not attacking Sheik Taj here, you are attacking the scholars, you are attacking Islam." Sheik Omran has said bin Laden was a good man and the US, rather than the al-Qaeda leader, was behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

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Muslim Cleric: 'Women to blame for sex attacks'

2006-10-25

AUSTRALIA'S most senior Muslim cleric has blamed immodestly dressed women who don't wear Islamic headdress for being preyed on by men and likened them to abandoned "meat" that attracts voracious animals. In a Ramadan sermon that has outraged Muslim women leaders, Sydney-based Sheik al-Taj al-Din al-Hilaly also alluded to the infamous Sydney gang rapes, suggesting the attackers were not entirely to blame. While not specifically referring to the rapes, brutal attacks on four women for which a group of young Lebanese men received long jail sentences, Sheik Hilaly said there were women who "sway suggestively" and wore make-up and immodest dress "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years." "But the problem, but the problem all began with who?" he asked. The leader of the 2000 rapes in Sydney's southwest, Bilal Skaf, a Muslim, was initially sentenced to 55 years' jail, but later had the sentence reduced on appeal. In the religious address about adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilaly said: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat? "The uncovered meat is the problem." The sheik then said: "If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred." He said women were "weapons" used by "Satan" to control men. "It is said in the state of zina (adultery), the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa)." Muslim community leaders were yesterday outraged and offended by Sheik Hilaly's remarks, insisting the cleric was no longer worthy of his title as Australia's Mufti. Young Muslim adviser Iktimal Hage-Ali - who does not wear a hijab - said the Islamic headdress was not a "tool" worn to prevent rape and sexual harassment. "It's a symbol that readily identifies you as being Muslim, but just because you don't wear the headscarf doesn't mean that you're considered fresh meat for sale," the former member of John Howard's Muslim advisory board told The Australian. "The onus should not be on the female to not attract attention, it should be on males to learn how to control themselves." Australia's most prominent female Muslim leader, Aziza Abdel-Halim, said the hijab did not "detract or add to a person's moral standards", while Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Waleed Ali said it was "ignorant and naive" for anyone to believe that a hijab could stop sexual assault. "Anyone who is foolish enough to believe that there is a relationship between rape or unwelcome sexual interference and the failure to wear a hijab, clearly has no understanding of the nature of sexual crime," he said. Ms Hage-Ali said she was "disgusted and offended" by Shiek Hilaly's comments. "I find it very offensive that a man who considers himself as a mufti, a leader of Australia's Muslims, can give comment that lacks intelligence and common sense." Yesterday, the Mufti defended the sermon about "adultery and theft", a recorded copy of which has been obtained and translated by The Australian. Sheik Hilaly said he only meant to refer to prostitutes as "meat" and not any scantily dressed woman with no hijab, despite him not mentioning the word prostitute during the 17-minute talk. He told The Australian the message he intended to convey was: "If a woman who shows herself off, she is to blame, but a man should be able to control himself". He said if a woman is "covered and respectful" she "demands respect from a man". "But when she is cheap, she throws herself at the man and cheapens herself." Sheik Hilaly also insisted his references to the Sydney gang rapes were to illustrate that Skaf was guilty and worthy of receiving such a harsh sentence. Waleed Ali said Sheik Hilaly was "normalising immoral sexual behaviour" by comparing women to meat and men to animals and entirely blaming women for being victims. "It's basically saying that the immoral response of men to women who are not fully covered is as natural and as inevitable as the response of an animal tempted by food," he said. "But (unlike animals) men are people who have moral responsibilities and the capability in engaging in moral action." Revelation fo the Mufti's comments comes after he criticised Mr Howard last month in The Australian for saying a minority of migrant men mistreated their women. Sheik Hilaly said such a minority was found in all faiths. "Those who don't respect their women are not true Muslims." "There's a small percentage found among all religions, but we don't recognise ours as Muslims." Aziza Abdel-Halim said Sheik Hilaly's remarks during Ramadan were inaccurate and upsetting to the Muslim community. "They are below and beyond any comment (and) do not deserve any consideration."

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Bilal Skaf sentenced to 31 yrs Jail for gang rape

2006-07-28

NOTORIOUS gang rapist Bilal Skaf has been jailed for a maximum 31 years over the August 2000 attack on a teenage girl in Sydney's west. Skaf's brother, Mohammed Skaf, who can now be named, has been sentenced to a maximum 15 years over the same pack rape of a 16-year-old girl at Greenacre's Gosling Park. Be gone with both of them. Bilal Skaf will not be eligible for parole until February 11, 2033, while his brother must remain in jail until at least July 1, 2019. Not long enough. Bilal sat quietly as Acting Justice Jane Mathews told the court he was the leader of a group of men who attacked the girl in the park on August 12, 2000. Bilal had dragged the girl into the park and raped her as his friends were “standing around, laughing and talking in their own language”, Justice Mathews said. The 24-year-old, who was already serving a maximum of 28 years for other sex offences, smiled briefly as Justice Mathews sentenced him to the 31 years, part of which will be served concurrently. Mohammed, Bilal's younger brother, who is also in jail for other sex offences, was sentenced to a minimum of seven-and-a-half years for his role in the attack. The then 17-year-old knew the rape victim and drove her to the park, Justice Mathews said. “His involvement in the evening's activities was an absolutely crucial one,” she said. “Without him, the offences would not have been committed at all.” Outside the court, the victim's mother said she was happy with today's sentence and hoped it would give her daughter some closure. “She'll never forget it but hopefully she'll be able to talk about it,” she said. Both men were convicted in April this year over the pack rape, which allegedly involved up to 14 men. Bilal Skaf was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent in company, while Mohammed was found guilty of being an accessary before the fact. It was the second time the two were found guilty, after their initial conviction was quashed in 2004 when it was revealed two jurors conducted their own investigations at the rape scene. The actions of the jurors in the original trial prompted the New South Wales Government to make it illegal for any juror to conduct private investigations outside court. It also led to a law allowing sexual victims to avoid giving evidence at retrials, instead testifying via transcript or video. In what was believed to be the first time the new evidence laws were used, the gang rape victim was not required to be in court for the Skaf retrial, and her transcript evidence from the previous trial was re-enacted for the jurors.

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Prisoners want to kill gang rapist Bilal Skaf

2006-07-21

CONVICTED gang rapist Bilal Skaf has no friends in jail and is at risk of being killed by other prisoners, a Sydney court has been told. Skaf and an associate, who can be referred to only as AA, were convicted in the NSW Supreme Court in April over the August 2000 pack rape of a 16-year-old girl in Greenacre's Gosling Park, in Sydney's west. During the pair's sentencing submissions today, Skaf's lawyer, Peter Zahra SC asked acting Justice Jane Mathews to take into account that his client, already serving a 28-year sentence for other offences, was approaching nearly six years in custody. He said Skaf, who has been convicted twice of the Gosling Park attack, had "no friends" in prison and faced "onerous" and "very dangerous" conditions. "There are prisoners that want to kill him - and they are not from any particular ethnic group," Mr Zahra said. Ran afoul of the prison pecking order, did he? AA's lawyer Matthew Johnston said his 22-year-old client should have the opportunity to participate in educational programs inside jail, which would "certainly go to his prospects of rehabilitation". Acting Justice Mathews said she would sentence the pair within the next two weeks, but did not fix a date. Skaf, now 24, was convicted in 2002 on two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent in company, while AA was found guilty of being an accessary before the fact. They were among up to 14 men allegedly involved in the attack. Skaf made NSW legal history when he was sentenced to a record 55 years in jail for leading a string of vicious gang rapes - including the Gosling Park attack - in 2000. But the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in 2004 quashed Skaf and AA's convictions over the Gosling Park attack and ordered a retrial after it was revealed that, during the trial, two jurors conducted their own investigations at the scene of the rape. Skaf remained behind bars while awaiting retrial, with his sentence for other sex offences having been reduced to a maximum 28 years on appeal. AA's overturned conviction and a subsequent appeal resulted in his jail term for the same series of attacks being reduced from 32 to 19 years.

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Mr Sympathetic: Gang rape ringleader wants kids

2006-05-05

ONE of the notorious serial gang rapists has had his sperm frozen at taxpayers' expense so he can have a family when he is released from jail. Court documents state the man, 22, cried after being told by doctors he will probably be sterile following chemotherapy for cancer. His solicitor Ross Hudson yesterday defended the move. "It is a misrepresentation to say that a rapist has had his sperm frozen," Mr Hudson said. "Independent of him being a convicted rapist, he has had Hodgkin's disease and it was as a consequence of that a sperm sample was taken possibly for future use." The man was 17 at the time of the serial gang rapes in 2000 and cannot be named. He led one gang rape by 14 men on a girl in a toilet block. "I think he is being incredibly optimistic in thinking he is going to be released from jail and develop a loving and caring relationship with someone who wants to have his children," NSW Rape Crisis Centre co-ordinator Karen Willis said. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system, a month after being jailed with Bilal Skaf in October 2002 over the attacks on young women across Sydney's west. Before raping one woman, aged 19, the man asked her if she liked it "Leb style". He raped her a second time after she had been forced to have sex with 14 other men, some of them several times. After his cancer diagnosis, he was admitted to Long Bay jail's hospital and escorted under guard for treatment to Prince of Wales Hospital, where the Department of Corrective Services has a secure annex. It is understood the option to have sperm stored cryogenically before beginning chemotherapy was offered because of his age. He has been single since his girlfriend dumped him following his conviction. Medical treatment for prisoners is paid for by Justice Health, a division of NSW Health, as part of their duty of care. Justice Health refuses to comment on individual cases and did not return calls yesterday. But in a report to the Court of Criminal Appeal, clinical psychologist Marianne Plahn-Williamson said the man was on anti-depressants to cope. "(He) told me that his doctors felt that he was probably sterile for the rest of his life. (He) told me that on several occasions he lost his composure and cried," her report said. Jailing the man for a maximum of 32 years in October 2002, Judge Michael Finnane said he showed "arrogance . . . and contempt for women".

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More Details as Australians Try to Quell Racial Violence

2005-12-14

Edited for new details The rioting began Sunday on Cronulla Beach ...Carloads of young Arab men then struck back in several Sydney suburbs Sunday and Monday nights, fighting with police and smashing the windows of stores, homes and parked cars. Nearly 40 people were injured and 27 arrested in the melees, police said. Racial tensions in Australia have been rising in recent years, largely because of...the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and deadly bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in October 2002. They also were heightened by a gang rape case in 2002 in which prosecutors and witnesses said members of a Lebanese gang hurled racial abuse at their rape victims, all of whom were white. The ringleader, Bilal Skaf, was sentenced to 55 years, an unusually severe sentence for the country. Consistent with the stories now coming out of many other white Australian girls similarly raped, then threatened with worse if they told. In an attempt to keep the peace, lawmakers in New South Wales, where Sydney is located, will meet Thursday to pass laws giving officers tough new powers to crack down on rioters, including ordering bars to shut and erecting roadblocks to effectively seal off suburbs. State leader Morris Iemma said he would urge lawmakers to pass legislation increasing prison sentences for riot offenses. He also said police would be given special "lockdown" powers to stop convoys from forming and driving into communities to carry out acts of retribution. Iemma said the rioters had "effectively declared war on our society and we won't be found wanting in our response." On Monday, police said they discovered weapons including firebombs and rocks on the roofs of some houses in the beachside suburb of Maroubra. Who exactly lives in those houses, pray tell? Some of those arrested were armed with machetes and baseball bats. In the 2001 census, nearly a quarter of Australia's 20 million people said they were born overseas. The country has about 300,000 Muslims, most in lower income suburbs of large cities. Sydney also has a large community of Lebanese who mostly live in a cluster of lower-income neighborhoods close to the city's Olympic sports complex.

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Down Under

"Free us or face bomb attacks"

2003-07-17

The letter is unsigned. It demands in the name of "Allah the most gracious, the most merciful" the release of all Muslim prisoners from NSW jails. The letter, addressed to the Corrective Services Commissioner, Ron Woodham, states that if the demand is not met "we will attack and bomb the people of Australia". Oh, that’ll go over well. Bilal Skaf, who is serving 40 years in jail as the leader of a gang who pack-raped young girls in Sydney in 2000, faced court yesterday accused of being the author of the threat. It was a Muslim gang practicing their religion. The letter, which also allegedly contained a white powder, was found in an internal prison mail box in the high security "Supermax" prison at Goulburn jail on December 4 last year. It was not until March that police charged 21-year-old Skaf with making the threats. But yesterday, magistrate Robert Rabbidge gave Skaf permission to have an unexpected day out of his sentence when he ordered that he be brought in person to the court in September for a one-day hearing of the threat case. The order was made when Skaf appeared before Mr Rabbidge via a video link from Goulburn jail to Goulburn court. The charge stated that Skaf’s letter was intended to induce the false belief that the powder " was likely to be a danger to the safety of Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham and certain property". Ya think? The letter demanded that all Muslim prisoners be released from jail by January this year. Er, no! "Every inmate will be accounted by us. If you choose to follow instructions the people of Australia will be safe. If directions are failed to be complied with we will surely show yous [sic] an example," it said. "If you and the racists of Australia follow instructions given by us then surely there shall be no sorrow . . . we will attack and bomb the people of Australia if our directions are not complied with . . . the people of Sydney are not safe." Sounds like a threat to me. Skaf indicated through his solicitor David Tyler that he would plead not guilty. "Lies, all lies!" "Bilal, wait till we get into court, OK?" A request that the charge be dealt with in a one-day hearing before a magistrate on September 12, and not before a District Court jury, was granted. Skaf asked that he be aided at his defence by a fellow prisoner, Bassam Hamzy, 24. But Mr Rabbidge expressed doubts that Hamzy, sentenced in March last year to 21 years for the murder of a teenager at a city nightclub and for seeking to have a witness killed, would be allowed to represent Skaf. Why not, he seems to be qualified to me. A Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor, Brett Diggins, said the two inmates would "pose a massive security problem". Two inmates are a problem? Guess you don’t get many big cases down there. He said prosecutors would call six witnesses, including two handwriting experts. Last September, Skaf’s mother was banned from jail visits for two years after being caught trying to smuggle out a letter to her son’s fiance and a drawing of his cell. She’s just trying to be a good mother.

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