Coincidence or Trend?

Last week, an African model was found floating in the Seine River. Paris police found no foul play and suspect the model, Katoucha Niane, died after accidentally falling into the river. Niane had become a prominent spokeswoman against the brutal practice of female genital mutilation.

Now, we learn that another African model has disappeared, this time from the streets of Belgium. Waris Dirie was an outspoken critic of female genital mutilation, had written a book on the subject, and was scheduled to speak at a conference in Brussels, which will also feature Sec. State Rice:

Dirie was due to speak to two conferences on women's rights organized by the European Union in Brussels this week, including one Thursday attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Dirie's disappearance comes a week after French police said they'd found the body of another former model of African origin who had campaigned against female genital mutilation.

Guinean-born Katoucha Niane's body was found floating in the Seine River in Paris. French police said an autopsy showed no signs of foul play, pointing to the possibility that the 47-year-old Niane may have fallen accidentally into the river.

On Friday, Belgian police launched an official missing persons appeal for Dirie, asking the public for information. The police said they also were looking for the taxi driver that took her from the area between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.

Lutschinger said Dirie had been involved in an altercation at a hotel reception after a taxi driver had taken her to the wrong branch of the Sofitel hotel chain after a visit to a night club. The police were called and drove Dirie around Brussels looking for the correct hotel, after she had apparently forgotten where she was staying.

At one hotel, while staff and police were checking for her name on a computer, Dirie walked out and climbed into a taxi that drove away, Lutschinger said police told him.

While, it may be nothing more than coincidence, I hope that the authorities do look closely at both situations to ensure that it is nothing more than a coincidence.

UPDATE:
Jihad Watch wonders about what happened to these two women - both strident opponents to FGM.

UPDATE:
Reports are coming in that authorities in Brussels have found Dirie alive and are questioning her over what transpired.

Islamists In America

The Islamists called for the death of Salman Rushdie for his book the Satanic Verses. Those Islamists were the ruling mullahs in Iran, and their disciples around the world forced Rushdie into hiding and around the clock security.

Well, we've got an Islamist in Pittsburgh, PA, calling for the death of a leading critic of the Islamists, Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Go ahead, say anything that comes into your mind -- even if you don't agree with your minister, your priest, your rabbi. Even if you think you're right and they've got it all wrong, as long as you're not making a direct threat to someone, you can disagree or turn your back and walk away to another faith or to no faith at all.

Here, in America, it's OK. In a land of more than 3,000 diverse religions, your right to religious liberty is a guaranteed protection under the First Amendment.

"The key in the U.S. from the beginning has been to make sure all religious groups not only understand freedoms, but connect them to their own commitment," said Charles C. Haynes, senior scholar and director of educational programs at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., and Nashville.

A community debate over religious freedom surfaced in Western Pennsylvania last week when Dutch feminist author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who has lived under the threat of death for denouncing her Muslim upbringing, made an appearance at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

Islamic leaders tried to block the lecture, which was sponsored through an endowment from the Frank J. and Sylvia T. Pasquerilla Lecture Series. They argued that Hirsi Ali's attacks against the Muslim faith in her book, "Infidel," and movie, "Submission," are "poisonous and unjustified" and create dissension in their community.

Although university officials listened to Islamic leaders' concerns, the lecture planned last year took place Tuesday evening under tight security, with no incidents.

Imam Fouad ElBayly, president of the Johnstown Islamic Center, was among those who objected to Hirsi Ali's appearance.

"She has been identified as one who has defamed the faith. If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death," said ElBayly, who came to the U.S. from Egypt in 1976.

Hirsi Ali, an atheist, has been critical of many Muslim beliefs, particularly on subjects of sexual morality, the treatment of women and female genital mutilation. In her essay "The Caged Virgin," she also wrote of punishment, noting that "a Muslim's relationship with God is one of fear."

If you speak ill of Islam, the Islamists demand your death. This is what happened with the cartoon riots, and this happens every day around the world where Islamists seek to force the submission of non-Muslims. They do not tolerate any criticism of their religion, and will engage in violence at even the most obscure slight.

One really has to wonder how is it possible that a religion could have such a thin skin. After all, we don't hear about riots when Arabs repeat age-old blood libels against Jews in Israel. We don't hear about Christians rioting and looting after a Virgin Mary is desecrated with dung or an image of Jesus Christ on a crucifix is submerged in urine.

No, we do hear about Muslims rioting when someone draws cartoons satirizing the violent nature of the Islamists themselves. These cartoons became a self-fulfilling prophesy, and underscored the problems within Islam and those that push the most violent tendencies within the religion.