A wannabe white supremacist, who was placed in a Calgary Remand Centre cell with two members of visible minorities, said Monday he was raped by them.
The complainant, who can’t be identified, said he shaved his head after being sent to the northwest Calgary jail to get rid of two Nazi symbols carved into his hair.
But he testified at least one of his alleged attackers saw the symbols and other minority inmates made threatening comments about them.
And he rejected suggestions by lawyers for Ali Sanghar and Samar Sigar he consented to having sex with the two men in their cell on May 30, 2010.
Both Sanghar, 31, and Sigar, 19, face charges of sexual assault with a weapon.
The witness told Crown prosecutor Bev Bauer he awoke in the middle of the night to find a towel placed over his face and Sigar, who is black, holding a weapon on him,
“He pointed something at the back of my neck, which I thought was a knife,” said the witness.
“He told me he was in there for murder and he could either rape me or murder me, and he chose to rape me,” he said.
“I didn’t want to die so I just took it.”
During the attack Sanghar, who is of middle-eastern origin and required a Farsi interpreter in court, woke up and assaulted him as well, the complainant testified.
“I guess he wanted to join in so the black guy held my arms while the Iraqi, Middle Eastern guy took his turn,” the man said.
He said he was trying at the time to get membership in the white supremacist group Western European Bloodlines, but never joined.
He admitted being a racist at the time, but said his decision to have a friend carve Nazi symbols into his hair was more of a drunken lark than anything else.
Both defence lawyers Alan Fay and David Andrews suggested the complainant was making up the rape claim after agreeing to have sex with his new cellmates.
“You consented because you knew that if you didn’t do something you would continue to remain vulnerable because of your beliefs about persons of different races, isn’t that correct?” Andrews said.
“No that is not,” the witness replied.
Fay went one step further, saying the man agreed to have sex with Sigar and make it look like rape so other non-whites would be pacified.
The trial continues Tuesday.
Calgary Sun
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Church beatifies Nazi-victim priest (Germany)
The Catholic Church has beatified the venerated priest Alois Andritzki, who was murdered by the Nazis at the Dachau concentration camp. Andritzki has long been revered by Sorbs, a minority ethnicity in eastern Germany.
German Priest Alois Andritzki, who died at Nazi hands in Dachau, has been bestowed the title "Blessed" by the Catholic Church.
Andritzki, who was arrested by the National Socialists in 1941 for criticizing the regime and later murdered by lethal injection, was beatified Monday at the Dresden Cathedral in a bilingual ceremony in German and Sorbian, the language of the eastern German Slavic minority to which he belonged.
Roman Cardinal Angelo Amato read the papal declaration of Andritzki's beatification at a ceremony which drew an estimated 11,000 people, many of them in traditional Sorbian dress.
Dresden's Bishop Joachim Reinelt praised Andritzki in his sermon, saying the priest had showed a "bright face" even through the "most awful beastly work" at the Dachau concentration camp.
Saxony State Premier Stanislaw Tillich, who spoke at the ceremony in Sorbian, said Andritzki had "unshakably stood by his faith during the time of the inhuman Nazi dictatorship."
Pope Benedict XVI, who approved Andritzki's beatification in December, honored the priest on Sunday during his noon prayer St. Peter's Square. Benedict said Andritzki remained an attestor to the faith even in times of great suffering.
Andritzki has long been revered by eastern Germany's Catholic Sorbs. Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process.
DW-World
German Priest Alois Andritzki, who died at Nazi hands in Dachau, has been bestowed the title "Blessed" by the Catholic Church.
Andritzki, who was arrested by the National Socialists in 1941 for criticizing the regime and later murdered by lethal injection, was beatified Monday at the Dresden Cathedral in a bilingual ceremony in German and Sorbian, the language of the eastern German Slavic minority to which he belonged.
Roman Cardinal Angelo Amato read the papal declaration of Andritzki's beatification at a ceremony which drew an estimated 11,000 people, many of them in traditional Sorbian dress.
Dresden's Bishop Joachim Reinelt praised Andritzki in his sermon, saying the priest had showed a "bright face" even through the "most awful beastly work" at the Dachau concentration camp.
Saxony State Premier Stanislaw Tillich, who spoke at the ceremony in Sorbian, said Andritzki had "unshakably stood by his faith during the time of the inhuman Nazi dictatorship."
Pope Benedict XVI, who approved Andritzki's beatification in December, honored the priest on Sunday during his noon prayer St. Peter's Square. Benedict said Andritzki remained an attestor to the faith even in times of great suffering.
Andritzki has long been revered by eastern Germany's Catholic Sorbs. Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process.
DW-World
Derby music festival clashes with plan for English Defence League march (UK)
A Derby music promoter is planning a multiculturalism music festival on the same day as an English Defence League (EDL) march in the city.
The Love Music Hate Racism festival will feature music at seven different venues in the city on the same day as it aims to celebrate different cultures. The festival website describes the aim of the event as "living testimony to the fact that cultures can and do mix. " before adding that music "unites us and gives us strength, and offers a vibrant celebration of our multicultural and multiracial society. Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us. Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) was set up in 2002 in response to rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the Nazi British National Party (BNP)."
Approximately 300 people have already indicated on the EDL's Facebook page that they will attend the Derby march on 9 July.
A Derbyshire Police spokesman said it was aware of the march but had not been officially contacted by the EDL.
Supt Gary Parkin told the BBC: "We will continue to look at the intelligence arrangements and make sure we have an appropriate policing response to make sure the policing of Derby is as safe as possible.
"We will facilitate lawful protest - but I would be very unhappy if I had to put a policing response and put a lot of police on the streets."
While the EDL, has for now refused to comment further on the subject, the festival spokesman Baby J said he hoped the police would step in and control the demonstration because the EDL "do not represent the city".
"We live in a very multicultural city and we get along very well and work alongside people or all different faiths and colour - and this is something we want to celebrate."
IBTimes
The Love Music Hate Racism festival will feature music at seven different venues in the city on the same day as it aims to celebrate different cultures. The festival website describes the aim of the event as "living testimony to the fact that cultures can and do mix. " before adding that music "unites us and gives us strength, and offers a vibrant celebration of our multicultural and multiracial society. Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us. Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) was set up in 2002 in response to rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the Nazi British National Party (BNP)."
Approximately 300 people have already indicated on the EDL's Facebook page that they will attend the Derby march on 9 July.
A Derbyshire Police spokesman said it was aware of the march but had not been officially contacted by the EDL.
Supt Gary Parkin told the BBC: "We will continue to look at the intelligence arrangements and make sure we have an appropriate policing response to make sure the policing of Derby is as safe as possible.
"We will facilitate lawful protest - but I would be very unhappy if I had to put a policing response and put a lot of police on the streets."
While the EDL, has for now refused to comment further on the subject, the festival spokesman Baby J said he hoped the police would step in and control the demonstration because the EDL "do not represent the city".
"We live in a very multicultural city and we get along very well and work alongside people or all different faiths and colour - and this is something we want to celebrate."
IBTimes
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