rishnee Bunwaree – Successive Mauritian governments
allowed a section of the Mauritian press to run amok!
Following the arrest
on 1st August 2012 of 22 year old Krishnee Bunwaree as a result of
her anti-Islam and anti-Muslim comments on facebook during the holy fasting
month of Ramadan and her being charged with the offence of unlawfully and
knowingly using a computer system with intent to stir up « racial (and
religious) hatred », successive governments of Mauritius should share the blame
for having allowed a bias and prejudiced section of the press to run amok for
over a decade in leading a damaging and incendiary campaign against Muslims and
Islam without allowing any right of reply so they can brainwash the young.
Krishnee Bunwaree is absolved of all blame.
22 year old
Krishnee Bunwaree, victim of bias and prejudiced press
Personally, I feel that Krishnee Bunwaree is a
victim. I would blame a section of the media rather than politicians, although
the government does bear responsibility for having allowed the situation to
rot. Even though politicians may be sectarian (which is not an offence), I do
not see them inciting racial and religious hatred. However, can the same be
said for Catholic Priest Jocelyn Grégoire, President of the Fédération des Créoles Mauriciens? Did
he not launch a scathing attack against Hindus in his confessed « anger » and
castigated PM Ramgoolam for having appointed Hindu Ministers instead of an
extra Catholic African-Mauritian, which he calls a ‘Creole’. Yet, the PM is
always meeting Grégoire in spite of his overt racism fostering the racist
ideology of créolité which excludes
Hindus and Muislims, with their handshakes splashed all over the newspapers
even though he is not even a leader of any political party. What message is the
Mauritian PM conveying to the people?
Similarly, for a very long time, a section of
the Mauritian press has been leading a relentless campaign against Muslims and
Islam in several forms. In analysing this serious problem, certain facts over
the years have to be established to put Krishnee Bunwaree’s comments in
context. There are clear indications that 22 year old Krishnee Bunwaree is a
victim of what she (and others like her) has been fed with by a section of the Mauritian
press over a long period of time.
(1) In the case of May 1999 arson at Casino
Amicale, in which several people were killed, including a pregnant mother, le
Mauricien daily paper, regarded as a Christian/Creole paper, immediately
attacked Muslims and Islam through reverse association. In his editorial of 24 May 1999, Gilbert Ahnee,
then editor in chief of le Mauricien said : « Et il n’existe personne au sein de cette classe politique inculte pour
monter sur un camion au Square Khadafi et dire : “Non! Non, l’Islam n’est pas
une religion de violence,… ” ». The journalist went on to
say : « Il y a lieu d’espérer que des milliers de Musulmans mauriciens qui
respectent les valeurs de leur religion prennent la parole et disent :
“ Assez ! Assez de violence, de terreur, d’escadrons meurtriers au
nom d’un Dieu Clément et miséricordieux dont vous vous prétendez les fidèles.
Assez, également, de complaisance des pouvoirs publics. Assez de petites filles
asphyxiées et carbonisées” ». He also referred to those alleged Muslim killers as « foudjahiddins », a term which he made up
between the French word “fou” and the Arabic and Islamic word “mujahiddin” (which means freedom
fighter). He already identified Muslims as violent and as killers. It turned
out that the Sumodhee brothers, who are Muslims, were swiftly arrested and
tried before a jury which found them guilty based on the uncorroborated
evidence of one eye- witness (who allegedly ‘clearly’ identified them on
motorcycles?). The Sumodhee brothers claim their innocence to this day.
(2) Muhammad Cehl Fakeemeeah, present Leader of
the Front Solidarité Mauricienne (FSM) and
MP, was attacked because he was the leader of an Islamic Party (Hezbollah).
What has not been published against him as a Muslim and against his religion?
The daily newspaper L’Express, also regarded as a Christian/Creole paper,
described him as (Muslim) fundamentalist, « mégalomane », Hitler and more,
simply because he is a Muslim who formed an Islamic Party. In Europe,
there are countless Christian parties; I do not see what the problem is. Based
on the uncorroborated allegation of a self-confessed criminal, Cehl Meeah was
arrested in December 2000, incarcerated for 3 years, kept in solitary
confinement, tortured, and tried in the press for something he did not do.
However, Meeah never confessed to any crime. Journalist Finlay Salesse then of
5-Plus weekly paper even published material accusing Meeah was training
‘Muslims’ in a terrorist camp in Mont Blanc, which was entirely false. The DPP
finally dropped all charges against Meeah. The Police never took any action for
incitement to religious hatred against any of those journalists or newspapers.
(3) In 2010, some Hindus violently attacked a
Pentecostal gathering in Triolet, which Bollywood comedian Johnny Lever was
also attending. In February 2012, some Muslims in 15 Cantons Vacoas removed
banners set up by Hindus on the holy occasion of the Maha Shivaratree
pilgrimage to Grand Bassin, and even damaged a green marquee. Those would be
more condemnable acts of assault, vandalism and criminal damage rather than
incitation to racial and religious hatred. But when reporting the details of
the US report on religious freedom in events concerning Mauritius, l’Express of
01 August 2012 chose the following headline just to pinpoint Muslims « Liberté de culte : le Département d’Etat US
relève les dérapages à Quinze-Cantons » even though it said in the body
that « Il note cependant que la bagarre
n’avait aucune motivation religieuse ».
(4) Joining the fray, Mauritius Times, a weekly
paper regarded as a Hindu paper, added its dose when its Chief Editor and owner
Madhukar Ramlallah published materials of anti-Islam and anti-Muslim nature. In
the article « Secular State », M Times of 6 July 2012, Surendra Bissoondoyal,
who thinks that a secular state is a good thing while a so-called religious
state is bad, argued that because India « did
not want to project the image of ‘Hindu India’ to counter the setting up of
Pakistan as an Islamic nation », « It enshrined the term
‘secular’ in its Constitution », when an Islamic State is a Civil State and
not a religious state (like the Vatican). He clearly portrays an Islamic state
as bad but, at the same time refers to how Mahatma Gandhi used « his faith in the Bhagavad Gita to show to
India and the world at large the strength of non-violence without cowardice
» when the Bhagavad Gita is a Book about violence between the cousins and has
nothing to do with secularism. Given his comparison with an « Islamic nation »,
he leaves it to the readers’ imagination as to whether faith in Islam (as
opposed the Bhagavad Gita) leads to violence.
(5) In the follow-up article « Secularism? Yes, but softly » by Dev Virahsawmy published the in the
following week’s issue of Mauritius Times on 13 July 2012, Dev Virahsawmy also used
secularism as an excuse to attack Islam and Muslims by effectively accusing the
religion of oppressing women when he argued that « within Islam feminist studies are challenging patriarchy and a very
progressive picture is emerging » while, on the other hand, he praised
Hinduism when he spoke of « reforming
Hinduism » as having « greatly
contributed to the improvement of general welfare ».
(6) Like all the other papers boycotted my
responses exposing their campaign against Muslims and Islam over the years, Mr
Ramlallah also boycotted both my responses to Bissoondoyal and Virahsawmy, and
in my email of 17 July 2012 I told Mr Ramlallah in no uncertain terms that « Through your consistent boycott, you are
clearly following an evil agenda of your own and provoking and inciting social
unrest in the country. I will not allow this to happen since Mauritians of
whatever religious denominations do have common grounds to live in harmony.
» I subsequently requested him to drop « Mauritius
» from Mauritius Times as he is giving Mauritius a bad name.
Two weeks later the Krishnee Bunwaree’s case
came to light after an inhabitant of Port
Louis lodged a complaint to the Police against her for
the anti-Muslim and anti-Islam deeply offensive comments, especially during the
holy fasting period of Ramadan, which she posted on Facebook on 22nd
July 2012. She was also joined on facebook by another youngster in the name of
Kavish Bhoonah. 22 year old Krishnee Bunwaree, was arrested on 1 Aug 2012 by
the Cybercrime Unit and charged with unlawfully and knowingly using a computer
system with intent to stir up « racial (and religious) hatred ». The
‘accomplice’ Kavish Bhoonah was later also arrested. In fact, Kavish is the one
who made matters much worse. This incident has spread around the country like
wild fire which has been ignited during more than a decade. Muslim religious
leaders have even appealed for calm.
The authorities are treating the matter very
seriously indeed in a multi-cultural country like Mauritius as it can easily spark
social unrest with unforeseeable consequences. The problem is that facebook has
been used in the UK
(and elsewhere) to incite racial and religious hatred, violence and riots. I
have lived through it.
Conclusion
But is Krishnee Bunwaree really to blame, or
has she merely followed the pattern which has been drawn by a section of the
press over the years and which has poisoned children’s minds at a very young
age? Ms Bunwaree is only 22 years old, and for more than a decade she has been
exposed to anti-Muslim and anti-Islam propaganda, portraying Islam as a
religion of violence (and Hinduism as a religion of non-violence) and Muslims
as fundamentalists, women oppressors, terrorists, and more, without having
given the chance to hear the other side. Ms Bunwaree clearly felt that she was
allowed to say what she did against Muslims and Islam, but her intention
clearly was not to incite racial and religious hatred. I absolve her of all
blame. Krishnee Bunwaree is also sorry for what she had said on facebook and,
in Islam, she is pardoned. Those are matters which, surely, any court of law
would take into account before arriving at any conclusion in the interest of
justice.
It is up to the government to set up a press
watchdog and to introduce Religious Education in Mauritian schools so that
children can learn and respect the different cultures and religions of
Mauritians.
M Rafic Soormally
London
5 August 2012
cc. PM Dr Navin Ramgoolam
Rughoonauth Mitravada Preetee Jogessur, Port-Louis, Mauritius.
"At least some kind of responsible press analysis instead of sensationalism around the issue.."
Allybokus Aboo, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom
"Brother
Rafic, congrats you have dared where others pretend not to understand
anything(our socalled muslim MPs)...MP BBJ has surprised me by his
comments lately....poor soul he did not even dare to read the related
comments by miss B......."
AGAINST MUSLIMS AND ISLAM
M. Ramlallah Mauritius Times’ Crusade
against Muslims and Islam
Via a
parliamentary question, Nita Deerpalsing, the Mauritian Labour Party’s Communication Director and
MP, challenged her leader and Prime Minister Dr
Navin Ramgoolam to introduce the Christian term
« secular » in
the Mauritian Constitution. In this context, Madhukar
Ramlallah, editor of Mauritius Times, described
by Gilbert Ahnee,
former editor in chief of le Mauricien, as the mouthpiece of the Labour Party (reaching out to
mainly Hindus), has been publishing propaganda pieces against Islam (and
Muslims) without allowing any right of reply, a feature quite common amongst
journalists on the other side of the fence supporting the political enemies of
the Labour Party.
rishnee Bunwaree libérée sous caution
Krishnee Bunwaree obtient la liberté provisoire. Cette habitante de Vallée-des-Prêtres, accusée d’avoir posté des propos à relent communal, a été remise en liberté conditionnelle ce lundi 6 août après avoir fourni une caution de Rs 25 000 et signé une reconnaissance de dette de Rs 75 000 au tribunal de Port-Louis.
Krishnee Bunwaree a été arrêtée mercredi 1er août dans le cadre de l’enquête policière sur les propos racistes postés sur le réseau social Facebook. Elle est accusée d’avoir diffusé sur son profile Facebook un commentaire à caractère sectaire.
Selon l’acte d'accusation qui a été logé contre Krishnee, elle aurait : « unlawfully and knowingly use a computer system to perform a function for the purpose of securing a program in the computer system with intent to commit an offence to wit :- stirring up racial hatred ». Si elle est trouvée coupable, elle risque jusqu’à cinq ans de prison et une amende d’un million de roupies.
ARISHMA OR KRISHNEE?
ibérée, Krishnee Bunwaree
La jeune femme, poursuivie sous des charges provisoires de
“access to computer system with the intent to commit an offence” en
vertu de l’article 4 de la Computer Misuse & Cybercrime Act et de
“stirring up racial hatred”, est en liberté conditionnelle après avoir
fourni une caution de Rs 25 000 et signé une reconnaissance de dette de
Rs 75 000. (Holy SHIT! BAFS)
Pour sa sécurité, elle a été escortée chez un proche vu que la police a eu vent que des inconnus faisaient des allers-retours près de son domicile à Vallée-des-Prêtres.
La cour lui a aussi imposé un couvre-feu de 18 heures à 6 heures et elle devra se présenter quotidiennement au poste de police le plus proche de chez elle.
Avant sa comparution en justice en ce début de semaine, la police avait pris des dispositions nécessaires pour éviter tout dérapage.
Krishnee Bunwaree a même été escortée par une équipe de la police. Il n’y a eu aucun incident à déplorer au tribunal.
La jeune femme est accusée d’avoir posté des commentaires sectaires sur sa page Facebook le week-end dernier.
La Cybercrime Unit du CCID avait alors pris l’affaire en main et cette habitante de Vallée-des-Prêtres avait été appréhendée mercredi avant d'être traduite en justice le lendemain.
Pour assurer sa sécurité, la police avait objecté à sa demande de remise en liberté sous caution. (Better late than never! BAFS) Depuis, elle avait été admise à l’hôpital pour des raisons de santé.
Ghyslaine
Roc Christian Yow Sangg - If her real name is
KARISHMA why the hell the media call her KRISHNEE? Can you, please, provide
your sources for that name? Thanks!
Monday, 06 August 2012 12:50
Propos sectaires sur Facebook :
rishnee Bunwaree libérée sous cautionKrishnee Bunwaree obtient la liberté provisoire. Cette habitante de Vallée-des-Prêtres, accusée d’avoir posté des propos à relent communal, a été remise en liberté conditionnelle ce lundi 6 août après avoir fourni une caution de Rs 25 000 et signé une reconnaissance de dette de Rs 75 000 au tribunal de Port-Louis.
La Cour a,
toutefois, imposé quelques conditions à Krishnee Bunwaree : elle devra
habiter un autre endroit ; elle ne pourra sortir le soir et elle devra se
présenter à la police tous les jours entre 6 heures du matin et 18 heures.
Agée de 22 ans, Krishnee
Bunwaree a été arrêtée mercredi 1er août dans le cadre de l’enquête
policière sur les propos racistes postés sur le réseau social Facebook. Elle
est accusée d’avoir diffusé sur son profile Facebook un commentaire à caractère
sectaire.
Monday, 06 August 2012 16:42
Krishnee Bunwaree : « Je présente mes excuses…»
La jeune
habitante de Vallée des Prêtres dit regretter son geste. Krishnee Bunwaree,
accusée d’avoir diffusé des propos à relent communal, présente ses excuses à
« tous ceux qui ont été blessés » par le message » qu’elle a
posté sur le réseau social.
« Je
regrette ce qui s’est passé. J’aimerai demander à toute la population de
m’excuser. Je demande aussi à tous ceux qui ont été blessés de
m’excuser » : ce sont les premiers mots de Krishnee Bunwaree après sa
remise en liberté conditionnelle ce lundi 6 août. L’habitante de Vallée des
Prêtres, âgée de 22 ans, a obtenu la liberté provisoire après avoir fourni une
caution de Rs 25 000 et signé une reconnaissance de dette de Rs 75 000 au
tribunal de Port-Louis.
La Cour a, toutefois, imposé
quelques conditions à Krishnee Bunwaree : elle devra habiter un autre
endroit ; elle ne pourra sortir le soir et elle devra se présenter à la
police tous les jours entre 6 heures du matin et 18 heures.Krishnee Bunwaree a été arrêtée mercredi 1er août dans le cadre de l’enquête policière sur les propos racistes postés sur le réseau social Facebook. Elle est accusée d’avoir diffusé sur son profile Facebook un commentaire à caractère sectaire.
Selon l’acte d'accusation qui a été logé contre Krishnee, elle aurait : « unlawfully and knowingly use a computer system to perform a function for the purpose of securing a program in the computer system with intent to commit an offence to wit :- stirring up racial hatred ». Si elle est trouvée coupable, elle risque jusqu’à cinq ans de prison et une amende d’un million de roupies.
ARISHMA OR KRISHNEE?
BLOODY HELL!
ibérée, Krishnee Bunwaree
présente ses excuses
“Je présente mes excuses à la population et à tous
ceux qui ont été offensés par mes commentaires.” Telle est la première
déclaration faite par Krishnee Bunwaree, âgée de 22 ans, à l’issue de
sa comparution au tribunal de Port-Louis lundi.
Pour sa sécurité, elle a été escortée chez un proche vu que la police a eu vent que des inconnus faisaient des allers-retours près de son domicile à Vallée-des-Prêtres.
La cour lui a aussi imposé un couvre-feu de 18 heures à 6 heures et elle devra se présenter quotidiennement au poste de police le plus proche de chez elle.
Avant sa comparution en justice en ce début de semaine, la police avait pris des dispositions nécessaires pour éviter tout dérapage.
Krishnee Bunwaree a même été escortée par une équipe de la police. Il n’y a eu aucun incident à déplorer au tribunal.
La jeune femme est accusée d’avoir posté des commentaires sectaires sur sa page Facebook le week-end dernier.
La Cybercrime Unit du CCID avait alors pris l’affaire en main et cette habitante de Vallée-des-Prêtres avait été appréhendée mercredi avant d'être traduite en justice le lendemain.
Pour assurer sa sécurité, la police avait objecté à sa demande de remise en liberté sous caution. (Better late than never! BAFS) Depuis, elle avait été admise à l’hôpital pour des raisons de santé.
N.B. Also posted on Le Matinal last evening and
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Posting as Ghyslaine Roc (Not you?)
"It
is up to the government to set up a press watchdog and to introduce
Religious Education in Mauritian schools so that children can learn and
respect the different cultures and religions of Mauritians." I could
not have said it better!
"caution
de Rs 25 000 et signé une reconnaissance de dette de Rs 75 000. (Holy
SHIT! BAFS) - "Pour assurer sa sécurité, la police avait objecté à sa
demande de remise en liberté sous caution. (Better late than never!
BAFS)" If instead in indulging in GOSSIP, the media had asked for a
detailed Police Report about the matter, we would have avoided
MISLEADING the public or was it done on purpose?
