 |
| Ray Cole Freed |
Recently Ray Cole, a 69 year old man from the UK went to a country, where homosexual acts are legally forbidden.
He knew this to be the case, and the Foreign Office guidelines state that 'homosexuality is a crime in Morocco', but apparently he wanted to 'holiday' with a Moroccan man in his twenties, 'Jamal Jam Wald Nass', a 'friend' who he had met on Facebook, and who he had visited in Morocco once before .... he also allegedly had a phone, with images relating to homosexual sex acts with him when he went there.
The two men were arrested at a bus station (under what exact circumstances they attracted the police attention are not made clear, although an old Westerner and young Moroccan are likely to stand out), and the UK man spent 20 days in jail in Marrakech, as a part of the 4 month sentence that each received. He was housed in a part of the prison that was reserved for older prisoners. Mr Cole was then given a conditional release pending an appeal and flew home ... his 'friend', who denied any homosexual acts with Mr Cole remained in prison.
The two men were arrested at a bus station (under what exact circumstances they attracted the police attention are not made clear, although an old Westerner and young Moroccan are likely to stand out), and the UK man spent 20 days in jail in Marrakech, as a part of the 4 month sentence that each received. He was housed in a part of the prison that was reserved for older prisoners. Mr Cole was then given a conditional release pending an appeal and flew home ... his 'friend', who denied any homosexual acts with Mr Cole remained in prison.
However instead of admitting that it was a stupid and crass thing of him to do, risking the safety of the young man, as well as his own freedom, he instead complained that the attitudes to homosexuality in Morocco "are about 100 years out of date". i.e. that Islamic countries should change their laws to accommodate his sexuality, as he wasn't a "sex tourist" i.e. picking up young Moroccan boys .... although how exactly he describes a 69 yr old western man, visiting a 20 something Moroccan 'friend', who he met on Facebook for sex, is not entirely clear. Certainly it would be an odd friendship in any country.
His local Conservative MP also added his two-pennyworth by saying telling the 'Pink News' that "I have been doing all I can to help free Mr Cole from these appalling charges. I urge people not to visit Morocco. If you go there you are at serious risk of facing trumped up charges for medieval crimes. The message is clear: Morocco is not safe for British tourists." .... err, I think he means homosexual men travelling for the purpose of having sex with young Arab males .... and by 'medieval crimes' he means acts that were illegal in the UK just 65 years ago, not in medieval times. Just how ignorant are MP's these days?
Apparently the 20 something was still in prison in Morocco, and no doubt facing the daily and nightly pleasures of a Moroccan prison, where rape is common, and all because a 69 year old Western homosexual was too arrogant to take advice on where to take his new friend on holidays.
I don't care if someone is homosexual or bisexual ... but they seem, like many others from the West, to assume that the fact that we rather stupidly change our laws, or turn a blind eye, to accommodate the backward 7th Century attitudes held by some immigrants to our lands, means that they should do the same to to accommodate our tourists 'modern' attitudes.
The message is clear enough to me, if not to the Pink News, a Tory MP and the elderly tourist ... don't expect foreign countries to change their laws to accommodate Western values, and we shouldn't be changing our laws to accommodate their 'medieval' values when they come here.
They don't, and they won't ... and nor should we expect them to .... 'Imperialism' comes in many guises, including 'cultural', and sexual.
His local Conservative MP also added his two-pennyworth by saying telling the 'Pink News' that "I have been doing all I can to help free Mr Cole from these appalling charges. I urge people not to visit Morocco. If you go there you are at serious risk of facing trumped up charges for medieval crimes. The message is clear: Morocco is not safe for British tourists." .... err, I think he means homosexual men travelling for the purpose of having sex with young Arab males .... and by 'medieval crimes' he means acts that were illegal in the UK just 65 years ago, not in medieval times. Just how ignorant are MP's these days?
Apparently the 20 something was still in prison in Morocco, and no doubt facing the daily and nightly pleasures of a Moroccan prison, where rape is common, and all because a 69 year old Western homosexual was too arrogant to take advice on where to take his new friend on holidays.
I don't care if someone is homosexual or bisexual ... but they seem, like many others from the West, to assume that the fact that we rather stupidly change our laws, or turn a blind eye, to accommodate the backward 7th Century attitudes held by some immigrants to our lands, means that they should do the same to to accommodate our tourists 'modern' attitudes.
The message is clear enough to me, if not to the Pink News, a Tory MP and the elderly tourist ... don't expect foreign countries to change their laws to accommodate Western values, and we shouldn't be changing our laws to accommodate their 'medieval' values when they come here.
 |
| Imperialism - Not Just Empires |
They don't, and they won't ... and nor should we expect them to .... 'Imperialism' comes in many guises, including 'cultural', and sexual.
Update: The Moroccan was released pending an appeal four days after Mr Cole went home.
I agree that this person exhibited arrogance which landed both he and his friend in hot water, but such arrogance isn't unique to our Western culture and while we shouldn't expect other cultures to accomodate Western values, there's nothing wrong with promoting Human values and condemning laws which make outlaws of people for the way that they were born. Culture is a choice, sexuality not.
ReplyDeleteGenerally I agree with you but you don't promote our values by going there and ignoring theirs. The boyfriend has been put in harms way for nothing more than hubris.
Delete