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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
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MONTH: June 2006
Islamic PETA attorney leads D.C. demonstration
WASHINGTON, D.C.––PETA attorney Bina Ahmed in early May 2006 won extensive exposure for pro-animal Islamic teachings in Arab News, an internationally distributed print and electronic newspaper based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by staging a protest in Washington D.C. against Australian live exports of sheep and cattle for slaughter in the Middle East.
Ahmed told Barbara Ferguson of Arab News that she became involved in animal rights “because of lessons we are taught in Islam about kindness to people and animals and all living things.”
“It is un-Islamic,” Ahmed said, “to drag animals off the transport ships by their ears, kick them in the face, and stab them in the eyes,” as was recently captured on video by Lyn White of Animals Australia, “and then slit their throats several times and let them slowly bleed to death in front of other sheep. Halal slaughter is based on trying to make slaughter as painless as possible, so that includes not only feeding and watering the animal properly, but also not killing them in front of other animals, because it terrifies them,” she said.
Mohammed specifically spoke against slaughtering animals in front of each other.
The Council of American Islamic Relations endorsed Ahmed’s position. “I think that Muslims have to support all efforts to ensure humane and proper treatment of animals before their slaughter, and they should care about the well-being of the animals in the same way they should pay attention and care of the well being of human beings,” CAIR executive director Nihad Awad told Ferguson.