John North Editor & Publisher

I didnít expect the Spanish Inquisition! But there it was in Islamabad, Pakistan, two weeks ago ó or at least the radical Muslim version of it.

Reportedly, a veritable posse of women covered head to toe in black burkas descended on a massage parlor and kidnapped 25 Chinese masseuses, the latter clad only in panties and bras.
The morality vigilantes, who are students at a nearby madrasa (or Islamic school), hauled the masseuses back to their school and held them as prisoners in the women-only section of their madrasa.

The raid was conducted because the students said they were concerned that the cityís massage parlors really are fronts for brothels. They contended that it is the duty of the government to enforce Koranic law and close down these so-called dens of iniquity.

In the aftermath, the masseuses were released after the Chinese government pressured Pakistanís government to put the screws on the schoolís leader ó Abdul Rashid Ghazi, a firebrand preacher and opponent of Pakistanís Western-leaning government. In essence, the students cooperated with Ghazi to release their prisoners.

I can think of quite a few other people Iíd rather see the madrasa students kidnap, starting with Hollywoodís trio of pop tarts ó Paris Hilton, Britanny Spears and Lindsay Lohan. Or maybe they should tie a gag on Anne Coulter, the foul-mouthed ìbabeî of Americaís radical right who recently wished out loud that presidential candidate John Edwards had been killed by terrorists.

Maybe Muslim extremists should go after Christian extremists, such as Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church, a group that pickets and tries to disrupt military funerals because it blames Americaís failure in Iraq on its alleged tolerance for gays.

Seriously, given that no human being is perfect, one might remember Jesusí admonition that ìHe that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.î

Secondly, short of anarchy, a society needs to heed its rule of law and not convict ó and punish ó people for alleged crimes without a legal process including a fair trial, ìmoral transgressionsî or no.

While finding the masseuses scantily clad might be considered circumstantial evidence of their moral iniquity, it in itself is not conclusive. If there is a problem, these outraged women need to work through the government and its law-enforcement agencies.

While I donít condone prostitution, as a libertarian at heart, I just canít see making such a hullabaloo over a victimless crime.

As for the Spanish Inquisition, its excesses taught Western society the perils of using the pretext of religion to execute moral judgements on others. I† hope radical proponents of Islam can learn the same.
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John North, publisher and editor of the Daily Planet, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .