Pakistan

Like so many folks around the world, I today say a prayer for a courageous woman, the first female head of state of a Muslim nation, an advocate for democracy and moderation in an increasingly polarized and radicalized world.

I pray for her family, especially her husband and three teenage children, that God may somehow comfort them in this time of loss.

I pray for Pakistan, that her people may not rise up with more violence against each other, but rather follow the path towards peace and democracy that her now martyred leader called them to pursue.

A few days ago Jim Ramelis wrote a post on the incarceration of a Saudi rape victim by Saudi authorities. It was a shocking and sad case, but one of the things I noticed was the fact that there was a lawyer who was willing to be suspended, have his license confiscated, and face disciplinary action, in order to defend this Saudi women from obvious injustice. I've been reading a lot in the news about the bravery of lawyers willing to risk their jobs and their lives to fight for justice. Just a few weeks ago lawyers in Pakistan were fighting soldiers and tear gas to protest Musharraf's attempts to stiffle the rule of law. In the Tuesday edition of the L.A. Times, there was an article by Borzou Daragahi about lawyers in Iran who faced harassment for fighting for peaceful change inside Iraq through the legal system. That shows an admirable courage in a profession that one doesn't often think of when one thinks of activism.