London/Brussels
Joined January 2017
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My effort on Pakistan's 70th Independance Anniversary. globalvillagespace.com/pakis…
Rich Harris retweeted
It gets even worse. The victim whose testimony was taken as the gold standard has "lengthy mental health and addiction problems."
Rich Harris retweeted
Russell Brand was just sentenced to a 10.5-year prison stint solely on the word of a loose groupie.
Mere minutes after meeting Brand, she engaged in numerous depraved sex acts with him. After going back for more, she felt humiliated by the experience of being treated like a filthy whore when Brand rudely cast her aside. Fifteen years later, she contended that ONE of the depraved sex acts she engaged in with Brand was not consensual.
Fifteen years later, she testified that she said "No" to one of the sex acts. Brand claims she said "Yes."
Based on that discrepancy, Brand is sentenced to 10.5 years in prison.
Rich Harris retweeted
Almost all of the world’s 100 most polluted cities are in India.
We are the true ‘Vishwaguru’ of filthy air.
Rich Harris retweeted
On 15 January 1994 a 19 year old pharmacy student in Gulbarga, Karnataka, left home for college. His exam was 15 days away. He never reached college. He came home 23 years later.
His name is Nisar-ud-din Ahmad.
A police team from Hyderabad picked him up near his house. Karnataka Police were not told. For six weeks his family did not know where he was.
He was accused in the train blasts of December 1993 at Kota, Hyderabad, Surat, Kanpur and Mumbai.
The main evidence against him was a confession he gave in police custody. Police used the anti terror law TADA to make it count in court.
He was sentenced to life.
His father, Noor-ud-din Ahmad, spent everything he had fighting for his son. He died in 2006.
On 11 May 2016 the Supreme Court set aside his conviction and ordered his release.
He walked out of Jaipur jail at 43.
He said, "After 23 years in jail, I am free. But what you see now is a living corpse."
Rich Harris retweeted
For those who don't know the Russell Brand case...
Imagine being sentenced to 10.5 YEARS in prison for alleged offenses dating back as far as 22 YEARS AGO, in a case where the police say there was zero CCTV footage, zero forensic evidence, and digital enquiries were limited because SOOOOO much time had passed, and prosecutors themselves acknowledge that the passage of time limited the available evidence, and yet STILL a jury convicts you in a case built primarily on testimony, and then you get to sentencing and the judge acknowledges the work you have done helping people overcome addiction, including paying for their treatment, acknowledges that your children will lose the presence of their father, and also accepts that there is no sound evidential basis to conclude you pose a future risk, and still sentences you to 10.5 YEARS in prison, again following convictions reached without CCTV or forensic evidence, and now you’re left asking how the testimony and supporting material established the disputed acts beyond reasonable doubt despite those gaps, and how the court justified a sentence that will take years out of your children’s childhoods for offenses from nearly two decades earlier, which is roughly where Russell Brand is tonight.
Rich Harris retweeted
This video has gone viral on Arabic social media that I monitor...
A Saudi Arabian man whose brother was murdered stands in front of a delegation of tribal elders who came to ask him to pardon the killer. His answer:
“As for my brother, you are turned away on it, by God’s command and God’s law… Either hospitality, the door opens and you come in, welcome on my head and my brothers’ heads. Or, men, my brother’s case is not open for any talk.”
He refused the pardon and still offered them his door, because in that culture a guest is honoured even when his request is rejected.
I have seen this tradition and law being exercised in person in Saudi Arabia and they are powerful moments in the culture and context of the Middle East.
How the law works. In Saudi Arabia "intentional murder" carries qisas ( or retribution), and the right to it belongs to the victim’s heirs.
The family has 3 options:
1. demand execution of the killer or wrong-doer.
2. pardon for free, or
3. pardon in exchange for diya (or blood money).
The killer’s tribe sends its MOST highly respected men to ask, and the WHOLE tribe often pays. Even after a pardon, the state can still jail the killer on its "public" right or if it deems it in the interest of public good.
I have seen this up close in real life across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Iraq calls it fasl, and Pakistan wrote qisas and diyat into its penal code.
Whether it comes through custom, religion or tribal tradition, the goal is the same: pay for one death so the families do not trade 10 more as they may be tempted to seek revenge...
Why does it work? Because it reprices murder.
The tribe pays, so the tribe polices its own. Every family has a cash reason to restrain its hotheads BEFORE anyone pulls a trigger.
It breaks the revenge cycle. Without a settlement, "side A" retaliates, "side B" retaliates back, and 1 death becomes a feud that runs for a generation. A paid pardon ends it at ONE murder.
The victim’s family gets something. A prison sentence gives them NOTHING, the taxpayer funds 25+ years of a cell, and the killer walks out owing nothing to the family he broke and the children of the victim won't get anything in the West.
The killer’s side has to come to the victim’s door and ask, in front of everyone. In an "honour economy" that costs more than time served.
Is it perfect? No. Rich families can buy their way out, sums of tens of millions of riyals have been reported, and this video shows the pressure that falls on a grieving family. Which is why the right to refuse has to stay real, and this man just used it...
The West handed all of this to the State and the Prison system, and mostly forgot how to make an offender face the family he wronged and pay them.
If it were your brother, would you take the diya or demand the qisas?
Signal, not noise!
Islam and Christianity are more than just religions. They are civilisational entities and a cultural mileau developed over centuries. No one bats an eyelid when an Arab dresses to western civilisational standards. Non Arabs & converts may want to access that cultural mileau.
I don't agree with the name part. There's nothing wrong with an Arab dressing like an Arab or a Muslim choosing an Arabic name. The problem is when people start believing that being Muslim means becoming Arab. You can practise Islam fully without giving up your own identity.
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Rich Harris retweeted
I was behind an indian at a cafe today.
Indian: “I’m getting my free coffee today”
*turns around to look at me to see if I give a shit*
Barista: “sir you have one stamp on your app, you do not qualify for a free coffee”
“Why don’t I get my free coffee?”
Barista: “you must make 5 purchases and your 6th is on us”
“Is there anything I can get for free now?”
Barista “no sir”
“Something free now would be good”
Barista: “your total is XYZ”
“No that’s too much”
Barista: “uh-“
“Give me special discount for good review”
Eventually his mother (I assume) just comes in and pays for his coffee and he doesnt even say Thankyou
This interaction took 4 minutes.
He then started pitching to other Indian men with him about property investments in Canada. Im not joking.
Rich Harris retweeted
Nitpicking at its finest
Hariram Kishorilal won from Mirpurkhas with less than 10% Hindu population with 30k votes vs 20k for the 2nd place ...(In 2018 and 2024) ....
I contested GE2024 from Karachi and noone Targetted me for being a HINDU in a 99% Muslim Majority constituency .... Yes I lost BUT with 20 candidates representing PPP PTI PMLN JI JUIF ANP MQM etc I didn't really expect to Win either
There are 10 NA Reserved Seats for Non Muslims plus 9 MPA Seats in Sindh, 8 MPA Seats in Punjab, 3+3 in KP and Balochistan plus 4 Senate seats ....
It's not the Winning that counts , its the Taking part "Baron Pierre de Coubertin" – at Karachi, Pakistan
The situation in neighboring Pakistan is even worse.
Non-Muslims comprise ~4% of Pakistan's population. Yet only 1 of its 266 directly elected National Assembly members is non-Muslim - a Hindu elected from a constituency with a dominant Hindu population.
Pakistan also has laws barring non-Muslims from some of the highest offices in the country, , and continues to exclude Ahmadis from the joint electoral rolls.
5/6
Rich Harris retweeted
What have you all done? NJ saheb is now doing Dar-e-Nijaat commentary 😱
Watching another episode of #Darenijat and Zaryab has begun seriously suspecting that Abu Bakar, so far the dream-husband, has/had deep relationship with another woman!
Rich Harris retweeted
I have tweeted this before too, The only reason these people travel is, to show themselves off!
They have a strange exhibitionist fetish. They fulfil it by doing silly antics like these.. dancing in public places, sitting on floor and eating, anything to make a spectacle of themselves !
They don’t travel to enjoy the world. They travel to get “noticed” .. and this is an extreme form of inferiority complex.
Rich Harris retweeted
Before discussing rising anti-Indian racism in America, we must ask: How did it start, and what role did our own idiots play?
After October 7, American politics became deeply divided over Israel and Palestine. The Gaza war reached American universities, triggering massive protests. India and Indian Americans had nothing to do with this conflict.
But a section of right-wing Hindus entered a political battle nobody invited them into, purely for cheap attention.
We are a tiny minority in America. Yet these idiots inserted themselves into a sensitive political conflict, bringing their Islamophobia and India’s domestic political hatred onto American platforms.
What followed? Indians became targets of mockery: “Full saport saar,” “Please marry me medam.”
Millions of ordinary Indians were stereotyped because of a few idiots.
Then came Vivek Ramaswamy’s controversial Christmas comments and Laura Loomer’s attacks on H-1B visas. The discussion expanded to Indian workers, immigration, cleanliness in India, and absurd religious practices.
Meanwhile, attention-seeking bad-faith actors within our community kept provoking Americans across the political spectrum for engagement.
Imagine African students or medical tourists in India constantly interfering in our domestic politics, insulting communities, and provoking Indians. How would we react?
Yet some popular Indian X handles allegedly funded by the BJP expect Americans to tolerate exactly that behavior.
As immigrants and a small minority, we must understand the political tensions of the country we live in. Nobody is asking us to support or oppose every American political movement. It’s not our duty.
But engaging with far-right figures like Nick Fuentes, provoking both sides, and importing Islamophobic rhetoric into American politics comes with consequences.
Then the rabid Hindutva dogs from India joined these arguments, making everything more toxic, vulgar, and uncivilized.
The result? Indian stereotypes spread, online hostility became normalized, and ordinary immigrant families faced the backlash.
Racism is the responsibility of racists. But our right-wing influencers must also be questioned for exploiting political tensions while everyone else pays the price.
They gained followers and engagement. Ordinary Indians inherited the hostility.
We Indians used to be respected as calm, decent, inclusive, and easygoing people. We were known as engineers, doctors, computer guys, and smart people.
Now we are mocked with stereotypes about cow urine, poop, dung, and slums.
The dehat and the right wing together destroyed a generational reputation.
Before blaming everyone else, question those within our community who turned India’s domestic political hatred into an international spectacle.
Rich Harris retweeted
These are the details of Russell Brand's rape conviction:
- Brand met a fan at one of his gigs in 2009 and invited her backstage
- She had a consensual threesome with him - "used her tongue on his anus" "within moments" of meeting him
- Days later Brand invited her to his house for sex, she agrees
- The Times attacks Brand in 2022 for joining Rumble and becoming a right wing "conspiracy theorist"
- The Times and Channel 4 colaborate for a big documentary expose in 2023
- Times says it had the allegations since 2019 but waited until his political shift to release them for some reason
- Complainants for his criminal case all come forward after the doc drops, some contacted and encouraged by journalists
- Jury concludes the woman 17 years ago consented to everything except anal sex, at which point she was raped
- Rape charge is bundled with other sexual assault charges, including him grabbing a woman's breasts (which jury concluded was forced) who then gave him oral sex (which jury found was not forced)
Brand now faces anything from 8 to 15 years in jail.
Rich Harris retweeted
This Reuters article on Tibet is insane: their argument is literally "yes, Tibetans are getting richer and work less, but have you considered how authentic and traditional their hardship used to be?".
It's basically Rousseau's "bon sauvage" all over again: condescension dressed up as compassion. Tibetans as noble exotics who thrive on hardship, a purer kind of human who somehow doesn't want what we want, which is all very moving as long as it's someone else living in a freezing yurt with no electricity or running water at 4,000 meters altitude.
China is once again destroying the age-old tradition of living in poverty. Somebody should call UNESCO to complain.
reuters.com/world/asia-pacif…
Rich Harris retweeted
This is such an amazing comparative analysis of Lata and Noor Jahan by Ally Adnan sahib.
(I know Twitter isn’t the best place for anyone to watch a longish video, but posting this anyway in case even a few people might be into it).
Rich Harris retweeted
"Biden’s Choice
Ben Rhodes
As Israel’s assault on Gaza grew worse and worse, Joe Biden and his advisers acted as though they had no option but to offer their unconditional support. Why couldn’t they see the destruction they were enabling?"
nybooks.com/articles/2026/11…
