Quote# 89029
70 sect members found living underground in Russia
A reclusive sect that literally went underground to stop contact with the outside world kept 27 children in dark and unheated cells, many of them for more than a decade, prosecutors said Wednesday. The children have been freed and the parents charged with child abuse.
Some of the children, aged between 1 and 17, have never seen daylight, health officials said. The sect's 83-year-old founder Faizrakhman Satarov, who declared himself a Muslim prophet in contradiction with the principles of Islam, has also been charged with negligence, Irina Petrova, deputy prosecutor in the provincial capital of Kazan, told The Associated Press.
No members of the sect, who call themselves "muammin" after the Arabic term that means "believers," have been arrested, she said.
The children were discovered last week when police searched the sect grounds as part of a probe into the recent killing of a top Tatarstan Muslim cleric, an attack local officials blame on radical Islamist groups that have mushroomed in the oil-rich, Volga River province.
Satarov, a former top imam in the neighboring province of Bashkortostan, declared his house outside Kazan an independent Islamic state. He ordered some 70 followers to live in cells they dug under the three-story building topped by a small minaret with a tin crescent moon. Only a few sect members were allowed to leave the premises to work as traders at a local market, Russian media reported.
The children have been placed in local hospitals for observation and will temporarily live in an orphanage, pediatrician Tatyana Moroz said in televised remarks.
Faizrakhman Satarov,
The Telegraph 25 Comments [8/17/2012 3:05:12 AM]
Fundie Index: 63
Submitted By: OohShiny
1
#1435814
JeanP
If only all the fundies were going living underground so as to stop contact with the outside world..
Instead they pester society by reclaming censorship and reduction of our liberties because of their holy book.
If we fundraise some money to finance the exile of all the fundies in a desert location?
8/17/2012 3:52:44 AM
#1435833
Doubting Thomas
Religion. Keeping people in the dark for thousands of years. Sometimes literally.
8/17/2012 5:09:35 AM
#1435845
Mister Spak
", declared his house outside Kazan an independent Islamic state."
Is that the record for the smallest caliphate ever?
8/17/2012 5:25:41 AM
#1435850
Robespierre
Just call it homeschooling, it should be fine.
8/17/2012 5:36:01 AM
#1435857
Percy Q. Shunn
8/17/2012 6:03:34 AM
#1435864
dionysus
I always find it unsurprising how extremist movements and cults have to distance themselves (often physically) from the rest of society. That just being in contact with normal people is a threat to their beliefs shows just how fragile they are. I, on the other hand, as an atheist am happy to talk beliefs (that includes philosophies) with anyone that wants to.
8/17/2012 6:18:13 AM
#1435902
Anon-e-moose
And what was their national anthem? Wait for it, wait for it...
..."Going Underground" by The Jam.
...I'll get my coat., XP X3
In Soviet Russia, people exile themselves. [/smartarse]
8/17/2012 7:42:30 AM
#1435909
\m/>_<\m/
this is why we can't have nice things. if even russia has got fundie problems (among the rest), you know this situation gets out of hand.
(when i say fundies, i do mean other than russian orthodoxy)
8/17/2012 7:56:28 AM
#1435920
This reminds me of a very similar case with the Yearning for Zion Ranch a few years ago in Texas (which involved over 400 children).
In cases like these which involve child abuse, I actually prefer Russia's more heavy-handed approach. (In the U.S. case, Yearning for Zion actually retained custody of most of the children, and the state had to pay reparations for the raid)
I don't care what the moral of Abraham and Isaac is supposed to be, any parent who willfully endanger and abuse their progeny to appease some magic man in the sky has no business being a parent.
8/17/2012 8:16:25 AM
#1435932
Hakar
He's probably played too much Dwarf Fortress, that's all.
8/17/2012 8:43:41 AM
#1435946
Ebon
I don't even know what to say to this.
8/17/2012 9:00:36 AM
#1435972
JeanP
@Hakar
"He's probably played too much Dwarf Fortress, that's all"
And it's why authorities have inverviened:
1)All forteresses end in failure (ie Total Party Kill);
2)Children are casually slaughtered.
@1435920
I agree: the authorities shoudn't have waited TEN YEARS before sending children in foster care.
I'm sick of the Ria Ramkissoons and others who make a book pass before theor children.
Zion, the guys who married theirs 13-years-old cousins?
8/17/2012 9:49:02 AM
#1435984
shykid
Wow. I have no words for this. This made me gasp out loud in the middle of my Language Education class.
Just, this better make it into the Top 100.
8/17/2012 10:00:25 AM
#1436008
rw23
@Percy Q. Shunn:
Why does your graphic say 'LOL shoot'?
Try ?????.
Edit: Too much to hope that the Cyrillic would show up. Never mind.
8/17/2012 11:02:21 AM
#1436016
Fundies Make Me Sick
How horrific. I hope those kids will be okay. The parents should be disgusted with themselves and why is the leader of this sect not being charged with false imprisonment?
8/17/2012 11:34:58 AM
#1436045
Old Viking
I doubt if life is sustainable for any prolonged period without sunlight. Except in certain parts of New Jersey.
8/17/2012 1:46:45 PM
#1436050
8/17/2012 1:50:28 PM
#1436067
checkmate
Prominent christian leaders respond:
"Cool! Those Musils realy know their stuff!"
(David Koresh, Branch Davidians)
"Shit! Why didn't I think of that? Dammit."
(Jim Jones, Jonestown)
"Hahaha! Amateurs! Beginners!"
(Benedict XVI, Pope)
"God hates tunnels! But he doesn't care, as long as there are no FAGS down there with them."
(Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist Church)
"If they's ain't got no TV and can't send me no money, who gives a shit about 'em?"
(Ken Copeland, TV nutcase preacher)
8/17/2012 2:19:03 PM
#1436166
Alfador
Bah that's no proper fortress. Where are the engravings of cheese? The rotting carcasses of nobles? The ominously warm bauxite floodgates with nearby levers labeled "Free Candy For Nobles"?
8/17/2012 11:03:29 PM
#1436167
Tolpuddle Martyr
Poor kids.
8/17/2012 11:06:06 PM
#1436171
Blue the Thief
"70 sect members found living underground in Russia"
"People of Metro! We have awaited your arrival! We are those who are called the Invisible Watchers. Your time has come. And now you will feel our wrath!"
"...declared his house outside Kazan an independent Islamic state..."
Wasn't that an episode of Family Guy?
"...The sect's 83-year-old founder Faizrakhman Satarov, who declared himself a Muslim prophet in contradiction with the principles of Islam..."
So basically, he wanted to be a king? Figures.
Hakar
He's probably played too much Dwarf Fortress, that's all.
Good thing they found them before they dug too deep then, eh?
---------------
All in all, 7/10, would read again.
Oh! I almost forgot:
8/18/2012 12:11:27 AM
#1436255
Raised by Horses
(Waits for Pat Robertson et al to blame all this on those pesky atheists).
8/18/2012 6:41:26 AM
#1437548
tranz2deep
If you're trying to pain Islam with a nutbar brush, there's more Christian Scientists perfectly willing to let their family members die in agony so God can revive them.
Every religion has its nutbars. Who Knew?
8/21/2012 7:21:17 AM
#1438805
Alethe
@ Doubting Thomas: Superb. You deserve one Internets.
8/24/2012 6:35:52 PM
#1441825
Holy shit.
9/1/2012 3:04:43 PM
1