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FBI arrests 7 in Amish haircut attacks in US

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Published : Nov. 25, 2011 - 14:27

MILLERSBURG, Ohio (AP) _ The leader of a breakaway Amish group allowed the beatings of those who disobeyed him, made some members sleep in a chicken coop and had sexual relations with married women to ``cleanse them,'' federal authorities said Wednesday as they charged him and six others with hate crimes in hair-cutting attacks against other Amish.


(AP)


Authorities raided the group's compound in eastern Ohio earlier in the day and arrested seven men, including group leader Sam Mullet and three of his sons.

Several members of the group carried out the attacks in September, October and November by forcefully cutting the beards and hair of Amish men and women and then taking photos of them, authorities said.

Cutting the hair is a highly offensive act to the Amish, who believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry. One victim told the FBI he would rather have been ``beaten black and blue than to suffer the disfigurement and humiliation of having his hair removed,'' according to court papers.

The attacks struck at the core of the Amish identity and tested their principles. They are pacifists and strongly believe that they must be forgiving in order for God to forgive them, which often means handing out their own punishment and not reporting crimes to law enforcement.

The attacks had terrorized Amish communities, Sheriff Fred Abdalla said at a news conference Wednesday.

``You've got Amish all over the state of Ohio and Pennsylvania and Indiana that are concerned. We've received hundreds and hundreds of calls from people living in fear,'' he said. ``They are buying Mace, some are sitting with shotguns, getting locks on their doors because of Sam Mullet.''

The sheriff added, ``Sam Mullet is evil.''

A defense attorney for Sam Mullet said his client would fight the federal charges.

Mullet told The Associated Press in October that he didn't order the hair-cutting but didn't stop his sons and others from carrying it out. He said the goal was to send a message to other Amish that they should be ashamed of themselves for the way they were treating Mullet and his community.

``They changed the rulings of our church here, and they're trying to force their way down our throat, make us do like they want us to do, and we're not going to do that,'' Mullet said.

U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said Wednesday that religious differences should be a matter of theological debate, not disputes ``resolved by late night visits to people's homes with weapons and violent attacks.'' He said he did not know how often hate crimes involve intradenominational disputes.

Those arrested include Mullet; his sons Johnny, Lester and Daniel; Levi Miller; Eli Miller; and Emanuel Schrock. The charges carry a penalty of up 10 years in prison.

The men appeared in U.S. District Court in Youngstown on Wednesday afternoon, and Magistrate Judge George Limbert ordered them detained by the U.S. Marshals Service pending hearings next week.

Attorneys for Johnny and Lester Mullet and Levi and Eli Miller said they could not comment Wednesday on the details of the case. Messages seeking comment were left for attorneys representing Daniel Mullet and Emanuel Schrock.

Lawyer Andy Hyde, who represents Sam Mullet in the state case, said Mullet would contest the federal charges but said he didn't know if he would represent Mullet in federal court.

Prosecutor Steve Knowling, who filed state charges against five of the same defendants last month, said he would dismiss those counts and let federal prosecutors take the lead in the case.

In the state case, an Amish bishop and his son said they were held down while men used scissors and a clipper to cut their beards.

The seven men were sleeping when the FBI and local police showed up at their homes before dawn Wednesday, the sheriff said. Three men initially refused to come out of their rooms, but all seven were arrested without incident, he said.

An FBI affidavit said Johnny, Lester and Daniel Mullet and Levi and Eli Miller all confessed in early October to taking part in at least a couple of the attacks.

Johnny Mullet told detectives that it was his idea to cut the hair and beards and that he discussed the idea with his father, who gave him the addresses of two victims, the affidavit said.

Lester Mullet told detectives that after two attacks in late September, the men went home and told Sam Mullet what happened. He said his father laughed and called them nuts, the court document said.

Abdalla, the sheriff, said he didn't know the specifics of the religious disagreements that prompted Mullet to form his own community in 1995.

But the heart of his recent dispute with Amish bishops stemmed from his desire to excommunicate several members, the FBI said. Other bishops concluded the excommunications weren't consistent with Amish teachings and scripture and decided not to recognize the penalties, the FBI said.

One of Mullet's daughters-in-law and a former brother-in-law told investigators that Mullet controls everything that happens within the community outside Bergholz and that he allowed others to beat members of the group who disobeyed him, according to the affidavit filed in federal court Wednesday.

Mullet punished some by making them sleep in a chicken coop for days and was sexually intimate with married women in the community so that he could ``cleanse them of the devil,'' the two said in the affidavit.

Both said they left the community because they did not want to live under Mullet's control.

Authorities said previously that some Amish refused to press charges, following their practice of avoiding involvement of the courts.

Dettelbach alluded to the issue, saying: ``It is not the victim's job to decide or to bring charges. I think that's a message I would like people to understand. These charges in this case are the result of our independent determination that crimes occurred.''

Stephen Anthony, head of the FBI in northern Ohio, said hate crimes are a priority for the agency.

``The message we'd like to send should be clear that the FBI and all of our law enforcement partners represented here today take civil rights violations very, very seriously,'' he said.

Ohio has an estimated Amish population of just under 61,000 _ second only to Pennsylvania _ with most living in rural counties south and east of Cleveland.

They have a modest lifestyle and are deeply religious. Their traditions of traveling by horse and buggy and forgoing most modern conveniences distance themselves from the outside world and symbolize a yielding to a collective order.

 



美 종교지도자, 머리카락 자른 죄로 체포돼

아미쉬인 머리카락 자르는 건 '증오범죄'

교인들을 닭장에서 자게 하거나 '악령을 쫓는다'며 유부녀와 성관계를 가진 한 아미쉬 집단의 지도자가 다른  아미쉬인 들의 머리카락을 자르는 '증오 범죄'(hate crimes)를 저지른 혐의로 기소됐다고  미국 연방 당국이 23일(현지시간) 밝혔다.

증오 범죄는 소수 인종, 소수 민족, 동성애자, 특정 종교인이나 사회적 약자 층 에 이유 없는 증오심을 갖고 불특정한 상대에게 테러를 가하는 행위를 일컫는다.

당국은 동부 오하이오에 있는 이 집단의 거주지를 이날 오전 덮쳐 지도자 샘 뮬렛과 세 아들을 포함해 7명을 체포했다.

이들은 지난 석 달간 아미쉬 남성과 여성의 수염과 머리카락을 강제로 자르는 등의 공격을 가하고 나서 사진을 찍었다고 당국은 전했다.

결혼하면 여성은 머리카락을 기르고 남성은 면도하지 않아야 한다고 성경이 가르친다고 믿는 아미쉬인들에게 머리카락을 자르는 것은 매우 모욕적인 행위이다.

온건하고 매우 종교적인 아미쉬인은 현대의 기술 문명을 거부하고 소박한 농경 생활을 하는 미국의 한 종교 집단으로, 한 피해자는 FBI에 "볼꼴사납고 창피하게 머리카락을 잘리는 고통을 당하느니 시퍼렇게 멍이 들도록 두들겨 맞는 게 낫다"고 진술했다.

제퍼슨 카운티의 보안관은 기자회견에서 "오하이오, 펜실베이니아, 인디아나주 의 모든 아미쉬 공동체가 이번 상황을 우려했으며 공포에 질린 사람들로부터 수많은 전화를 받았다. 샘 뮬렛 때문에 이들은 '메이스'(호신용 스프레이)를 사들이고 일부는 엽총을 소지하거나 문을 걸어잠그기도 했다"고 말했다.

뮬렛은 지난달 AP에 머리카락을 자르라고 지시하지 않았지만, 그의 아들 등이 그렇게 하는 것을 막지도 않았다면서 다른 아미쉬인들이 자신의 공동체를 무시하는 데 대해 경고 메시지를 전달하려는 목적이었다고 주장했다.

뮬렛은 "그들은 우리 교회 규칙을 바꾸고 그들의 방식을 강요했다"고 말했다.

검찰은 종교 차이는 신학 논쟁의 문제이지 밤에 무기를 들고 집에 찾아가 공격함 으로써 해결해서는 안 된다며 이런 증오 범죄를 매우 심각하게 다루고 있다고 밝혔다.

오하이오의 아미쉬 인구는 펜실베이니아 다음으로 많은 6만 1천 명 정도다.

 




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