In the West: A Modern Form of Afghan “Bacha Bazi” Pedophilia? (Part One)

Update February 3rd:  World Net Daily does the story, here.

Editor:  This is another excellent news analysis from ‘Pungentpeppers’ who reports that there is more to come regarding this dreadful ‘diversity is beautiful’ alert….

The destruction of Afghanistan’s boys. Has this insidious sexual abuse come to America with the refugee population? Photo: http://www.ryot.org/bacha-bazi-afghanistan-pashtun-child-abuse-christian-stephen/912777

A HI-TECH AFGHAN-AMERICAN CRIME:  Police in California have arrested Qayed Murtaza Shareef, 39, the CEO of a technology company. Shareef allegedly engaged in ‘sexually explicit conversations’ with a pair of 9- and 10-year-old boys in Virginia, using an online texting application called Tango.

Shareef pretended to be a teenaged boy named “Jeremy Stevens”.  He acted like a film director and told the boys what sex acts he wanted them to perform with each other while he was photographing and videotaping them through a tablet they were using. He also shared adult pornography with the boys, including demonstrations of his own sexual performances.

From ABC7 (Los Angeles):

“He basically just started it off, ‘Hey what’s your age?’ And within an hour, took it sexual,” said prosecutor Vanessa Woods. “He sent photos and videos of himself, as well as pornographic videos.”

Authorities say the 39-year-old then gave instructions to the boys to record each other and to him send the photos and videos.

“He was very specifically asking them to do various sexual positions, acts, show sexual body parts,” Woods said.

Prosecutors say the crimes allegedly started Christmas Day 2013 and lasted four days. Investigators discovered 30 different videos of sex acts after being contacted by the boy’s mother.

The mother of one of the boys found the messages when she checked the tablet on December 30, 2013.  She then notified police in Virginia. Because of the complexity of the case, requiring multiple subpoenas, the investigation took almost a year.  If convicted, Shareef faces a maximum sentence of 752 years to life in state prison. He is being held on $2 million bail. There are likely more victims yet to be identified.  Anyone with information should contact Orange County investigators at the Patch link below.

THE PERPETRATOR:  Born in Afghanistan, Qayed Shareef had achieved the American Dream.  He arrived in the U.S. with his mother and brother when he was eleven years old.  They were refugees fleeing from one of Afghanistan’s many wars.  His father, who was a fighter, stayed behind.  Once in California, Shareef learned to speak English with barely a trace of an accent.  He became an expert in internet media advertising and technology and worked his way up to be the CEO of Adaptive Media, a publicly traded corporation he founded based in Irvine, California.  He also married and became a father.  He has since been terminated from his job.

“BACHA BAZI”:  Growing up in Afghan society, Shareef must have witnessed Bacha Bazi – if he wasn’t a victim of it himself.  “Bacha Bazi” means “Boy Play” and it is pervasive and deeply rooted in Afghanistan’s tribal culture where women are taboo and must remain hidden.  Bacha Bazi is sometimes portrayed as men acting something like our “drag queens”, but Afghan style, and they dance at parties. That’s a whitewash of the insidious and sinister nature of Bacha Bazi.

Young boys become drawn into the play acting – and much more than dancing is involved.  Usually the boys are poor and vulnerable in some way.  Perhaps Shareef, with an absent father, fell into the trap.

The boys who are abused are generally between the ages of 8 and 16 – or the ages of Shareef’s victims.  They are forced to dress like women, dance like women, and perform sexually in the place of women.  Once they mature and their beards starts to grow, they are expected to switch roles and start acting like men. Often they themselves go on to obtain their own boys to abuse, and thus continue the cycle. Commonly, a newly-matured former boy marries the daughter of his own abuser, in order that the father could maintain his sexual relationship with him.

“As a culture that has repeatedly allowed the victimisation of young men by their elders, and turned survivors into abusers, Afghanistan has unleashed multiple generations of predators and traumatised young men.” [See “Hand Covers Bruise …” Link below.]

At least one of those Afghan predators found his way to Australia. …… To Be Continued.

***Update*** See Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

For readers wishing to learn more, here are the links for this shocking story:

Patch:  Tech CEO from Aliso Viejo Charged with Sexually Assaulting Children
http://patch.com/california/lagunaniguel-danapoint/tech-ceo-aliso-viejo-charged-sexually-assaulting-children

Informative video on the case, showing the perpetrator being interviewed for a business news segment.  Irvine CEO Accused Of Trading Sex Videos With Boys In Virginia.  (Note, Shareef was not caught in a “sting” operation.)
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/01/23/irvine-ceo-accused-of-trading-sex-videos-with-boys-in-virginia/

CEO of Irvine company facing child sex charges – with video.
http://abc7.com/news/ceo-of-irvine-company-facing-child-sex-charges/488811/

Hand Covers Bruise: The Destruction of Afghanistan’s Boys.  Excellent recent piece about the pervasiveness of Bacha Bazi in Pashtun Afghan culture:
http://www.ryot.org/bacha-bazi-afghanistan-pashtun-child-abuse-christian-stephen/912777

Video about Bacha Bazi in Mazar-e-Sharif, Northern Afghanistan, 6 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu9a5cUwS1Y

BBC report about Bacha Bazi – in Persian.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/afghanistan/2014/08/140820_k03_aihrc_report_on_bachabaazi

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