The Smarter Darren Bernard

First it was Miss Afghanistan who now cannot return to her home country because she may face prosecution:

An Afghan woman, condemned in her homeland after appearing in a bikini in a Philippine beauty contest last year, rejoined the pageant Sunday as a judge, saying the controversy bolstered her advocacy for women's rights.

Vida Samadzai, 26, was among 11 judges chosen to pick the winner in Miss Earth, an annual beauty pageant that promotes environmental protection, organizers said. There was no Afghan candidate among more than 60 women vying for the title Sunday.

. . .In a radical departure from the conservative image of Afghan women, Samadzai paraded in a red bikini down a catwalk last year to qualify for the contest. She failed to make it to the semifinals but won a special "beauty for a cause" award, largely for her women's rights work.

Afghan officials, however, said she betrayed Afghan culture by appearing in the beauty contest and warned she could face prosecution if she returned to her native country.

Samadzai said she felt uncomfortable in the skimpy attire, but did it to qualify for the contest and raise awareness of the plight of women and children in her homeland. She said she was urged to join the pageant by people aware of her work as a volunteer fund raiser and as a founder of an Afghan women's rights organization.

Samadzai said she has not returned to Afghanistan since the controversy erupted. "I'm not welcomed there, they might prosecute me if ever I go back home," she said.

She has stayed mainly in the United States, where she became involved with fund-raising activities and was often invited on talk shows. Her busy schedule has prevented her from returning to school to finish a course in speech communications and international business.

Now it's the newly crowned Miss Eye-Rack that is fearing for her life:

Iraq's newly crowned beauty queen has gone into hiding, fearing she will be targeted by Islamic militants who reportedly threatened to kill other women who participated in a Baghdad pageant last week.

Silva Shahakian, an Iraqi Christian, received the title of Miss Iraq when the initial winner stepped down after receiving death threats and two other runners-up also bowed out, a person familiar with the event said Wednesday.

Since receiving the crown, Shahakian has been lying low, fearing she will be targeted, he said. The pageant was held April 9 in a Baghdad social club and the initial winner, Tamar Goregian, gave back the crown four days later, he said.

The man spoke on condition of anonymity, refusing to be identified further, saying he also feared retribution from militants.

Shahakian's whereabouts were unknown, although it was believed that she was still in Iraq. Several attempts to reach Goregian, who is believed to have left Iraq, failed.

That's our Boosh, spreading peece and democrapsee all over the world.