Press release
January 16, 2004
Press conference on efforts to stop
Sharia law from becoming state law in Iraq
The Organisation
of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) and many secular and progressive people in
the region and the world were shocked to receive yesterday's news that Sharia
law rather than the personal status code is to be implemented in Iraq.
The Iraqi Governing Council has passed law No 137 on
13 January 2004 behind closed doors removing the personal status code which was
established in 1958 and amended under the Ba'ath regime a number of times to violate
women’s rights.
The abolition of the personal status code which recognised a number of important rights for women in Iraq during the last 50 years has provoked widespread anger among secular women and men in Iraq who took to the streets in the centre of Baghdad to raise their outrage.
The Organisation
of Women's Freedom in Iraq is announcing an international and local campaign to
demand a secular constitution and the complete separation of religion from the
state, which has become more necessary than ever before. The OWFI will be
holding a press conference to address the dangerous effects and consequences of
Sharia Law on women’s rights in
Defend the camp
of secularism and humanity in Iraq and attend this important press conference
to find out more about the situation, what can be done to prevent this, and to
defend women in Iraq from oppression for many more decades to come.
Speakers:
Nadia Mahmood, Representative of OWFI Abroad
Houzan Mahmoud, Coordinator of OWFI in UK; Editor-in-Chief
of Equal Rights Now!
For further information
please contact us on the following e-mail addresses and telephone numbers:
Nadia
Mahmood: nadia64uk@yahoo.com Tel: 0789 006 5933
Houzan
Mahmoud: houzan73@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 07956 88 3001
Venue:
The
Date 17 January 2004 Time: 2:00-3:30pm