"Women in the Middle East" Number 8 December 2002
Bulletin of Committee to Defend Women's Rights in the Middle East
Editor: Azam kamguian
Assistant Editor: Mona Basaruddin
In this issue:
·
Bahrain: women
stage sit-in demanding their civil rights
·
Afghanistan:
Islamic fanatics bomb & burn girl schools
·
Iraq: Women,
the economic sanctions & the US Invasion
·
Jordan:
Women's Lives & "Crimes of Honour"
·
Pakistan: The
Islamic Alliance & the rule of Sharia & sexual apartheid
·
Iran: Female
bus driver & the rule of sexual apartheid
·
Turkey:
Islamic party in power & the issue of Islamic veil
·
Iran: Woman
re-arrested, after escape from stoning
·
Pakistan: A
woman's chilling testimony against her gang rapists
·
Sudan:
Criticising Islam & a death threat over a woman
·
Afghanistan:
Female judge fired for not wearing Islamic veil
·
Denmark: Imam
demands girls from Muslim families be genitally mutilated
·
Nigeria &
Iran: Six women and two men on the death row of Islamic law
·
Join the
Organisation for Women's Liberation
·
Bahrain: Women
stage sit-in demanding their civil rights
More than 300 women in Manama staged a sit-in outside the
justice and Islamic affairs ministry demanding the enactment of a personal
status law. The protestors, including divorcees, activists, lawyers and members
of political and women's associations, also demanded that family and women's
disputes be settled by civil and not Islamic courts.
Activist Ghada Jamshir said that the protestors had
delivered to the president of the high council of justice, Sheikh Abdurrahman
bin Mohammad bin Rashid al-Khalifa, a "memorandum demanding the enactment
of a law banning polygamy, except in extreme cases such as a wife's illness or
paralysis, or with her written Consent before a judge."
A small group of
women opposed to a personal status law demonstrated at the same time.
·
Afghanistan:
Islamic fanatics bomb & burn girl schools
In a series of attacks on girls’ schools in Afghanistan,
gunmen recently forced a school in the Wardak province that served 1,300 girls
to close. This attack follows the burning of two girls’ schools in the northern
provinces as well as three in the south-eastern province of Zabul over the past
few weeks. The schools in the northern provinces were burned shortly after
pamphlets were distributed around mosques in those areas warning women to
continue wearing their burqas. In addition, a girls’ school was bombed in the
Ghazni province last month. Afghan women have indicated that security is their
top priority.
·
Iraq: Women,
the economic sanctions & the US Invasion
Iraqi women certainly suffer the consequences of the
economic sanctions heavily and will bear the brunt of any US invasion. Experts
predict that if the United States invades Iraq "tens of thousands" of
Iraqi civilians will die, and the vast majority of them will be women and
children.
The sanctions against Iraq have created enormous suffering
among women and children. Traditionally most women had only one job but now
many must hold down two or even three jobs so as to feed their families.
Women-headed families are not uncommon in Iraq, which lost many soldiers in the
Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and in the Gulf War of 1991. The same schoolteacher
who was once able to live relatively well on her salary must now take in sewing
and perhaps bake for extra money because her salary buys so little. The
government makes rations available, but these last only about 10 days, and
Iraq's women must find ways to survive until the end of each month.
While many Iraqi women long for the basic rights that are
denied them under Saddam, they are wary of the future as well and their rights
and well being must be preserved.
·
Jordan:
Women's Lives & "Crimes of Honour"
A 34-year-old man walked free from the Irbid Criminal Court
after receiving a one-month prison term for inflicting harm to his older
divorced sister that resulted in her death in August 2001. Mohammad A. was
standing trial on charges of beating his 35-year-old sister Huda with a wooden
stick on her head and other parts of her body on 30 July 2001 which caused her
death a week later.
The defendant's father dropped charges against his son. The
victim's family testified in court that the woman had medical problems with her
head prior to the incident. Official sources reported last year that the woman,
divorced for over 10 years, was beaten up by the defendant for matters relating
to "family honour" after one of her family members accused her of
developing a relationship with a man.
An official autopsy performed then on the victim indicated the
woman died because of a brain contusion as a result of physical trauma to the
head.
In another ruling, a 20-year-old man standing trial for
attempting to kill his 12-year-old sister with poison after suspecting she
engaged in sexual activities with their brother was freed after receiving a
two-month prison term. The tribunal ruled in its written verdict that the
defendant committed his act in a fit of fury and therefore his charge should be
reduced to a misdemeanour.
·
Pakistan: The
Islamic Alliance & the rule of Sharia & sexual apartheid
A leader of Pakistani Islamic alliance that emerged as a
possible coalition partner after this month's election said that his movement
would seek to ban co-education. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, vice president of the
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal, alliance of six Islamic groups, said women should not
be forced to wear the all-covering burqa but should have to follow Islamic
sharia laws. According to him separate universities will be set up for girls.
He was speaking to women from behind a curtain.
The alliance become
the third largest group in parliament's lower house in the election, winning 45
seats, up from just two in 1997. It also won a majority in the provincial
assembly in Northwest Frontier Province, of which Peshawar is the capital, and
has become the largest party in the provincial assembly in the south-western
province of Baluchistan.
·
Iran: Female
bus driver & the rule of sexual apartheid
According to official news agency of the Islamic Republic of
Iran, IRNA, first female bus driver started work in the city of Karaj in
Teheran province. In Iran sexual apartheid rules in every area of public life
including transport. Now, on this particular bus, female passengers will sit in
the front section while men will sit in the rear. Nothing has really changed.
Sexual apartheid rules in Iran.
Iran's female population stands at more than 32 million but
only one million of them are working, despite their struggle to enter the
labour market.
·
Turkey:
Islamic party in power & the issue of Islamic veil
The headscarf is debated again in Turkey after the election
victory of the Islamic Justice and Development Party. The party, which now has
majority in the parliament, is trying hard to convince the establishment that
it does not threat country's system.
Wearing the Islamic-style head covering is banned in Turkish
government offices, schools and universities. The Justice and Development Party
has always avoided confrontation over the headscarf issue and decided not to
put forward any female candidates wearing an Islamic head covering. Party
leaders whose wives and daughters wear veil say they will not ignore this issue
but try to solve it during their term by achieving a public consensus. They may
try to lift the ban on university students first.
·
Iran: Woman
re-arrested, after escape from stoning
Nosrat Abouii, a woman who was stoned in Yazd prison managed
to escape while she was being stoned but was arrested immediately by the
government and put in jail.
According to Islamic Sharia, women are buried up to their
armpits for stoning, while men are buried up to their waist. Earlier, on
September 25, Goli Nik-Khou was stoned to death after serving her 15 -year
sentence in the town of Naqadeh, western Iran.
At the moment there are four women - Ferdows, Ashraf, Sima
and Shahnaz - in prison waiting to be stoned to death.
·
Pakistan: A
woman's chilling testimony against her gang rapists
Mukhtaran Bibi a woman sentenced to gang rape by a the
Islamic & tribal leaders of a village council in southern Pakistan has
testified at a court in Punjab's Dera Ghazi Khan town about her ordeal. She
described how the four men on trial dragged her into a hut and raped her.
Face-to-face with the men, who are on trial for raping her, Mukhtaran Bibi
described how she was asked to appear before the informal village council to
apologise for the alleged misdemeanour of her 12-year old brother. He had been
accused of having an affair with an older woman. He says the story was
concocted to cover up the fact that he had been sodomised by three men earlier
in the day and threatened to report the incident.
She testified that when she apologised to the council, made
up of village elders in Punjab's Muzaffargarh area, one man said she should be
pardoned. But another man suddenly said she should be raped. She described
begging the council to save her, but they took no notice and four men raped her
while hundreds of villagers did nothing to stop the assault. Afterwards,
Mukhtaran Bibi said she was forced to walk home half-naked in full public view,
covered only with a piece of cloth.
The case has shocked Pakistani society, but a human rights
organisation recently reported that 150 rapes have taken place in the same area
of southern Punjab in the last six months.
·
Sudan: Criticising
Islam & death threat over a woman
On September 26th members of Islamic government of Sudan
issued a fatwa on best-selling author Kola Boof, a Sudanese woman's writer who
lives in California. The details of the fatwa: Kola Boof has been found guilty
of "Blasphemy and Treason" Ms. Boof is to be beheaded. The matter was
ratified by the following: Hassan Turabi (National Islamic Front), Ali Muhammad
Taha (NIF), Sharif al-Tuhami (NIF) Tanzim Wasti (London's Sudan Committee),
Saad Faqih and Mohammed Sobieh.
Kola Boof points out that she has not been Muslim since
around 10 and that the men issuing the fatwa are not qualified to do so. Ms.
Boof states that she has been receiving "death messages" and warnings
to "shut up" from Sudanese government officials by telephone since
February 2002. Leader of the NIF, Hassan Turabi, under house arrest by Khartoum
Regime has been especially threatening Boof.
A diplomat from
Sudan's government, Gamal Ibrahaim, wrote a scathing article about Kola Boof in
London's largest daily Arabic newspaper, "Al-Sharq al- Awsat in which he
basically called Kola Boof, "a blasphemer of Islam" "mentally
unstable"..."a prostitute" and "a liar".
Kola says that after nearly a year of constant intimidation tricks, death threats and an attempt on her life, they should not only drop the fatwa but do it publicly, so that she could believe it.
·
Afghanistan:
Judge fired for not wearing Islamic veil
The Afghan Supreme Court has dismissed a female judge for
not wearing an Islamic veil during a meeting with US President George W Bush
and his wife last month. Marzeya Basil was among a group of 14 female
government officials who attended computer and management course in Washington
at the invitation of the US government.
Basil was sacked days after her return to Kabul for not wearing her scarf during the meeting. It has been said that the decision for her removal was made by top authorities of the Supreme Court. Deputy Chief Justice and vice-president urged Afghan women to observe the dress code at home and abroad.
·
Denmark: Imam
demands girls from Muslim families be genitally mutilated
An Islamic cleric in Denmark has demanded that all girls
from Muslim families be circumcised. Mustafa Abdullahi Aden said: "It is
good for girls to be circumcised. It is a sign that they are true
Muslims." He recommended a method
that involves the removal of both the clitoris and the labia. The imam said
that Islamic tradition must take precedence over Danish law.
His remarks provoked
a backlash among the mainstream leaders of Denmark's political parties. Main
party leaders demanded that doctors inspect the girls at school, and if it is
found that they have been mutilated, their parents must be prosecuted.
FGM is against the
law in Denmark, although there is little that the authorities can do to stop
parents sending their daughters on "holiday" to countries that where
the barbarism is legal.
The Right-wing
nationalist Danish People's Party demanded that girls who are found to have
been genitally mutilated should be taken away from their parents, placed in
foster homes, and the parents expelled from the country. But school doctors
resisted the call, saying that enforced examination would simply keep the
children away from school.
Danish health
authorities estimate that about 3,000 girls up to the age of ten are at risk.
(Source:
Newsline 15 November 2002, the National Secular Society- UK)
·
Nigeria &
Iran: Six women and two men on the death row of Islamic law
Iran:
According to Iranian official press, since the beginning of this year, four
women Ms. Shahnaz, Ms. Ferdows B and Ms. Sima and Ms. Ashraf have been
sentenced to death in the most brutal form of execution according to Islamic
law in Iran.
Nigeria: Amina Lawal Kurami, Fatima
Usman, Ahmadu Ibrahim and Ado Baranda are now on the death Row of Islamic
Sharia
We call upon all women/human rights organisations to
protest against this Islamic cruel and inhuman treatment of women.
Please send your protest letters to:
Mohammad Khatami - Iran
Khatami, khatami@president.ir
iranemb@salamiran.org
Fax: +98 216
464 443
Olusegun
Obasanjo, President of the Republic,
The
Presidency, Federal Secretariat
Phase II,
Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja; Nigeria
Fax: 234 9 523
21 36 (press office),
Email:
president.obasanjo@nigeriagov.org
Alhaji Sule
Lamido, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Maputo Street,
Zone 3 Wuse District, Abuja, Nigeria;
Fax: 234 9 523
02 08.
Kanu Godwin
Agabi, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice,
New Federal
Secretariat complex Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja,
Federal
Capital Territory, Nigeria;
Fax: 234 9 523
52 08.
Alhaji Uman
Musa Yar'adua, Governor, Office of the Military
Administrator,
Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria.
Nigerian
Embassy, 173 Avenue
Victor Hugo
75016 Paris
Fax: 00 33 1
47 04 47 54 or
·
Join the
Organisation for Women's Liberation
"In Iran, we face an oppressive and Islamic reaction
against women. The ruling system in Iran is a system of total sexual apartheid.
Compulsory veiling, the complete segregation of men and women in every aspect
of society, and the treatment of women as disenfranchised and second class
citizens are the official laws of the country. Misogyny is the defining
characteristic and identity of the ruling order and the share of women from
this life is nothing but humiliation, oppression and daily exclusion. Reviving
antiquated traditions such as stoning reveals the depth of the naked violence
exerted against women.
Despite all the suppression, the struggle of women in Iran
to break out of this prison and against disenfranchisement and humiliation has
not ceased for a moment. By achieving liberation, it will not only do away with
the patriarchy and misogyny in Iranian society, but will also have a
significant and profound impact on the condition of women in the region and
Islam-ridden societies. The Organisation of Women's Liberation is formed with
this purpose.
The OWL's aim is the unconditional liberation of women and
complete equality between women and men in Iran. The OWL, therefore, must fight
for the following demands:
1. Complete equal rights for women and men; abolition of
discriminatory laws, particularly laws in relation to family, marriage,
divorce, and parental responsibility for children;
2. Abolition of compulsory veiling and freedom of dress;
3. Complete abolition of segregation;
4. Access to equal resources in education, employment,
sports and cultural activities;
5. Separation of religion from the state and
education."
Azar Majedi
20 November 02
Committee to Defend Women's Rights in the Middle East
Co-ordinator: Azam Kamguian
Email: azam_kamguian@yahoo.com
Tel: +44(0) 788 4040 835
Fax: +44(0) 870 831 0204
Web-site: www.eclipse.co.uk/women