Beheading Of Teenage Wife Reignites Debates Over 'Outdated' Custom Of A Bereaved Family Of A Tribe In Ahwaz, Iran, Agreeing To Forgive The Killer In Court
New
Age Islam News Bureau
21
February 2022
•
Hijab Isn't A Choice But An Obligation In Islam, Says Former Actor Zaira Wasim
•
Karnataka: Muslim Women Students Face Case, Suspension for Wearing Hijab,
Protesting
•
Increasing Islamic Conservatism; Battle Erupts Over Women's Rights In Kuwait
•
Three Zamfara Women In Court For Staining, Throwing Qur’an Inside Toilet As A Ritual
To Make Money
•
Football Legend Pele Congratulates Saudi Arabia Women On First International
Victory
•
The Ongoing Fight Against Child Marriage And ‘Bride Kidnapping’ In Kyrgyzstan
•
Over 490 Lower Dir Women File Nominations For LG Polls
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/beheading-teenage-wife-custom-ahwaz-iran/d/126417
--------
Beheading
Of Teenage Wife Reignites Debates Over 'Outdated' Custom Of A Bereaved Family
Of A Tribe In Ahwaz, Iran, Agreeing To Forgive The Killer In Court
"Honour" killings of women make up 20
percent of murders in Iran, according to official statistics, which roughly
translates to around 350 such cases annually (AFP)
----
19
February 2022
On
5 February, a video was posted on Iranian social media. It showed a man
brandishing a knife and a woman's decapitated head, with him smiling as he
walked along a busy street in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, in Khuzestan
province.
The
man, Sajjad Heydari, was arrested. The Ahvaz prosecutor later said that the
murdered woman was Heydari's 17-year-old wife, identified by the media as Mona
"Ghazal" Heydari.
The
video provoked outrage in Iran, reopening the debate about violence against
Iranian women and girls and their lack of legal protection.
Ghazal
was reportedly 12 years old when she married Heydari, her cousin. According to
her father, they obtained a judicial certificate of physical fitness and
maturity so that she could marry.
At
the age of 14, she gave birth to a son.
Leaving
Iran
A
few months before her murder, Ghazal reportedly left Iran for Turkey, to marry
a Syrian man she had met online.
The
Syrian man repeatedly sent pictures of himself with Ghazal to Heydari, who is
said to have been enraged and humiliated as a result. The story spread among
friends and neighbours.
Based
on the statements of Ghazal's father, the Syrian man had told Heydari that
Ghazal, who had a miscarriage prior to leaving the country, had in fact had an
abortion.
According
to both families, Ghazal later regretted her decision to leave and wanted to
return to Iran. But she was afraid of her husband.
Eventually,
both fathers of the couple - who are brothers - travelled to Turkey to bring
Ghazal back to Ahvaz, where they were supposed to hand her over to the police
to protect her from Heydari.
"My
son had threatened to kill Ghazal, so Ghazal's father and Sajjad's father tried
to hide her until she was handed over to the police because they were afraid of
Sajjad's threats," Heydari's mother told Fars news agency.
The
day after they returned to Iran, while Ghazal's father was not at home,
Heydari's father convinced Ghazal to go to the police station earlier than
arranged. En route, Heydari and his brother stopped the car and he allegedly
beheaded his wife.
Heydari's
mother said her son walked into his neighbourhood parading the head of his
wife.
In
a departure from traditional norms, Ghazal's father said he had filed a lawsuit
against his son-in-law and would not forgive him in court.
Both
Ghazal and Heydari's fathers belong to a tribe in Ahwaz which would usually try
and convince the victim's family to forgive the killer because the crime was
allegedly committed in a fit of ghayrah, or zeal. This custom often involves a
bereaved family agreeing to forgive the killer in court.
Lawless
against femicides
The
murder of Ghazal is only the latest example in Iran's string of femicides,
where a woman is murdered by her spouse or family. Official statistics
categorised 20 percent of murders in Iran as "honour" killings, which
roughly translates to around 350 such cases annually.
One
killing in 2020 sparked wide public outcry in Iran, when 14-year-old Romina
Ashrafi was decapitated with a sickle by her father.
Romina
had run away from her home in the northern Gilan province with her 35-year-old
boyfriend, after her father objected to their marriage, local media said. The
pair was found by police, and Romina was sent home despite reportedly telling
them that she feared for her life.
According
to Iranian law, if a man or a woman is found guilty of murdering a human being,
the individual is to face the punishment of death. But if a father kills his
child, he will not be executed. Instead, he will be sentenced to imprisonment
for up to 10 years, as well as paying a fine.
In
the event, Romina's father was sentenced to just nine years in prison for his
crime.
At
the time, Masoumeh Ebtekar, vice president for women and family affairs under
then-Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, proposed a bill to increase the
punishment for fathers who murdered their children. Two years later, parliament
still has not discussed the bill, despite promises from MPs to put it on their
agenda.
Ebtekar's
predecessor, Shahindokht Molaverdi, said at the time that such murders would
continue "as long as the law and dominant cultures in local and global
communities are not deterring enough".
Who
will protect the women?
Meanwhile,
another bill, entitled "Protecting Women from Violence" and first
tabled in parliament more than 10 years ago, still hasn't been passed.
The
bill proposes the establishment of a fund by the government to protect women
who have been abused or subjected to violence.
It
outlines the formation of a fund by the judiciary to support victims of
violence, provide teachings on "life and job skills" to imprisoned
women, and contributing to the payment of blood money to families of women
murdered by men.
If
someone helps a woman to flee a home where she faces sexual, physical and
psychological dangers, that person will not face any punishment.
The
bill was finally approved by Iran's government in January 2021 after many
debates and submitted to parliament. Parliament, however, refused to study the
bill, referring it to the legal and judicial commission. There is still no news
of the bill being passed.
Journalist
Marjan Laghaee said in a tweet that parliament's hesitation to pass the bill
prohibiting violence against women, combined with the law's passivity about
such murders and child marriage, were among the reasons behind the Ghazal
murder.
Taboo
subjects
The
issue of violence against women and the so-called "honour" killings
are sensitive issues for the authorities in the Islamic Republic.
The
2012 Kianoush Ayari film The Paternal House, which focussed on such killings,
was banned for nearly a decade and its creators were prosecuted.
The
murder of Ghazal has not only reignited Iranians' fury about such killings but
has also reopened the debate around child marriage.
Shabnam
Eskanadari, a social activist, called on the Iranian state to designate child
marriage a crime. She tweeted that the law didn't offer protection to women and
girls.
Mazyar
Baalaei, a reformist political activist, wrote on Twitter: "The reality is
that culture cannot be blamed unless an urgent and legal [action is taken] to
deal with phenomena such as child-marriage or murders similar to what happened
to Ghazal.
"The
wrong traditions dating back hundreds of years ago must be restrained by
law," he added.
These
killings are usually carried out by fathers or other family members, said
Nousha Mir Jafari, a lawyer.
"If
the husband or brother is the killer and the father is the guardian of the
victim, he easily forgives him and the murderer is then subject to article
612," she told local media.
According
to article 612, anybody committing murder in these circumstances can expect a
prison sentence of three to 10 years.
Ali
Motahari, an outspoken former MP, described Ghazal's murder as a test for the
judiciary, urging them to execute her husband immediately.
‘Ignorant
customs’ in modern times
Some
people blame the culture of certain tribes in southwestern Iran for the murder
of Ghazal.
"Honour
killings have been common among some tribes since ancient times. However, today
it is receiving more attention due to its media coverage," a sociologist,
who asked to stay anonymous due to fear of repercussions from authorities, told
MEE.
"Unfortunately,
girls in these areas are under the full control of their father, brother and
cousin. If a rumour against a girl who is related to a person spreads in the
neighbourhood, whether it's true or false, her death sentence would be issued
by her own family."
"Terrible
crimes" like this have nothing to do with poverty, the sociologist argued,
as the murderer's tribe will pay the blood money to save him from persecution.
"[As
in the case of Romina] that we saw two years ago, when a father who killed his
teenage daughter was sentenced to only nine years in prison, it proved that the
law alone is not enough, and we must fight culturally against these ignorant
customs."
The
number of "honour" killings in Iran may reach over 500 yearly, with a
higher average taking place in the south of the country, said a criminal lawyer
who asked to stay anonymous.
Parts
of Iran, especially in the south of the country, report a higher number of
"honour" killings.
"We
know that most of the motives for honour killings are due to beliefs,
patriarchal misconceptions and gender inequality. This adherence to a series of
traditional beliefs has led us to witness so many honour killings every
year," he told MEE.
"In
these types of communities and tribes, a woman does not have her own identity.
Rather, she is defined by her husband or her brother or her father, who
consider themselves as the absolute owner of her," said the lawyer.
"On
the other hand, we should not forget the difficult living conditions and
economic problems that have contributed to physical and verbal violence, which
account for a high percentage of premeditated murders in the country," he
added
According
to the Centre for Human Rights in Iran, at the core of this crime are "two
unaddressed issues in Iran - the lack of protections for violence against women
in Iran, and the widespread practice of child marriage. As such, these
individual acts of murder are closely tied to government policies."
In
addition to lenient punishments for fathers and husbands for violence against
girls and women, other aspects of Iranian law compound the problem.
"For
example, a woman can't leave the marital home without proof that she's endangered,
and, if a woman does flee, she forfeits financial maintenance. Orders of
protection do not exist, and shelters for abused women are woefully absent in
much of country. In general, the police consider violence by family members to
be a 'family matter,'"the group said in a statement released last week.
Meanwhile,
a Qom-based cleric who did not want his name disclosed told MEE that many
religious concepts have been misunderstood, including the concept of
"zeal".
"“Religious
ghayrah does not allow us to attack our daughters, sisters and wives and risk
their lives for the mistakes they have made, even if their mistakes are great
and heavy.
"On
the contrary, religious ghayrah speaks of honour. It tells us to provide a
means of protecting these people who you care for a great deal, not to kill
them if they make a mistake."
Source:
Middle East Eye
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-beheading-teenage-wife-femicide-violence-women
--------
Hijab
Isn't A Choice But An Obligation In Islam, Says Former Actor Zaira Wasim
Zaira Wasim of 'Dangal' fame
----
20th
February 2022
SRINAGAR:
Former actor Zaira Wasim of 'Dangal' fame has expressed her disappointment over
the hijab row and said it is an unjust choice to make between education and
hijab, which is an obligation in Islam. The hijab row began last month when six
students at Government PU College in Udupi, who attended the class wearing the
headscarf were prohibited from entering the college as it was in violation of
the stipulated dress code.
Wasim
penned a lengthy note on social media, which she posted on her Twitter and
Instagram accounts, voicing her opinion on the backlash hijab-wearing girls and
women are facing in the country.
"The
inherited notion of hijab being a choice is an ill-informed one. It's often
either a construct of convenience or ignorance. Hijab isn't a choice but an
obligation in Islam. Likewise, a woman who wears the hijab is fulfilling an
obligation enjoined upon her by the God she loves and has submitted herself
to,"” the National Award-winning actor, who had announced her
disassociation from acting in 2019 as it interfered with her faith and religion,
wrote in the note.
The
21-year-old said she wears hijab with gratitude and humility but resents those
who harass and prevent women from wearing it.
"I,
as a woman who wears the hijab with gratitude and humility, resent and resist
this entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely
carrying out a religious commitment," the Kashmir-born former actor said.
She said that an 'agenda' is being manufactured where women are being asked to
make a choice between hijab and education.
"Stacking
this bias against Muslim women and setting up systems where they should have to
decide between education and hijab or to give up either is an absolute
injustice," she said.
"You're
attempting to compel them to make a very specific choice that feeds your agenda
and then criticising them while they're imprisoned in what you've constructed.
There is no other option to encourage them to choose differently. What is this
if not a bias with people who confirm it acting in support of it?"” she
added.
Wasim
said she is saddened that the issue is being labelled as one about empowerment.
On top of all this, building a facade that all this is being done in the name
of empowerment is even worse when it is quite exactly the opposite of that .
Sad," she concluded.
There
have also been reports of similar instances of students turning up at
educational institutions with either hijab or saffron shawl in Ramdurg PU
College in Belagavi and a college in Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga, and
also a group of girls staging demonstration at Bannimantapa (Mysuru) in favour
of the hijab.
The
issue snowballed into a major controversy and the matter is being heard at the
Karnataka High Court. Wasim, who also starred in the 2017 film 'Secret
Superstar', was last seen in 'The Sky is Pink'(2019).
Source:
New Indian Express
--------
Karnataka:
Muslim Women Students Face Case, Suspension for Wearing Hijab, Protesting
21
Feb 2022
New
Delhi: Women and girl students in many parts of Karnataka were denied entry
into their respective educational institutions on Saturday as they arrived in
hijabs.
Chief
minister Basavaraj Bommai has blamed ‘outsiders’ for the problem and said the
issue would be resolved soon. “The problem is being created by outsiders. The
issue would be resolved by the principal, students and the parents. The
atmosphere needs to be calmed. I am getting all the information about the
happenings in the state,” Bommai told reporters in Bengaluru.
According
to the information received, as many as 15 Muslim girls have been booked in
Tumakuru and 58 students were suspended in Shivamogga for staging
demonstrations outside their colleges.
Based
on a complaint by S. Shanmukha, the principal of Empress Girls Pre-University
College in Tumakuru, the police registered a case against 15 students who
staged demonstration outside the college campus. In his complaint, the
principal stated that despite Section 144 of the CrPC that was in force in and
around the college, 10 to 15 Muslim girl students of the college staged a
demonstration.
The
hijab-wearing students were adamant that they should be allowed inside the
college with their headscarves.
According
to the FIR, the girls also created an atmosphere of fear among other college
students and obstructed the daily functioning of the college. The girls also
violated the High Court interim order and the prohibitory orders under Section
144 of the CrPC.
At
Shiralakoppa in Shivamogga district, 58 students who had refused to remove
their hijab and staged a demonstration against the government pre-university
college administration were suspended.
They
were suspended on Friday and were told that they should not come to the
college, a student told reporters. On Saturday too, they came to the college,
raised slogans and demanded their right to wear hijab. However, they were not
let in.
“We
came here but the principal told us that we have all been suspended and there
is no need for us to come to the college. Even police told us not to come to
the college but we came here. Today, no one spoke to us,” the students
complained.
Despite
a government order and the Karnataka High Court’s interim order restricting the
students from wearing hijab or saffron scarves inside classrooms, the girls
came to schools and colleges donning the headscarf.
In
the SJVP College at Harihar in Davangere district, girls wearing hijab were
denied entry. The pupils refused to go inside without the scarf, stressing that
it was as important as education and they cannot give up their right.
In
Vijay Paramedical College in Belagavi district, students complained to the
reporters that a holiday was announced by the institution for an indefinite
period due to the hijab issue. “We will not sit without headscarves. Let the
college realise how it affects our education. The principal is not listening to
us,” a student told the media.
In
Ballari, a group of girls were not allowed inside the Sarala Devi College,
which has been witnessing protests from the day the controversy erupted and the
government had ordered that no one should wear clothes that could disturb
peace, harmony and, law and order.
The
government college at Gangavathi in Koppal district too faced a similar
situation where girls were not allowed inside the college.
In
Kudur village in Ramanagara district, some students staged a demonstration on
the college ground after they were not allowed to enter the classrooms.
Meanwhile,
the pontiff of Jagadguru Murugharajendra Vidyapeetha Swami Dr Shivamurthy
Murugha and Moulana Shabeer Ahmed Nadvi of Naasih Foundation appealed for peace
and harmony in the educational institutions as well as the society following
the hijab row.
“I
appeal to everybody to establish peace and social harmony, which is very
important. Wearing the type of cloths (Hijab or saffron scarves) is secondary,”
the seer said in a joint press conference.
Moulana
Nadvi said students of different faith were getting education together but
there was no hijab or saffron scarves issue till now.
“The
only objective was that the Indian child should become competent by getting
good education to serve the motherland. I appeal to everyone not to focus on
these things and concentrate on your studies,” the Moulana said.
He
also said all the Ulemas (Islamic religious heads) will go through the court
order once it comes and then they will come before the media again.
On
January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference
held by Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the
college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing hijab.
This
was four days after they had requested the principal permission to wear hijabs
in classes which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear hijab to the
campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves, the college
principal Rudre Gowda had said.
The
institution did not have any rule on hijab-wearing as such since no one used to
wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the
demand had the backing of outside forces, Gowda had said.
The
Karnataka High Court in its interim order has restricted the use of hijab and
saffron scarves on the school-college campuses till its final order.
Source:
The Wire
--------
Increasing
Islamic conservatism; battle erupts over women's rights in Kuwait
21st
February 2022
KUWAIT
CITY: When an instructor in Kuwait this
month advertised a desert wellness yoga retreat, conservatives declared it an
assault on Islam. Lawmakers and clerics thundered about the “danger” and
depravity of women doing the lotus position and downward dog in public,
ultimately persuading authorities to ban the trip.
The
yoga ruckus represented just the latest flashpoint in a long-running culture
war over women’s behaviour in the sheikhdom, where tribes and Islamists wield
growing power over a divided society. Increasingly, conservative politicians
push back against a burgeoning feminist movement and what they see as an
unravelling of Kuwait's traditional values amid deep governmental dysfunction
on major issues.
“Our
state is backsliding and regressing at a rate that we haven’t seen before,”
feminist activist Najeeba Hayat recently told The Associated Press from the
grassy sit-in area outside Kuwait’s parliament. Women were pouring into the
park along the palm-studded strand, chanting into the chilly night air for
freedoms they say authorities have steadily stifled.
For
Kuwaitis, it's an unsettling trend in a country that once prided itself on its
progressivism compared to its Gulf Arab neighbours.
In
recent years, however, women have made strides across the conservative Arabian
Peninsula. In long-insular Saudi Arabia, women have won greater freedoms under
de-facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi
Arabia even hosted its first open-air yoga festival last month, something
Kuwaitis noted with irony on social media.
“The
hostile movement against women in Kuwait was always insidious and invisible but
now it’s risen to the surface,” said Alanoud Alsharekh, a women’s rights
activist who founded Abolish 153, a group that aims to eliminate an article of
the country’s penal code that sets out lax punishments for the so-called honour
killings of women. “It’s spilled into our personal freedoms."
Just
in the past few months, Kuwaiti authorities shut down a popular gym hosting
belly dance classes. Clerics demanded police apprehend the organizers of a
different women's retreat called “The Divine Feminine," citing blasphemy.
Kuwait's top court will soon hear a case arguing the government should ban
Netflix amid an uproar over the first Arabic-language film the platform
produced.
Hamdan
al-Azmi, a conservative Islamist, has led the tirade against yoga, accusing
outsiders of trampling on Arab heritage and bemoaning the aerobic exercise as a
cultural travesty.
“If
defending the daughters of Kuwait is backward, I am honoured to be called it,”
he said.
The
string of religiously motivated decisions has touched off sustained outrage
among Kuwaiti women at a time in which not a single one sits in the elected
parliament and gruesome cases of so-called honour killings have gripped the
public.
In
one such case, a Kuwaiti woman named Farah Akbar was dragged from her car last
spring and stabbed to death by a man released on bail against whom she had
lodged multiple police complaints.
The
outcry over Akbar’s killing pushed parliament to draft a law that would, after
years of campaigning, eliminate Article 153. The article says that a man who
catches his wife committing adultery or his female relative engaged in any sort
of “illicit” sex and kills her, faces at most three years in prison. There also
can be just a USD 46 fine.
But
when it came time to consider the article's abolition, Kuwait’s all-male
parliamentary committee on women’s issues took an unprecedented step. It turned
to the state’s Islamic clerics for a fatwa, or non-binding religious ruling,
about the article.
The
clerics ruled last month that the law be upheld.
“Most
of these members of parliament come from a system in which honour killings are
normal,” said Sundus Hussain, another founding member of the Abolish 153 group.
After
Kuwait's 2020 elections, there was a marked increase in the influence of
conservative Islamists and tribal members, Hussein added.
Before
activists could absorb the blow, authorities called on clerics to answer a new
query: Should women be allowed to join the army?
The
Defense Ministry had declared they could enlist last fall, fulfilling a
long-standing demand.
But
clerics disagreed. Women, they decreed last month, may only join in non-combat
roles if they wear an Islamic headscarf and get permission from a male
guardian.
The
decision shocked and appalled Kuwaitis accustomed to government indifference to
whether women cover their hair.
“Why
would the government consult religious authorities? It's clearly one way in
which the government is trying to appease conservatives and please
parliament," said Dalal al-Fares, a gender studies expert at Kuwait
University. “Clamping down on women’s issues is the easiest way to say they’re
defending national honour."
Apart
from the defence of what social conservatives consider women's honour, there is
little on which Kuwait’s emir-appointed Cabinet and elected parliament can
agree. An anguished stalemate has paralyzed all efforts to fix a record budget
deficit and pass badly needed economic reforms.
Nearly
two years after parliament passed a domestic violence protection law, there are
no government women’s shelters or services for abuse victims. Violence against
women has only increased during the pandemic lockdown.
“We
need a complete overhaul to address the flaws of our legal system when it comes
to the protection of women,” said lawmaker Abdulaziz al-Saqabi, who's now
drafting Kuwait's first gender-based violence law. “We are dealing with an
irresponsible — and unstable — system that makes any reform almost impossible.”
Some
advocates attribute the conservative backlash to a sense of panic that society
is changing. A year ago, activists launched a groundbreaking #MeToo movement to
denounce harassment and violence against women. Hundreds of reports poured into
the campaign's Instagram account with harrowing accusations of assault,
creating a profound shift in Kuwaiti discourse.
Organizers
in recent months have struggled to sustain the momentum as they themselves have
faced rape and death threats.
“The
toll it took was massive. We became immediate clickbait. We couldn’t go out in
public without being constantly stopped and constantly harassed,” said Hayat,
who helped create the movement last year.
Hayat
has little faith in the government to change anything for Kuwait's women. But
she said that's no reason to give up.
“If
there’s a protest, I’m going to show up. If there’s someone who needs
convincing, I’m going to try,” she said, while women around her pumped their
fists and held signs aloft.
Source:
New Indian Express
--------
Three
Zamfara Women In Court For Staining, Throwing Qur’an Inside Toilet As A Ritual
To Make Money
21
Feb 2022
Three
women in Gada community of Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State have
been arraigned before a Sharia court in Gusau, the state capital, for
desecrating the Holy Qur’an.
Some
accused, Rabi Bello, Hazira Bello and Hafsatu Isah, who were brought before
Sharia court judge Garba Sahabi Gusau, were charged with desecrating the Holy
Qur’an by staining it with blood collected after child birth and throwing it
inside a toilet.
The
evidence tendered before the court included the stained Holy Qur’an, 77
syringes full of blood collected after child birth, other Islamic books, a
paper bearing the name of one of the suspects and many other things related to
the alleged crime reportedly sanctioned by a necromancer identified simply as
Tukur.
The
women were said to have carried out the ritual to make money, according to the
prosecutor.
The
judge adjourned the case to March 3.
In
2019, cases of dumping pieces of the Holy Qur’an in public toilets surfaced in
Gusau, prompting security operatives to make arrests and prosecutions on the
order of Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle.
Such
acts are widely believed to have been masterminded by ritualists.
Some
clerics have said such acts had direct linkage with the calamities that had
befallen communities in the State.
Source:
Daily Trust
https://dailytrust.com/3-zamfara-women-in-court-for-staining-throwing-quran-inside-toilet
--------
Football
legend Pele congratulates Saudi Arabia women on first international victory
John
McAuley
Feb
21, 2022
Pele
has offered his congratulations to the Saudi Arabia women’s national football
team after they won their first international fixture.
The
side, managed by German coach Monika Staab, made their international debut on
Sunday night in the Maldives, where they defeated the Seychelles 2-0 in a
friendly in Male.
Al
Bandari Mubarak opened the scoring at the Maldives National Stadium to become
Saudi women football’s first international goalscorer, with Maryam Al Tamimi
doubling the lead from the penalty spot four minutes into the second half. The
Saudis round off the brief tournament against hosts Maldives on Thursday.
Reacting
to the win on Sunday, three-time men’s World Cup winner Pele’s official Twitter
account read: “I want to congratulate the [Saudi Arabian Football Federation]
and their Women's National Football Team for their first ever official Fifa
match. Today is a historic day not only for you, but for everyone who loves
football.”
In
November, the kingdom established the 16-team Regional Football League, with
eight teams then advancing to the National Football Championship, which was
contested last month.
Speaking
before the trip to the Maldives, Staab told the Saudi Arabian Football
Federation’s official site: "Our goal is for the players to gain the
experience necessary to play international matches, in addition to that we seek
to officially join the Fifa classification.
"Since
last September, we have started searching for players through whom we can start
the national team’s journey and compete in its official and international
competitions.
"The
establishment of the first official Saudi league through the regions league and
then the Kingdom's championship played a major role in the selection process,
and helped us a lot as a technical staff with the players playing competitive
matches ... We hope that the team will be fully prepared when participating in
its first official tournament."
Source:
The National News
--------
The
ongoing fight against child marriage and ‘bride kidnapping’ in Kyrgyzstan
February
21, 2022
BISHKEK
— Although child marriage and “bride kidnapping” are illegal in Kyrgyzstan,
both practices still exist in parts of the country. An initiative from a
UN-backed program is finally leading to a change in attitudes and a decline in
these harmful practices.
Every
year, according to official government figures, between seven and nine thousand
very young girls get married in Kyrgyzstan, and about 500 girls aged 13 to 17
become mothers.
Girls
still run the risk of falling prey to such practices as “ala kachuu”, which
literally means “pick up and run away” in Kyrgyz. In other words, they are
kidnapped and forced into marriage.
“The
problem of early marriages in Kyrgyzstan is very acute”, says Byubyusara
Ryskulova, a psychologist, and the director of ‘Sezim’ (‘Trust’ in Kyrgyz), the
country’s first crisis centre, established 25 years ago to protect the rights
of women and girls in difficult life situations, and provide them with
temporary shelter, as well as legal and psychological assistance.
In
the 25 years since the establishment of the center, more than 45,000 women have
used the hotline, and about 35,000 have received legal and psychological
advice.
According
to Ms. Ryskulova, the continued existence of these practices can partly be
explained by the growing influence of religion, and unemployment and poverty,
particularly in rural areas.
“The
legal age of marriage is 18, and kidnapping of girls is criminalized.
Unfortunately, these laws are not always respected. Instead of an official
marriage, people often hold a religious ceremony in a mosque, which is called
‘nikah’.”
“Families
in the villages no longer have seven or eight children, but it is not easy for
parents to raise four or five children. Many of them seek to give their
daughters to wealthier families. As a rule, the parties agree among themselves,
and everything happens quietly”.
“However,
later on life, when they’re no longer able to withstand domestic violence,
women turn to us for help. That’s when we find out that they were married
against their will, stolen and married secretly,” says Ms. Ryskulova.
The
law allows the rite of "nikah" to be held in mosques only after the
couple reaches the age of 18, and if they are underage, the penalty is
imprisonment for a term of three to five years. As for bride kidnapping, the
law states that the punishment is a ten-year jail term.
Even
so, it is extremely rare that all the participants in such a “deal” are brought
to justice. “It’s easy to write a law, but it must also be implemented,” says
Ms. Ryskulova. “Currently, we are monitoring about eight criminal cases related
to the rape of young girls”.
Most
of the cases are concentrated in three, mainly conservative, regions in the
south of the country: Osh, Jalabad and Batken. Darika Asylbekova, the head of
the Ak Zhurok (Pure Heart) crisis center in Osh, says that the number of early
marriages has grown since 2010.
“Parents
marry off their daughters from the ninth grade. They are afraid that, after
graduating from school, and leaving for the city, their daughters will “spoil”
and, then, will not be able to get married.”
As
a result, girls, having plunged into family life, cannot attend school.
Household duties fall on their shoulders, then pregnancy, and childcare. Any
chance of getting an education or a profession disappears and, as housewives,
they are completely dependent on their husbands.
This
year alone, about 1,500 young women turned to Ak Zhurok for help. They ask not
only for temporary shelter, but also for support with employment, property
division of property, and receiving alimony, because, as a rule, those who have
not formalized the marriage are left with nothing.
However,
even in the south, attitudes are changing. In rural areas, there are about 154
divorces per thousand marriages, while in cities this figure is 2.4 times
higher.
The
author of the popular Kyrgyz blog “A Girl's Dream”, 24-year-old Aigerim
Almanbetova belongs to the modern generation of Kyrgyz women who are trying to understand
the situation in which many of her peers find themselves.
“In
my opinion, another reason for early marriages, apart from religion, is family
upbringing. We have the mentality that a girl should get married as early as
possible because, by age, she is already considered an old maid. So, women are
under psychological pressure from childhood.
“Girls
are constantly told that they will go to live with their husbands, that they
must build a family, give birth to children. In which case, why spend money on
her education,” Ms. Almanbetova continues.
She
adds that they also have to contend with the cultural notion of shame, which
leads many of them to stay with abusive husbands, and endure physical abuse for
years. According to the blogger, there is a long overdue need in Kyrgyz society
to change the ways that men are raised, starting from early childhood.
However,
more recently, there has been a decline in the number of early marriages,
thanks to the preventive work of NGOs and government agencies, with the
assistance of international organizations.
In
January 2020, in partnership with the government of Kyrgyzstan, the European
Union and the UN launched a multi-year country program as part of the global
Spotlight Initiative to eliminate all forms of violence against women and
girls.
The
program includes a set of measures in the field of policy and law-making:
strengthening institutions, preventing violence, providing services to victims
of violence, collecting quality data, and supporting the women's movement and
civil society.
For
empowered women such as Ms. Almanbetova, this is the right direction in which
Kyrgyzstan should be travelling: “I am not against starting a family and I
dream about it in the future. But the approach must be primarily the desire of
the girl herself, and not her parents.
“The
times when a woman is treated as a second-class person must be a thing of the
past. This has become a serious brake on the development of our society”. — UN
News
Source: Saudi Gazette
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/617339
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Over
490 Lower Dir women file nominations for LG polls
February
20, 2022
LOWER
DIR: Over 490 women have submitted their nomination papers for the women
councillors’ seats in total 198 village councils in Lower Dir, showing people’s
interest in the local government elections to be held on March 31.
According
to a list issued by the district election commissioner’s office, a total of 89
candidates submitted their nomination papers for the tehsil chairman slots in
all the seven tehsils and 4,099 candidates for 198 village councils’ general,
peasant, women, youth and minority councillors’ seats in Lower Dir.
A
total of 2,309 candidates submitted nomination papers for the general, 495 for
women, 869 for peasant, 810 for youth and 16 for minority councillors’ seats.
Meanwhile,
the office of Pesco sub-divisional officer, Chakdara, informed the Adenzai
returning officer through a letter that three of the candidates, including
Farooq Rehman, Imtiaz Khan and Azizullah Khan, were its defaulters.
DRIVING
LICENCE: Regional Transport Authority secretary Ubaidullah Khattak said on
Saturday that the provincial government had planned to make easy the process of
getting the driving licence.
He
visited the Lower Dir district after assuming charge of his duties in Malakand
division and supervised the ongoing physical test of applicants seeking the
driving licence.
Mr
Khattak said the applicants were being provided with the computerised driving
licence. He said the system had been centralised with the directorate of
transport under which an online test would be conducted.
He
said the applicants were given the licence after the written and physical
tests. He said he would visit all districts of Malakand division.
Source:
Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1676039/over-490-lower-dir-women-file-nominations-for-lg-polls
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/beheading-teenage-wife-custom-ahwaz-iran/d/126417